Buying a 25-Year-Old Bookkeeping Firm | Ming Lim & Bryan Ma

In January 2026, Ming Lim and Bryan Ma closed on AccounTrain, a 25-year-old bookkeeping firm based in Ottawa with clients across Canada. They beat out five other offers. They paid 1.3 times annual revenue. They spent almost two years searching for the right deal. Ming is the managing partner of Volition Properties, where his team has helped Canadians transact on more than $300 million of Toronto investment real estate. Bryan spent 20 years in Canadian financial services. He's a CPA, a CFA, and holds an MBA. He worked at three of the biggest professional services firms in the country and most recently at Intact Insurance in mergers and acquisitions. In this conversation, we cover: Why these two real estate operators are buying a business instead of more rentals How they sourced AccounTrain through Poe Group and a buy-side community called Village Wealth The difference between bookkeeping and full accounting firms, and why the simpler business won How multiples in this industry actually work (1.2 to 2.5 times revenue depending on quality) Why vendor take-back mortgages are standard in business sales, even though they're rare in Canadian real estate The seller's 25 years of institutional knowledge that was kept entirely in one person's head How Bryan and Ming approached due diligence with Bryan's M&A background as the advantage The lifestyle case for a business over a rental portfolio What they're modernizing now that they own it (CRM, workflow management, AI tools) Practical advice for small business owners with messy books This episode is part of TAFI's coverage of the great wealth transfer from retiring boomers to the next generation of Canadian operators. If you're an active real estate investor looking at what's next, this is the playbook.📩Connect with Ming and Bryan AccounTrain: https://accountrain.com/ (Their bookkeeping firm) Volition Properties: https://www.volitionprop.com/ (Ming's real estate brokerage) Reach them through LinkedIn or via the AccounTrain website 📌 Free training on the investment loan strategy: Saturday, June 27th (Oakville hybrid):https://wealthhacker.krtra.com/t/x5X1OCIDrAXc and Tuesday, July 7th (Zoom only): https://wealthhacker.krtra.com/t/n98gpqD3cVoQ Walking through the math, the loss scenarios, and how it fits alongside a real estate portfolio. 📌 Timestamps00:00 – Welcome & Tesla update01:30 – Investment club math ($35K → $140K)07:12 – Introducing Ming Lim & Bryan Ma09:30 – Why buy a business when you already own real estate 13:00 – How Ming and Bryan met and decided to partner up 17:00 – Two years of searching, joining Village Wealth 21:00 – Bookkeeping vs full accounting, why the simpler business won 26:00 – Deals closing in 24 to 48 hours, the competitive reality 31:00 – Multiples in the industry, 1.2 to 2.5 times revenue 41:00 – Vendor take-back mortgages, standard in business sales 46:00 – Maintaining the seller relationship after closing 52:00 – AI in the accounting industry, where it is and isn't useful 63:00 – Cash flow management as the real value of bookkeeping 67:00 – Toronto market check-in, May 2026 72:00 – Final thoughts on buying a business