Private equity capital is moving through British accountancy at a pace that would have looked unimaginable a decade ago, and the consolidation it funds is changing the shape of the mid-tier in real time.

The question is not whether this is happening but whether the firms emerging from the cycle will look like accountancy practices, or something closer to a financial services platform that happens to file tax returns.

This distinction matters because accountancy is a professional services discipline first and a transaction business second.