Before and after one CPA firm’s PE ‘flip’

Top 100 CPA firm Schellman was an early adopter of private equity, striking a deal with Lightyear Capital in October 2021. In March 2026, it became one of the first CPA firms to “flip” from one majority private equity owner to another, accepting an investment from Goldman Sachs Alternatives. (Lightyear Capital stayed on as a minority investor.) Schellman’s CEO, Avani Desai, spoke with CFO Brew about how PE has transformed the firm, and what her plans are post-flip.

How did the first round of PE investment change your firm?

I think the best way to say it is we went from a firm that was probably more of a lifestyle type of business, running like a typical partnership…to really institutionalizing ourselves, to focus on two things. One, how do we scale, and how do we sustain?

We did a lot of transformational projects. One, we got a new CRM system, so really focusing on sales and growth and a go-to-market engine. We put in some new technologies, from an ERP perspective, to really become truly a data-centric organization. Instead of hoping and hustling, what we were able to do is have data allow us to make better decisions and then build out an amazing executive leadership team. Prior to Lightyear it was myself, the general counsel, and the CFO. And now we’ve built out a team that includes a COO, a chief revenue officer, and a chief technology officer.

And you made some acquisitions, too.

Yes, we did. Prior to 2021 we were completely organic growth. With Lightyear, we were able to make five accretive acquisitions that allowed us to add new services and that allowed us to get into new verticals and sectors of the market.

Why did you choose Goldman?

We were looking for a partner that really understood both the technical nature of our work and the broader market shift toward things like trust and compliance and AI governance, and Goldman Sachs Alternatives really brings that perspective. They were able to come with a really great value creation plan that aligned with our value creation plan to help us focus on sustainability and scalability.

What are your goals for this second round of capital?

We want to accelerate our investments in areas like AI governance. We currently don’t have a footprint outside of the US. So we want to focus on things like sovereign compliance and global expansion…Our clients are technology companies that provide B2B services. We want to be able to expand that into new verticals like hospitality and retail and financial services and healthcare.

Was your partnership on board with the PE flip?

They were very on board…To them, this was exciting because we were able to do some really great, transformational changes with Lightyear, and now having Goldman Sachs Alternatives, which is a global player. Even my mom knows who Goldman Sachs is. To be able to have that type of name, and the resources behind it, they were very excited about.

What kind of resources?

Goldman Sachs Alternatives has something called a value accelerator, which is, I would say, the “who’s who of resources.” So if I have a question on pricing, or if I have a question on go-to-market, they’re going to have somebody who’s world-renowned exactly in the vertical, exactly in the jurisdiction that we’re looking for…They provide resources and data and guidance and review of what we want to do in certain areas where we want to pull a growth lever…I think that’s so valuable to us, because a lot of what we’re doing is we’re going into new territory. I’ve never opened up an office in the EU, but the value accelerator has multiple CEOs who have done that.