How CPAs support business owners in exit planning, from year five to closing

What CPA exit planning services cover

CPA exit planning is the multi-year work of getting an owner, the financials and the business ready for a sale, a management buyout or a family succession. The CPA's contribution is the numbers and the tax picture: clean, normalized financials, an after-tax view of the likely deal structures, and a timeline the owner's attorney, wealth adviser and eventual M&A adviser can all work from.

The pool of owners who need this is large. McKinsey's research on the great ownership transfer (February 2026) estimates that about six million US small and medium-size businesses will face ownership transitions by 2035 as baby boomers retire, and that more than half of US small-business owners are over 55. An adviser who meets an owner every year is well placed to start that planning early.

Why the CPA is the natural quarterback

The owner's CPA usually holds the longest view of the business: years of returns, the entity history, compensation decisions and the annual planning meeting. That makes the CPA the adviser most likely to see an exit coming before the owner says it aloud, and the one who can start preparation early enough to matter. Exit planning is also one of the services that can grow a client advisory services practice, because it runs for years rather than one engagement.

The CPA also sees things other advisers rarely see. You know when the company changed accounting systems, how far back the general ledger goes, how payroll has grown and what happened to the old servers. Those details shape valuation work, and they shape a step most exit plans skip: deciding what the company's operating records are worth and what should happen to them.

The workstreams in a CPA-led exit plan

Treat the timing as a planning range, not a rule; a health event or an unsolicited offer can compress everything. One-time items get close attention in diligence, and a license payment is no exception, as the guide to how a one-time data license affects adjusted EBITDA and QoE explains.

Where a records review fits in the plan

Treat the company's operating records as an asset with its own decision, not something a buyer inherits by default. A data license is a one-time payment for a license, typically exclusive for AI training for an agreed term, while the company keeps ownership of its records. Because it is separate from selling the business, the owner can choose when it happens.

The wind-down row deserves more attention than it gets. Fortune's coverage of the McKinsey findings reported that 92% of small-business market exits happen through closure, with far fewer through a sale or a transfer to new owners. When a business closes, nobody may be responsible for its records unless the plan names someone.

The exit-readiness records screen

Add these questions to the readiness assessment. The firm can answer most of them from what it already knows.

• Has the company employed 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), even if it is smaller now?
• Does it hold several years of documented operations, including archives from retired systems?
• Do its records span many systems, such as email, Slack or Teams, CRM, finance, support, engineering and operations?
• Did the company create the records itself, and do customer contracts and employee notices allow licensing?
• Has the same data already been licensed for AI training? If yes, stop here.
• Would the owner consider an exclusive license for an agreed term in exchange for a one-time payment?

The company fit checker runs a preliminary, non-binding version of this screen without asking for contact details.

When to raise it in the CPA's calendar

The year-end tax planning meeting checklist covers the fourth-quarter conversation in more detail.

Fee and independence rules come first

Check your professional rules before you register as a partner or accept any fee connected to an exit-planning client. Some states write the AICPA referral-fee provisions into their own regulations: Kansas, for example, requires CPAs and firms to comply with the AICPA provisions on commissions and referral fees (Kan. Admin. Regs. 74-5-103). Success fees tied to a sale or license depend on a specific result, which makes them contingent fees, and the AICPA Code bars a member from performing services for a contingent fee for a client for which the firm performs an audit or review, certain compilations or an examination of prospective financial information, as the NYSSCPA's explainer on contingent fee arrangements describes. If your firm audits or reviews the client, read whether helping a client license data affects CPA independence before anything else.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.

How the introduction works

1. With the owner's permission, you share your referral link or submit the company through the referral form; no records change hands.
2. SourceX qualifies the company on size, operating history, breadth of data and rights.
3. The company's own team completes a data inventory.
4. Price and terms are settled with the owner before buyers see anything.
5. Buyers review the opportunity; once a company is deal-ready, they typically respond within about two weeks.
6. The agreement is signed, data is delivered under de-identification and redaction rules agreed in advance, and the company receives a one-time payment, typically within about 60 days of invoicing.

What to say to an owner planning an exit

How partner rewards work for CPA firms

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. The reward is never deducted from what the client receives, and no reward is guaranteed. Where your rules permit a reward, disclose it to the client in writing; advisory partners can read more on referral opportunities for CPA firm advisory partners.

When to leave the data step out

• The client's records mainly belong to its own customers, as at many agencies and outsourced service firms.
• The business holds mostly consumer data or protected health information without a licensing basis.
• A trustee, receiver or assignee controls the assets and has not been involved.
• The owner will not consider an exclusive license, or the data has already been licensed for AI training.
• Peak headcount never reached 50 full-time employees.

Next step

Add the records screen to your next readiness assessment. When a client passes, register as a partner and make the introduction, or point the owner to sourcex.si/apply. The accountants referral page lists the client types that tend to fit.