United StatesProfessional services2023 – ongoingCurrent (formerly Crete Professionals Alliance)
Buying accounting firms and equipping them with AI
A Thrive-backed accounting group bought about 30 firms and reported a 31% cut in preparation time in its first tax AI pilot
Problem
Small and midsize US accounting firms spent much of their time on routine compliance work, including tax preparation and audit testing. Many lacked the capital and engineers to build AI tools themselves.
Approach
Crete, founded in 2023 and backed by Thrive Capital, bought majority stakes in local accounting firms, whose owners kept minority stakes and their brands and leadership. Thrive’s technical team, later joined by embedded OpenAI and Thrive Holdings engineers, built tools for data mapping, memo writing and tax preparation. Each firm chose whether to adopt them. Crete announced over $500 million for further acquisitions in June 2025 and renamed itself Current in June 2026.
Results
Takeaway
The buyer supplied AI engineers and capital while the acquired firms kept running their practices. Reported savings came from one tax-season pilot and one firm’s account of hundreds of hours saved each month in audit testing.
Categories
- Industry
- Professional services
- Business function
- Strategy and organizationFinance, risk and legalInternal work and knowledge management
- Innovation type
- Business model innovationProcess innovation
- AI technology
- Generative AI
- Adoption
- Co-developed with a partner
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Reuters reported that Crete planned to spend over $500 million in two years buying US accounting firms and providing OpenAI-powered tools. At the time, it had annual revenue above $300 million, more than 20 firms and 900 employees. Selling owners kept a minority stake. The head of one member firm said AI saved his team hundreds of hours a month in audit testing.
CEO Steve Stagner and Thrive’s Anuj Mehndiratta told Accounting Today that they looked for client-service and back-office tasks each firm could automate. They aimed to move staff from compliance work to advisory services. Firms could choose whether to use the tools, and both executives said AI could not solve every problem.
CPA Practice Advisor reported that Crete renamed itself Current, with more than 2,000 employees at nearly 30 firms and annual revenue above $500 million. Thrive Holdings and OpenAI placed AI engineers and researchers within the group. Current said its pilot for 2025 tax-year returns cut preparation time by 31% on average and processed 7,000 returns with up to 98% accuracy. Its CEO said the group held firms longer than typical acquisition groups.
Full details are in the original sources.