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After a turbulent few years for the UK’s private equity (PE) market, buy-and-build remains one of the sector’s most resilient value-creation strategies. In 2024, UK PE deal volumes rose by 4.4%, with deal value jumping nearly 12% on the previous year, according to KPMG. The trend shows no signs of slowing, as BDO also reported 766 buy-and-build acquisitions across Europe in 2023 – one of the busiest years on record – as firms continued to consolidate fragmented markets despite economic headwinds.
Yet while the strategy delivers scale, it also compounds complexity. With each acquisition, firms inherit disparate systems, definitions, and reporting standards. The result is a tangled web of data pipelines that can obscure performance and slow integration, a growing concern for finance professionals tasked with ensuring transparency and comparability.
“If a buyer can’t trust that reported KPIs are comparable across the platform, they apply a risk discount. That’s why the most successful buy-and-build platforms invest early in aligning reporting frameworks and data infrastructure.”
For accountants, these integrations bring heightened responsibility. Beyond post-deal financial control, they are often the first to spot inconsistencies in revenue recognition, cost allocation, or performance metrics across newly merged entities. That insight positions them at the frontline of value protection. In the current market, where investors demand faster consolidation and cleaner reporting, finance teams play a decisive role in how swiftly newly acquired firms integrate into a coherent whole.
According to INSEAD’s 2025 research How Private Equity Firms Can Ace Buy-and-Build, post-deal systems and reporting integration remain among the most underestimated aspects of the model. The study echoes a wider truth: in an environment where PE firms can no longer rely on leverage alone, operational performance – including reporting discipline – has become the true engine of value creation.
Christian Davis, associate director at JMAN Group, describes reporting misalignment as a “silent threat” that quietly erodes value.
“When acquired firms use different systems or measurement tools, it becomes difficult to produce a single source of truth,” he explains. “Finance teams end up reconciling data instead of analysing it, slowing decisions and obscuring where value is really being created.”
It may start as a technical nuisance, but it quickly becomes a valuation issue. Davis adds: “If a buyer can’t trust that reported KPIs are comparable across the platform, they apply a risk discount. That’s why the most successful buy-and-build platforms invest early in aligning reporting frameworks and data infrastructure.”
The numbers reinforce his point. KPMG’s research shows that 65% of acquisitions fail to deliver long-term shareholder value, often because of weak integration and inconsistent reporting. These failures can directly delay or dilute exits, making accurate and timely reporting not just an accounting requirement but a value-preservation tool.
Early reporting alignment, Davis notes, can transform investor confidence.
“It helps investors understand the equity story and define the ‘metrics that matter’. A single source of truth gives them a clear, consistent view of performance and future potential. When reporting is integrated and reliable, investors can assess value quickly, trust the numbers, and price with confidence,” he says.
This level of transparency is becoming a defining advantage, particularly in the UK mid-market where private equity-backed professional services firms are expanding rapidly. KPMG forecasts that buy-and-build will continue to dominate the UK mid-market, especially across business services, accountancy, and IT sectors.
In fact, data from Moore Kingston Smith shows that 78% of IT services transactions in Q3 2025 involved private equity investment, underscoring how critical robust reporting has become in these fast-consolidating sectors.
The regulatory landscape is also sharpening focus on integration quality. With the FRC continuing to raise expectations around audit readiness and fair presentation, acquirers can no longer afford disjointed reporting systems. Assurance teams increasingly demand integrated data flows that allow them to validate performance consistently across subsidiaries. Inconsistent metrics not only delay audits but can also complicate covenant compliance and hinder refinancing. These are all factors that can ripple into valuation discussions during exit planning.
Globally, private equity is shifting towards data-driven integration. Davis observes that platforms in the US and Europe that invest early in unified reporting systems not only accelerate post-acquisition integration but also achieve higher exit valuations.
“UK mid-market professional services firms can apply the same approach,” he says. “Modernising systems and standardising reporting not only makes them more investable but also positions them to compete on a global stage.”
Grant Thornton’s Private Equity Review 2024 found that UK deal activity rose 12.3% year-on-year, even as only 50% of UK PE firms plan to increase investment in 2025, compared with 67% globally. That gap reflects a growing focus on efficiency and value protection – areas where disciplined reporting and data alignment can make a measurable difference.
Technology is emerging as the bridge between ambition and execution. From cloud-based ERP systems to automated reconciliations and workflow tools, finance teams are deploying digital solutions to achieve “continuous consolidation.” These allow financial data across entities to update in near real time. The systems not only reduce manual error but also enable accountants to provide forward-looking insight rather than retrospective reporting. As automation becomes standard practice in larger firms, mid-market players are following suit to avoid being left behind on the data-maturity curve.
“Accountants are no longer simply record-keepers,” he adds. “They are integration architects. Their ability to standardise reporting and provide confidence in the numbers is fundamental to making buy-and-build strategies work.”
For accountants, this new landscape represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Josh May, partner enablement director at BlackLine, notes that buy-and-build strategies “quickly expose weaknesses in a company’s financial reporting infrastructure.”
“When multiple entities are acquired, each with their own systems and data definitions, you’re not just integrating businesses, you’re integrating their accounting realities,” May says. “Without alignment, finance teams risk spending months reconciling basic inconsistencies before they can even begin delivering meaningful insights to investors.”
He warns that fragmented or manual reporting, often reliant on spreadsheets or legacy systems, can delay consolidation and create valuation uncertainty.
“Particularly in the first 100 days, the goal should be to establish a consistent reporting foundation, shared definitions, uniform close processes, and centralised data access,” May explains. “That’s where technology plays a critical role, allowing accountants to focus on interpretation rather than investigation.”
Accountants, he adds, are no longer simply record-keepers. “They are integration architects. Their ability to standardise reporting and provide confidence in the numbers is fundamental to making buy-and-build strategies work.”
The scale of the issue cannot be ignored. The Bank of England estimates that PE-backed firms now account for 10% of UK private-sector jobs – roughly two million employees – and 5% of private-sector revenues. As consolidation gathers pace, reporting resilience becomes a matter of market stability.
In this environment, the accountant’s ability to deliver reliable, comparable data across expanding portfolios is fast becoming the differentiator that determines whether a buy-and-build strategy realises its full value or undermines it.
