Beyond Deals, Accounting Firms Battle to “Take Businesses Apart and Put Them Back Together” [fn Market Watch]

[Financial News] Domestic accounting firms are expanding their advisory services beyond M&A due diligence and valuation to include business separations before a sale and integration after an acquisition. This comes as companies seek help with everything from carve-outs, which separate non-core businesses, to divestitures and acquisitions, post-merger integration (PMI), cost efficiency and enhancing corporate value.
The accounting industry said on the 8th that demand for advisory services at major accounting firms is growing alongside this year’s recovery in the M&A market. Samil PwC recorded 501.9 billion won in revenue in its management advisory (consulting) division for the fiscal year running from July last year through June this year, up 12.1% from the previous year. Ernst & Young Hanyoung’s management advisory revenue also rose 11.0% to 180.2 billion won.
The recovery in the M&A market is also supporting increased demand for advisory services. According to the financial investment industry, the value of domestic M&A accounting due diligence advisory work totaled 49.7331 trillion won through the third quarter of this year, up about 18% from roughly 42 trillion won over the same period last year. Financial advisory work totaled 49.5592 trillion won, an increase of 3–4 trillion won from the same period a year earlier.
Recent changes in the advisory market, however, go beyond an increase in deal volume. As companies seek advice not only on acquisitions and sales themselves but also on separating businesses before a deal and integrating operations and improving corporate value afterward, the scope of work handled by accounting firms is expanding.

Samil PwC currently has 746 deal professionals and operates a specialist center for carve-outs and standalone businesses. Its approach links finance, strategy and operations, from separating business units before a sale and providing strategy and due diligence to post-acquisition PMI.
Samjong KPMG is also broadening its business-restructuring advisory services, from realigning business portfolios and selling non-core divisions to mergers and demergers, accounting and tax advice, PMI, and operating project management offices (PMOs). This allows the firm to remain involved even after a company has been bought or sold, through the actual integration and stabilization process.
Ernst & Young Hanyoung is also bringing strategy development, acquisitions and divestitures, corporate valuation, PMI and corporate value enhancement together in a single service model centered on EY-Parthenon, its strategy and financial advisory organization. As industry value chains are increasingly reshaped in sectors such as AI, technology and industrial materials, related advisory services are also expanding.
Deloitte Anjin also operates an advisory framework through “One M&A Advisory” that covers the entire process, from developing M&A strategies and conducting due diligence to supporting deal closings, post-acquisition integration (PMI), restructuring and enhancing corporate value.
Accounting firms’ business opportunities are naturally expanding from “closing deals” to work “before and after the deal.” Before selling a non-core business, a large company must plan which assets, employees and contracts to separate. After an acquisition, it must integrate its organization, IT and financial systems. Private equity funds (PEFs), in turn, seek to enhance corporate value through cost cuts and improved profitability ahead of a future sale. As companies expand into new businesses while also streamlining underperforming ones, business-restructuring advisory work is taking on a greater role.
A source in the accounting industry said, “In the past, the key question was how many M&A deals a firm handled due diligence and valuation for.” The source added, “Going forward, competitiveness is likely to depend on how broad a range of advice firms can provide, from separating businesses and designing deal structures before a sale to post-acquisition integration and improving corporate value.”

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