How private equity has helped an Aussie accounting firm spur its growth

Angelini said the South Yarra accounting firm, established in 1946, had largely flown under the radar until recently. This changed in 2022, when it published its annual results in The Australian Financial Review and landed in the top 50 accounting firms in the country.

This piqued the interest of Pemba Capital, Angelini recounted. Fast forward to February 2026, almost 18 months into Stannards’ PE journey, he said that the partnership hadn’t changed much in the firm’s daily operations, but had instilled a stronger sense of discipline and growth.

“It's relatively business as usual for the most part. So it's very light-touch. The reason we like Pemba in particular is they want you to maintain operational control. And that was very important to us,” he said.

“Having an independent third party just brings about probably some additional discipline that we see as being a good thing.”

Pemba had also enabled Stannards to pursue more aggressive growth targets and expansion, Angelini said.

“We've rolled out a management equity plan, we've put on three lateral hires, we've managed to secure some very, very significant talent from some of the bigger firms which is a bit of a coup for us,” he said.

“We've created new service lines, we've created a corporate finance service line, a R&D and grant service line, a tax consulting practice, and AI.”

Since partnering with Pemba in 2024, the firm has grown its LTM revenue by approximately 22 per cent, from $23 million over the 12 months to September 2024 to $28 million over the 12 months to January 2026.

“We are working on a pretty ambitious growth plan. Like we are a business that has gone from turning over circa $22 million to … $30 [million] odd this year and we're gunning for $80 million in a two year period. So it's quite aggressive growth,” Angelini said.

He added that the partnership had given the firm a bit of a “nudge” to expand its investments into AI. As part of this, the firm transitioned one of its accountants into a full-time AI innovation role, and added a CTO to oversee its technology ramp-up. 

According to Angelini, the firm’s investments into AI had helped staff save time on tasks from drafting emails to conducting research and summaries, with an estimated 41 per cent time saving on applicable tasks, according to Stannards’ internal research.

“We've encouraged the use of it [AI]. On our desks, we have a little Stannard prompt playbook,” he said.

“Instead of taking half an hour to do a bill for a client, it takes five minutes. You know, bearing in mind there are risks and guardrails we need to put in.”

Angelini added that working with PE had helped the firm address a challenge that afflicted many accounting firms: recruitment and succession planning.

“There are challenges in our industry with things like succession,” he said.

“You know, practitioners get to the end of their career … and there's a point where relationships have to be handed off. And so creating an environment for the next gen to come in and take over and be part of the next journey is something that they [Pemba Capital] feel that they can assist with.”

Stannards’ aggressive growth plan had also created more attractive career growth opportunities for new grads, which allowed their careers to become more diverse, Angelini added.

“The firm's able to offer them more opportunities in terms of emerging and new service lines [and] greater client opportunities because we're attracting more and more clients to the firm,” he said.

“We can bring up those young people and create a pathway for that next-gen recruitment.”