Your working
Every figure the calculator used, and every adjustment it made. Change an input above and this rebuilds instantly.
| Factor | Your figure | Effect on multiple |
|---|
Your biggest levers
Based on your inputs, these are the changes that would move the number most. Each row recalculates the whole valuation with that one factor at its strongest setting, and shows the difference in the mid-point.
| If you improved… | To | Mid-point moves by |
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Send me this result
We'll email your figures back to you with a written note on what would move the multiple in your specific case — and, if you want one, an indicative range from an actual buyer rather than a calculator. No obligation, NDA on request.
How this calculator works
Most UK accountancy practices below the mid-tier are bought and sold on a multiple of gross recurring fees, not on profit. The reason is practical rather than theoretical: the reported profit of an owner-managed firm is a function of how the owner chooses to pay themselves — salary, dividends, pension, the car, the spouse on the payroll — so two identical practices can show completely different profit figures. Recurring fees are an objective measure of the thing a buyer is actually acquiring: a book of clients who pay predictably, every year, for work they cannot avoid.
So the arithmetic has two parts. First, establish the recurring fee base. Second, decide what multiple that fee base deserves. The calculator does the second part by starting from a multiple you set, then applying stated adjustments for the five things that determine how safely and completely that income transfers to a new owner.
Step 1 — the recurring fee base
Be strict about what counts. Annual accounts and corporation tax, ongoing personal tax returns, bookkeeping, VAT and payroll retainers, company secretarial work — all recurring. A one-off R&D claim, a single restructuring job, a probate matter, ad-hoc consultancy that will not repeat — not recurring, however profitable it was. Overstating this number is the most common reason an owner is disappointed later, because a buyer will strip out anything that does not genuinely repeat and re-run the sums.
Step 2 — the starting multiple
The box defaults to 0.95×, the same starting point as our main valuation page. That is Practice Group's own working assumption for a general UK practice with no obvious strengths or weaknesses — it is a stated starting point, not a market statistic, and it is editable on purpose. If a broker or another buyer has quoted you a different number, or you know what a comparable local firm changed hands for, type that in instead. Everything below is applied to whatever you enter.
Step 3 — the adjustments
Each factor moves the multiple by a stated amount. These weights are Practice Group's assumptions about how transferable fee income is, expressed in points of multiple. They are shown in full so you can disagree with any of them and adjust your starting multiple to compensate.
| Factor | Band | Adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Owner hours a week on fee-earning work | 0–10 | +0.12 |
| 11–20 | +0.06 | |
| 21–30 | 0.00 | |
| 31–45 | −0.08 | |
| 46+ | −0.15 | |
| Fee-earning staff (FTE, excluding you) | None — you are the firm | −0.10 |
| 1–2 | −0.03 | |
| 3–5 | +0.03 | |
| 6 or more | +0.06 | |
| Advisory share of fees | 0–5% | −0.05 |
| 6–15% | 0.00 | |
| 16–30% | +0.05 | |
| Over 30% | +0.08 | |
| Top-10 client concentration | 20% or less | +0.08 |
| 21–35% | +0.03 | |
| 36–50% | −0.04 | |
| 51–65% | −0.10 | |
| Over 65% | −0.18 | |
| Average client tenure | Under 3 years | −0.08 |
| 3–5 years | 0.00 | |
| 6–9 years | +0.05 | |
| 10 years or more | +0.09 | |
| Owner-dependency score (used instead of hours and staff if you enter one) | 80–100 | +0.15 |
| 60–79 | +0.07 | |
| 40–59 | 0.00 | |
| 20–39 | −0.10 | |
| 0–19 | −0.20 |
The adjusted multiple is then held inside a floor of 0.40× and a ceiling of 1.60×, because in practice the extremes of a formula stop describing anything real. The range you see is the adjusted multiple plus or minus 0.10× — a deliberate band, not false precision, reflecting how much movement there is between a good deal structure and a poor one on otherwise identical figures.
Worked example
A firm with £300,000 of recurring fees, 10% advisory, 40% top-10 concentration, an owner doing 25 hours a week of production work, 3 fee-earning staff and 6-year average tenure, starting from 1.00×:
| Starting multiple | 1.00× |
| Owner hours (25 → 21–30 band) | 0.00 |
| Staff (3 → 3–5 band) | +0.03 |
| Advisory (10% → 6–15% band) | 0.00 |
| Concentration (40% → 36–50% band) | −0.04 |
| Tenure (6 years → 6–9 band) | +0.05 |
| Adjusted multiple | 1.04× |
| Range applied (±0.10) | 0.94× – 1.14× |
| Indicative value | £282,000 – £342,000 |
Now change one thing. Take the same firm, but the owner does 50 hours a week of production work and there are no staff: the multiple falls to 1.00 − 0.15 − 0.10 + 0.00 − 0.04 + 0.05 = 0.76×, and the range becomes £198,000 to £258,000. Identical fees, roughly £84,000 less at the mid-point — the price of a firm that is really one person.
What this calculator cannot see
A calculator with six inputs is a starting point, and it is worth being honest about the gaps. It does not know your lock-up and debtors — a firm carrying nine months of unbilled work in progress is worth less than the fee figure suggests. It does not know whether your fees are adequately priced; a book of under-charged clients means the buyer inherits a re-pricing job and the churn that comes with it. It does not know your retention history, only your average tenure, and the two are not the same thing. It knows nothing about your systems and software, your lease, your professional indemnity history, or whether your team will stay.
Above all it cannot see deal structure, which frequently matters more than the headline. Two offers at the same number are worth very different amounts depending on how much is cash on completion, how much is deferred over one to three years, and how much is contingent on clients staying. A lower headline paid mostly in cash can beat a higher one that is two-thirds at risk. If you take one thing from this page, take that.
Frequently asked questions
How is an accountancy practice valued in the UK?
Small and mid-sized UK practices are usually valued on a multiple of gross recurring fees rather than profit, because an owner-managed firm's reported profit depends heavily on how the owner pays themselves. A starting multiple is chosen, then adjusted up or down for the quality and transferability of the fee income — owner dependency, fee mix, client concentration, client tenure and the depth of the team. This calculator follows that method and shows every adjustment it makes.
What starting multiple should I use in the calculator?
The calculator defaults to 1.00× recurring fees. That default is Practice Group's own working assumption for a general UK practice, not a published market statistic, and the box is deliberately editable. If you have been quoted a multiple, or you know what comparable firms in your area have changed hands for, put that number in instead and the adjustments will be applied to it.
Is this a formal valuation?
No. It is an indicative range produced from six inputs. It is not a formal valuation, not advice and not an offer. A real valuation looks at your fee list client by client, your recurring split, lock-up and debtors, staffing, retention history and the deal structure on the table — none of which a six-field calculator can see.
Why does owner dependency move the number so much?
A buyer is purchasing future fee income, not past fee income. If the relationships, the pricing judgement and the technical sign-off all sit with the owner, a large part of what is being bought walks out of the door on completion day. That is retention risk, and buyers price it. It is also the factor most within an owner's control in the 12 to 24 months before a sale.
Does client concentration matter if the clients are happy?
Yes. Concentration is not a comment on how happy your clients are — it is a measure of what happens if one of them leaves, is sold, or retires. If your ten largest clients are two-thirds of your fees, the loss of one is a material event for the buyer. A broad base of smaller recurring clients is worth more per pound of fees for exactly that reason.
Want the number from an actual buyer?
Practice Group buys practices directly. A confidential call gets you a real indicative range and the reasoning behind it — not a listing pitch.
Book a confidential call