Century-Old Meaden & Moore Takes on First Institutional Investor

Meaden & Moore, a Cleveland-based forensic and accounting firm, has taken on its first institutional investor with Unity Partners completing a growth investment in the company’s advisory business.

Meaden & Moore operates through two core practices. Its forensic accounting group serves insurance and legal clients with loss accounting, economic damages analysis, investigative work, litigation support, and cyber risk services. Its accounting and advisory group serves small and mid-sized businesses in the Midwest with tax, accounting, valuation, and other advisory work.

Founded in 1919 by Douglas Meaden and headquartered in Cleveland, the firm has grown to more than 250 professionals across 15 offices in the United States and the United Kingdom. Jim Rollins, its eighth chief executive since founding, leads the firm today.

“This partnership marks an important milestone in our organization’s history, as our collaboration with Unity will enable us to invest further in our people, expand key capabilities, and continue delivering the high-quality, objective insights that our clients rely on,” said Mr. Rollins. “Together, we are well-positioned to accelerate our growth strategy, capitalize on new opportunities, and thoughtfully scale in the years ahead. The partners here view us as stewards of a long legacy, and we believe this partnership with Unity best positions us to invest in the next generation and accelerate opportunities for our team.”

As part of Unity Partners’ investment, Meaden & Moore is restructuring its business. The firm’s CPA practice will remain a separate legal entity and continue providing audit and other assurance services, while a non-CPA entity will handle tax, forensic, advisory, and consulting services. This structure allows accounting firms to accept outside investment while maintaining the independence required for audit work. The deal with Unity marks the first time in Meaden & Moore’s more than 100-year history that the firm has taken on outside institutional capital.

“Meaden & Moore is an outstanding business that has demonstrated strong resilience and sustained growth across its service lines through multiple economic cycles and market environments,” said Peter Cozzi, who leads the investment team at Unity. “The company’s experienced leadership, combined with its complementary mix of highly specialized technical services, is a compelling point of differentiation for the business. We are excited to partner in advancing our shared vision for the company’s continued growth and success.”

Dallas-headquartered Unity Partners invests in fragmented, people-intensive services businesses, including finance, tax and accounting, insurance services, legal services, managed professional services, and several consumer-facing home services categories. The firm’s Partner & Propel strategy pairs its capital with an in-house team that works alongside portfolio company leadership on technology, talent, and operational initiatives, and the firm builds an employee ownership plan into every platform investment it makes.

With the close of the transaction with Unity, Meaden & Moore will also launch an Employee Purpose Plan, a model built into each of Unity’s platform investments that lets employees share in the firm’s financial outcomes and future capital events.

“Our employee Purpose plan will complement Meaden & Moore’s strong organizational culture and bolster their ability to attract and retain key talent,” said Jim Sharpe, partner and head of Propel at Unity. “As we prioritize value acceleration across critical operational areas, including technology and talent development, we are thrilled to be working together to help strengthen the business and advance its strategic growth objectives.”

Unity’s investment in Meaden & Moore lands amid a consolidation of the accounting profession. According to Cherry Bekaert’s 2025 Trends and 2026 Outlook, private equity investment in CPA and accounting firms accelerated through 2025, with more than 50 PE-related transactions completed in the segment and nearly half of the top 30 U.S. CPA firms now carrying some form of private equity investment or alternative practice structure. Just five years earlier, the report notes, such investment in the profession was almost nonexistent, and the pace is expected to continue through 2026 in the form of further platform consolidations, bolt-on acquisitions, and minority stake transactions.

Citizens Bank was the financial advisor to Meaden & Moore, and KeyBanc Capital Markets was the financial advisor to Unity.