Founded in the Midwest. Built by a CPA who has done this work.
Grounds was founded by Nick Eovaldi, a CPA who spent his career at Deloitte doing the work your people do. He led engagements through the review chain, and he knows what busy season costs, what a partner puts their name to, and how long it takes to get a number everyone trusts.
He was repeatedly put on first-of-their-kind work, including the first audit of an AI-powered platform, where the method had to be built before any guidance for it existed. What that taught him is what a firm needs before new technology reaches a client: someone accountable, a standard to test against, and people inside the firm who understand it well enough to change it. Grounds exists to build that.
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Grounds Leadership
Nick Eovaldi
Nick has spent his career across complex transactions, data and analytics, and emerging-technology work, first in public accounting and then across banking, advanced manufacturing, and energy. He founded Grounds to bring that breadth back to firms like the one he trained in, as a partner who sits alongside their teams: pairing deep experience with a creative, practical approach, and helping each firm get to where it wants to go.
A St. Louis native, Nick spends his time outside of work traveling with his wife, Jill, and getting outdoors to golf, hike, camp, and ski. He does his best work alongside thinkers, tinkerers, and doers who share a drive to build something that lasts.
Leading complex, high-stakes transactions.
Lead senior on Charles Schwab's $26B acquisition of TD Ameritrade, where he coordinated a 120-person team across the U.S. and India through one of the largest deals in his practice, leading annual 10-K/10-Q filings for $7T in combined client assets. Across his career he held senior and leadership roles on acquisitions, transaction closes, and purchase price accounting spanning banking, energy, and companies at the technological forefront of their industries.
Replacing intuition with data-driven methods.
Built regression-based loan portfolio testing tied to Federal Reserve data, predictive reserves testing using commodity strip pricing and historical datasets, and SKU cohort inventory testing for a Fortune 500 manufacturer. Each of these replaced outdated methodology with a targeted, hands-on, analytical one.
Pioneering emerging-technology practices.
Repeatedly chosen for first-of-their-kind work: 1 of 10 managers firm-wide selected to lead Deloitte's inaugural Blockchain & Digital Assets Deep Dive, and lead manager on the first audit of an AI-powered fintech platform backed by Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan, and RBC. In both, he built methodology ahead of SEC and FASB guidance, where no clear path yet existed.
Building the reporting infrastructure growth companies run on.
Designed monthly reporting and KPI processes that a pre-IPO urban air mobility company carried into public reporting, and architected an ASC 606 revenue model surfacing the unit economics behind a PE-backed fleet company. In each case, the work was built to serve the decisions leadership actually had to make.
Developing teams and individuals.
Facilitated seven national learning programs for groups of 10–60 professionals, and presented at Deloitte's National Banking Conference (150+ attendees).
Grounds Engagement Teams
We bring our leadership and the specialists the work calls for. You bring a core team from inside the firm, and they are who the know-how gets built into.
The person who scopes it runs it
Nick leads every engagement himself, from the first conversation to the last session. Nothing is handed to a junior team once the work is sold, and there is no account manager between you and the person doing it.
A curated bench, not a fixed roster
Each engagement is assembled from a vetted network of analysts, data engineers, and researchers, chosen for fit with the work in front of us. You pay for what the engagement needs rather than for a standing team.
Your people are on the team, not on the receiving end
Named people from your firm sit in every session from the first week. They are not briefed after decisions are made, because they are the ones the know-how is being built into. That is what makes it possible for us to leave.
Begin Today
Let's get to know your firm.
Every engagement begins the same way, working out where you actually stand today and what is worth doing first. You leave with it written down, whether or not you continue with us.
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