Dains Accountants

Leading provider of accountancy and business advisory services in the UK

Founded in 1926 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, Dains Accountants (“Dains” or “the Group”) is an independent provider of expert business advisory and accountancy services to a large and diversified base of over 18,000 clients. Dains is focused on serving fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprise (“SME”) clients across multiple sectors, through a service offering spanning: Accounts Advisory; Audit; Tax; Corporate Finance; Forensic Accounting; and Business Recovery.

The business is well positioned in the large, resilient and faster-growing segment of the UK accountancy services market (SMEs with less than 250 employees), benefitting from multiple market tailwinds, including ongoing regulatory complexity, evolving client expectations for truly value-added services and the changing focus of larger firms towards larger client size.

With a strong brand and a commitment to high-quality, customer-focused service, Dains has experienced rapid growth in recent years, completing 13 acquisitions since 2021. The Group currently employs 786 people, each bringing a diverse set of skills and specialist expertise.

IK Partners acquired its stake in January 2025 from Horizon Capital and is working alongside the management team, who has reinvested.

What Attracted Us to the Business

• Attractive position in the UK & Ireland SME accounting services market
• Strong M&A track record with a dedicated integration function
• Highly experienced and capable management team

Our Value Creation Strategy

We are working alongside management to:

• Grow the business organically through continued focus on commercial excellence;
• Leverage technology to evolve and scale a highly integrated operating model; and
• Drive consolidation in the market through the execution of an accelerated buy-and-build strategy.

Quote from the Client

“We are very excited to be partnering with IK, who we believe possesses the necessary track record and expertise required to successfully support us in this next phase of our development. The team’s experience in both the Accounting and Professional Services sector, as well as in executing buy-and-build strategies in the UK and Ireland will be especially important in a fragmented marketplace like ours, where we are looking to drive consolidation and reinforce our strong position as the acquiror of choice.”

Richard McNeilly, Chief Executive Officer, Dains