Accenture makes well over a dozen acquisitions in a typical year to support its revenue growth. Those deals are often valued in the nine figures. Most professional service firms can’t match that kind of spending, but many have nevertheless made frequent acquisitions a core pillar of their growth strategy. This week, we caught up with the CEO of one such firm to learn more about its latest M&A deal. Plus, business updates from CapNexus, Bluewave Technology Group and Partners International.

SolomonEdwards makes its fourth acquisition in 18 months. The Philadelphia-based firm provides accounting and technology services to organizations. It recently acquired CFO’s Domain, a consultancy that helps companies recruit financial professionals. CFO’s Domain also takes on short-term financial process optimization projects. Notably, one of its specialties is helping companies improve their FP&A workflows. FP&A is an accounting term that encompasses tasks such as creating corporate budgets and forecasting a firm’s future revenue. 

“With this acquisition, SolomonEdwards expands its capability to help clients design and implement modern FP&A operating models that integrate financial data with operational drivers,” SolomonEdwards CEO John Gulnac told Boardroom Insight. “This enables finance teams to produce more accurate forecasts, improve capital allocation decisions, and provide executives with real-time visibility into business performance.”

The acquisition also has a technology consulting element. “CFO’s Domain’s experience in financial modeling, driver-based forecasting, and planning technology enablement also enhances SolomonEdwards’ ability to help organizations modernize planning platforms and streamline reporting processes,” Gulnac explained.

SolomonEdwards provides its core accounting and technology services alongside various other consulting offerings. For example, a company can hire it to manage an engineering project or perform due diligence on an M&A transaction. The firm obtained some of its consulting capabilities through earlier acquisitions.

A new player in the IT services market. CapNexus was formed earlier this month through the merger of three consultancies called Capstone Integrated Solutions, RPE Solutions and Makira. The latter firm specialized in helping retailers modernize IT assets such as point-of-sale systems. CapNexus has inherited Makira’s focus on the retail sector. According to the company, its team will also work with organizations in other verticals. CapNexus can help clients with common IT tasks such as setting up AWS environments and modernizing legacy software. 

Bluewave Technology Group appoints Drew Cather as CRO. The 10-year-old firm has two main focus areas: IT advisory and helping companies recruit technical professionals. Cather is joining Bluewave following a stint at another technology consultancy called Trace3. The appointment is notable partly because the CRO role is usually focused on sales leadership, but Cather’s work will also encompass certain other areas. Bluewave says that the executive will help enhance its advisory capabilities. 

Partners International grows its team. The leadership development firm recently appointed Diane Johnson as a senior vice president and practice lead. She was previously a senior client partner at Korn Ferry, a large management consultancy. In her new role, Johnson will oversee Partners International’s core leadership development, executive coaching and career transition businesses. Those teams provide executive teams with guidance on topics such as how to process feedback more effectively. 

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