Why Most People Don’t Become Partner and What That Means for You
When I started my career in public accounting, becoming a partner was a distant but very real finish line. The firm I joined prided itself on stability. There were few mergers or acquisitions, and most of the partners had spent their entire careers there. It was the kind of place where you could look at a senior partner and think, “If I work hard and stay the course, maybe that could be me one day.”
But the firm I started with is not the same firm that exists today. Around the time I reached the manager level, everything began to shift. The firm went through multiple acquisitions and eventually took on private equity funding to fuel even more growth. Overnight, the sense of predictability that defined the career path changed. The old model, where someone gradually built a book of business and stepped into partnership as others retired, no longer applied. And since those changes began, I’ve noticed something striking, organic partner promotions have slowed to a fraction of what they once were.
The people who were already partners are doing fine. The ones who were close to it, though, don’t seem to be getting much closer.
That’s because private equity changes the game entirely.
How Private Equity Changes the Partnership Path
Private equity firms may invest in accounting firms for different reasons, but most of the time, the goal is clear, generate a return on investment. And that goal doesn’t line up neatly with the incentives that once drove traditional partnership models.
In the old days, you could grow your responsibilities, manage a book of business, and gradually phase into partnership by demonstrating you could sustain and expand long-term client relationships. It was a marathon model one built on patience, loyalty, and consistency.
Private equity operates on a different timeline. These firms typically invest in a company with the goal of selling it, often to another private equity firm, within a defined window of time. Their horizon isn’t the next 25 years of a client relationship; it’s the next three to seven years of return multiples. So, while your firm might still talk about partnership as a goal, the economic foundation beneath it has changed.
Private equity investors want to improve margins and drive profitability, often by cutting costs, standardizing operations, and reducing the number of people who share in ownership profits. When that happens, new partner promotions slow dramatically. You might see alternative incentive structures pop up, such as “phantom equity” or transaction bonuses tied to a future sale, but these are not the same as true partnership. They align you with short-term valuation goals, not long-term equity ownership.
In today’s environment, you could argue that the easiest way to become a partner in a private equity–backed firm is to already be a partner somewhere else and then get acquired.
AI, Offshoring, and the Evolution of the Firm
Private equity isn’t the only force changing the model. AI and offshoring are also reshaping the way accounting firms operate, sometimes in positive ways. These are natural evolutions of how we do the work, and smart, adaptable people will always have a place in the profession.
However, these technologies and global strategies still put pressure on the traditional firm model. When you can automate or offshore large portions of work, the “leveraged model,” which is the pyramid structure that supported the path from staff to senior to manager to partner, becomes less steep. Fewer entry-level hours are needed to produce the same amount of billable work, which means fewer people are needed to move up that pyramid.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be partners in the future. It just means the path there is changing. Some smaller or more specialized firms might use AI and offshoring to improve margins in ways that actually create new partnership opportunities, especially when those partners are adding human insight, client relationships, and local expertise that can’t be automated or outsourced. But on balance, the combination of AI, offshoring, and private equity investment is redefining what partnership means and who gets there.
What This Means for You
If you’re early in your career, it’s important to understand that long-term planning within a single firm is much harder than it used to be. The idea of joining a firm as an intern and retiring as a partner is now more of an exception than the rule. And that’s okay.
It’s completely fine to want to work in public accounting, or to stay within a certain client base, industry, or firm size. But don’t let the dream of partnership at your current firm define your career path too early. Instead, focus on building skills and relationships that will serve you anywhere. Learn to think critically, communicate effectively, and solve client problems creatively. Those are transferable assets, the kind that matter whether you stay in public accounting or move into industry, consulting, or even start your own practice one day.
It’s also completely normal, and often beneficial, to change firms during your career. Moving can be one of the best ways to find new challenges, better alignment, or more opportunity to grow. The old stigma around “job hopping” doesn’t really apply in an industry where firms themselves are constantly merging, offshoring, and evolving.
A Realistic and Hopeful Future
The partnership path may look different now, but that doesn’t mean your career has to be less meaningful or rewarding. The profession still needs people who care about clients, think strategically, and uphold quality. The firms that thrive in this new era will be the ones that use technology wisely, invest in people, and recognize that human insight is the ultimate differentiator.
So don’t measure your worth solely by a title or by how closely your career follows someone else’s blueprint. Focus on growth, adaptability, and impact because those are the things that will carry you forward no matter how the industry continues to change.