Mega‑mergers reshuffle audit clients
Last year's mega‑mergers have pushed formerly smaller firms like CBIZ and Baker Tilly to the top of SEC audit client league tables as public companies reshuffle auditors. That movement makes auditor selection, transition planning and independence oversight a live issue for audit committees. (accountingtoday.com)
CBIZ acquired Marcum’s attest business effective November 1, 2024, and Audit Analytics (Ideagen) counted CBIZ as the firm that gained the most SEC audit clients on net in Q1 2025 — 21 new clients, 19 of which were prior Marcum attest clients. (sec.gov) A wave of Form 8‑Ks shows Marcum resigned and CBIZ was engaged as successor auditors across dozens of public companies, including Mesa Air Group (8‑K filings March 2025), Lucid Diagnostics (April 23, 2025), Precipio (April 9, 2025), Damon Inc. (June 17, 2025), Establishment Labs (May 20, 2025) and Applied Digital (June 18, 2025). (ebs.publicnow.com) Baker Tilly announced a merger with Moss Adams on April 21, 2025 that closed in June 2025 and moved the combined firm into the U.S. top‑six by revenue, a deal widely characterized in trade press as a “mega‑merger.” (cpapracticeadvisor.com) Industry fee‑tracking data for 2025 shows Baker Tilly (post‑Moss Adams) registered a $1.5 million net gain in audit fees in Ideagen’s Q4 tallies, while HTL International reported a $2.8 million net fee gain and BDO USA added $2.2 million in the same period. (ideagen.com) Multiple company 8‑Ks note that CBIZ appointments were approved by audit committees and that Marcum reported no disagreements with those companies for the periods covered, signaling orderly handoffs in many cases. (stocktitan.net) CBIZ’s 2025 Form 10‑K discloses that the SEC staff has informed the company it may be considered an “associated entity” of CPA firms with which it has contractual relationships under Regulation S‑X, a characterization that appears across several 8‑Ks reporting the transfers. (stocklight.com)
