Why Join Ascend

We empower entrepreneurial CPAs to reach their goals with an innovative growth model that brings firms into the new age

Aaron Dawson
CEO @ Opsahl Dawson

“Choosing any kind of partner is a leap of faith, but I felt good about the integrity and commitment of the Ascend team right away. They treated me with respect from the start, and I could tell they were very consistent in their commitment to PeopleFirst, the idea that taking care of your people is integral to business success. Whenever I spoke with Ascend CEO David Wurtzbacher, I felt the energy and enthusiasm that this would truly be a partnership, where we could support each other and support other firms.”

Find Outstanding People

Offer Rewarding Careers

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Our Path to Partnership is a modern approach to equity participation

Our Talent Acquisition team finds and attracts the best people

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Join a Community

Nurture Your Team

Make friends, share best practices, and be part of something bigger than yourself

Our PeopleFirst team will help you cultivate flourishing cultures and develop leaders

Leverage Technology and an Offshore Team

Infuse Pivotal Growth Capital

Our technology stack and offshore team elevate the contribution of your people

We make strategic investments to help you reach new heights

Transform Your Business Model

Lean on Shared Resources

The Ascend Growth Model is a proprietary business system to bring your firm into the new age

Offload administration to us so you can focus on what you love

Are You a Fit for Ascend?

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Does your firm have an excellent culture?

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Do you have a growth-minded partnership group?

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Do you have a big vision & want help to get there?

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Do you want to provide a better future for your youngest partners?

Our Process

We get to know each other on a video call
You provide some basic information about your business
We illustrate an offer that rewards you for what you’ve built and preserves upside
We meet with your Partner group in person to answer questions
We lead you through an efficient process that takes 90 days or less
We make our partnership official and we begin growing together!

We are proud to be backed by Alpine Investors, a People-First private equity investor. Everyone has heard horror stories about private equity – Alpine is different. Their focus on people and long-term orientation makes them the perfect capital partner for Ascend

Allison Miller
Partner @ ATKG

“Today’s CPAs are struggling with how to modernize a very old-school profession. Outsourcing, AI, new service lines, an engaged and flourishing team, fresh approaches to client service and career development – every CPA firm is trying to sort through these critical issues. Our partnership with Ascend is the ace up our sleeve, and I am excited for what the future holds!”

Lee Cohen
CEO @ LMC

“As LMC continued to grow, we understood the need to have a partner that thought differently than a typical CPA firm. Ascend’s management model, strategic planning, technology capabilities, and recruiting platform is what will help LMC set itself apart from its competitors. Couple that with their philosophy on employee engagement, benefits, and being the best place to work… I am confident that our continued growth will be exponential.”

Matt Lee
Partner & VP @ Opsahl Dawson

“I have no doubt that we will be able to grow more with Ascend than we could alone. Within just a couple months, we were already leaning on resources they offered that will allow us to experience our highest growth year ever. Maintaining our culture is important to us and Ascend gives us new and better ways to take care of our employees, so this is great for them, too. The future is bright with Ascend!”

Teryn Grater
Partner @ ATKG

“The partners at ATKG are so excited to be part of the Ascend platform! We are looking forward to being part of a bigger team of thought leaders, allowing us to focus on what we do best: giving our clients great, proactive customer service. Instead of reinventing the wheel at every turn when we want to improve our processes or expand our services, we can now focus on our team and clients with the additional resources. So glad to be part of the Ascend team!”