The aging of partner ranks. Older partners want to continue when they're in good health, while younger staff sees that as preventing their career progression.

The economy has taken the volume of large transactions from many of the bigger firms. As such, these firms are coming down to markets they have previously left behind or never served. The CFOs are taking bids at below what they are current paying to get the name on their audit even if for just a few years.

Also, the average partner age in many firms is climbing rapidly. Some of the firms doing mergers for succession reasons have average partner age of over 55 post-merger. We are using our industry group knowledge and our partners' experience to challenge the larger competitors. We don't play games with our rates, so we charge fair rates all the time and can explain how an upfront discount puts pressure on the firm to require the client to do more and/or try to get the billing up.