/>iArlington, Va.-based Ascend growth platform, a partner for regional accounting firms supported by private equity firm Alpine Investors, announced Miami-based IPA 200 firm KSDT CPA (FY24 net revenue of $38.2 million) has merged with the platform, effective Sept. 1.
KSDT adds five offices, 29 partners and 276 total professionals to Ascend’s southeastern footprint. In addition, KSDT’s India team will integrate into Ascend’s offshore captive, Sentient Solutions for Accounting, a global accounting services and technology solutions leader based in Hyderabad.
"Ascend is the partner we’ve been waiting for, one that matches our ambition without asking us to be anyone but ourselves. We built KSDT on a simple idea: take extraordinary care of people and the growth will follow. This merger lets us do that at a bigger scale and a faster pace with more opportunity for our team, more capability for our clients and more room to build the kind of firm our industry needs. We’re keeping our culture, our personality and our entrepreneurial spirit, and adding the technology, resources and national reach to accelerate everything that makes KSDT special. This is about honoring the legacy we’ve built and multiplying it. Our best work and our biggest impact starts now," said Jeffrey Taraboulos, KSDT’s CEO.
“Of the more than 40,000 public accounting firms in the United States, fewer than a handful have climbed into the profession’s Top 200 in a single generation. KSDT is among that small group, and it is clear to us what makes the firm exceptional – leadership that sets a high bar and connects work to purpose, a culture that aspires to be the best workplace for the best people, and a vibrant middle-market in South Florida that has taken to the firm’s fiercely independent roots and personal, context-rich service. These are special qualities, and we are building Ascend so that the team at KSDT can compound their unique momentum for generations,” said Nishaad “Nish” Ruparel, Ascend’s president.
“It’s an honor to have a firm of KSDT’s caliber join and strengthen Ascend. Their entrepreneurial, service-oriented spirit, which has led to their success in one of the most significant markets in the U.S., is a perfect fit for the Ascend model. We amplify what is special about the strong, regional, independent firm with the resources, technology and collaboration of a top 25 firm,” said David Wurtzbacher, founder and CEO of Ascend.
As is common in private equity deals with CPA firms, KSDT has adopted an alternative practice structure separating non-attest and attest services. Tax and business advisory services are provided by a new entity affiliated with Ascend. Attest services are provided by an independently owned and licensed CPA firm.
