Slate CPA, a dynamic accounting firm in Portland, Maine, is helping retiring CPA owners secure value for their life’s work while building a strong future for their clients. Founder Mark Booten has grown the firm rapidly through strategic acquisitions, careful cash flow management, and a willingness to innovate.
With Revenued’s Flex Line, Slate CPA can access funding based on revenue, not hard assets, enabling them to hire and train staff ahead of peak tax season, invest in technology, and scale quickly.
How it started
Mark Booten founded Slate CPA in 2022 after working in public and private accounting for over 20 years. He saw a significant opportunity to serve small to medium-sized business owners and began by offering CFO consulting. He then identified an opportunity in the CPA space, particularly in acquiring retiring owners. The company is capitalizing on the trend of private equity entering the CPA market, aiming to build a firm that provides value to retiring owners and a stable environment for their clients, with a goal of exiting to private equity in five years, going from zero to $25 million in revenue.
Slate CPA is a rapidly growing company that has completed six acquisitions in the past two years and has an LOI to acquire another business in 2025, which would double their business. They focus on helping retiring CPA firm owners receive value for their life's work and providing a safe landing spot for their clients.
As a small-to-medium business itself, Slate CPA faces the common challenge of managing cash flow, which Mark describes as "cash is king." He addresses this by having his finance team create a weekly cash dashboard that tracks cash on hand, incoming cash, outgoing cash, and projected runway. Mark also considers the business to still be a "startup" because they are constantly growing, changing, and iterating. His philosophy is to "be fast to move, break things," and to learn on the fly, comparing it to "jumping out of the plane and building the parachute on the way down."
Regarding tools, they initially used basic tools like Google Sheets but have since adopted industry-specific tools such as the Thompson Reuters suite of products (Onvio, UltraTax, Workpapers). They are also exploring integrating AI technology from a friend's startup to automate administrative tasks like client onboarding, invoicing, and billing, to streamline processes and reduce costs. For staying informed and marketing, Mark prioritizes networking and talking to people, joining local and online groups. He also listens to podcasts and reads newsletters, but his favorite method is direct communication.
Slate CPA sought out Revenued because, as a service firm, they lack hard assets that traditional banks require for loans. Mark explains that banks would not lend to them based on a balance sheet with no physical assets, despite having "people and laptops and an amazing book of clients." Revenued was an "amazing solution" because they "see the value in our revenue and our deposits and they can lend on those metrics." Mark appreciates that Revenued structures its funding as a "Flex Line" (formerly referred to as a line of credit) allowing them to draw only what they need and pay it back over time, which he describes as a "win-win solution." He primarily uses the online dashboard to request funds.
The main use of the funds from Revenued is to hire staff for growth in anticipation of revenue seasons, particularly tax season (January through April). They hire in Q4 to train new employees and familiarize them with technology and clients so they are ready by January. Mark has already referred another service-based business to Revenued, explaining that Revenued is a "partner that will help give you access to capital based on your cash flow and they don't necessarily need the hard assets like a bank." He believes this makes Revenued "more creative and help you fund your business as opposed to like a typical brick-and-mortar bank."
Additionally, Mark has been a Revenued customer for about six to eight months, since funding in late fall. He was not aware of the Dun & Bradstreet report feature available through Revenued, but is interested in using it to build business credit.
The accounting industry is undergoing major transformation as firms adapt to technology, talent shortages, and a wave of retiring CPA owners. Companies like Slate CPA are capitalizing on this shift through strategic acquisitions, providing value to outgoing firm owners and stability for their clients. For fast-growing firms, cash flow management is critical, particularly when hiring staff ahead of peak tax season or integrating newly acquired practices. Flexible funding solutions give accounting firms the ability to scale quickly, invest in technology, and position themselves for long-term growth in an increasingly competitive market.