CBIZ, Inc. (CBZ) Risk Factors

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

The discussion below describes the material factors, events, and uncertainties that make an investment in our securities risky, and these risk factors should be considered carefully together with all other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the financial statements and notes thereto. The discussion below does not address all of the risks that we face, and additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also arise and impair our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by the occurrence of any of these risks. Accordingly, you should carefully consider the following information.

Risk Factors Related to Our Business and Industry

Payments on accounts receivable may be slower than expected, or amounts due on receivables or notes may not be fully collectible. Professional services firms often experience higher average accounts receivable days outstanding compared to many other industries, which may be magnified if the general economy worsens. If our collections become slower, our liquidity may be adversely impacted. We monitor the aging of receivables regularly and make assessments of the ability of customers to pay amounts due. We provide for potential bad debts and recognize additional reserves against bad debts as we deem appropriate. Notwithstanding these measures, our customers may face unexpected circumstances that adversely impact their ability to pay their trade receivables or note obligations to us, and we may face unexpected losses as a result.

Our business could be adversely affected if the non-attest business assets we acquired, or the attest assets CBIZ CPAs acquired, from Marcum do not perform to our expectations or we underestimate the liabilities we are assuming. Even if we successfully integrate the non-attest business assets we acquired from Marcum and CBIZ CPAs successfully integrates the attest business assets it acquired from Marcum, there can be no assurance we will realize the anticipated benefits of the Transaction. While our management and advisors have spent significant time and resources evaluating Marcum’s business, it is difficult to predict future performance and the benefits from a transaction involving large and complex organizations. In addition, we assumed Marcum’s liabilities other than specified excluded liabilities that were not contributed by Marcum to Marcum Advisory Group ("MAG") prior to closing of the Transaction. It is possible that we may have underestimated the liabilities that we assumed, or we may have assumed liabilities that are unknown or that we did not foresee and were not excluded from Marcum’s contribution to MAG. If the liabilities that we assumed are more than we anticipate, or insurance coverage is not available to us in sufficient amounts to cover the liabilities that we assumed, it could increase the effective cost of

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the Transaction and adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. The performance and benefits that we ultimately achieve may be influenced by a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. If we do not achieve the anticipated benefits of the Transaction, at all or in the expected timeframe, or become responsible for costs or liabilities that we did not foresee, our business could be adversely affected.

We are dependent on the services of our executive officers, and other key employees, the loss of any of whom may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our success depends in large part upon the abilities and continued services of our executive officers, our business unit presidents, and other key employees. In the course of business operations, employees may retire, resign or seek employment elsewhere, particularly in the current employment environment, given wage pressures and worker shortages. While most employees are bound in writing to agreements containing non-compete, non-solicit, confidentiality, and other restrictive covenants barring competitive employment, client acceptance, and solicitation of employees for a period of between one and ten years following their resignation, not all employees are subject to such restrictions, especially in jurisdictions that disfavor restrictive employment covenants. Moreover, courts outside of such jurisdictions are at times reluctant to enforce such restrictive covenants. In light of the competitive employment environment and risks related to the enforcement of restrictive covenants, we cannot assure you that we will be able to retain the services of such personnel. If we cannot retain the services of these personnel, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In order to support our growth, we intend to continue to effectively recruit, hire, train and retain additional qualified personnel. Our inability to attract and retain necessary personnel to support our current operations and further growth could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our profitability could suffer if we are not able to effectively utilize our employees, maintain operational efficiencies or manage our cost structure. Our failure to manage the utilization of our professionals who generally bill on an hourly basis or to maintain or increase the hourly rates we charge our clients for our services, could result in adverse consequences, such as non- or lower-revenue-generating professionals, increased employee turnover, fixed compensation expenses in periods of declining revenue or the inability to appropriately staff engagements.

A number of factors affect the utilization of our professionals, some of which are outside our control, including general economic and financial market conditions; the complexity, number, type, size and timing of client engagements; the level of demand for our services; appropriate staffing levels in light of changing client demands, expectations or market conditions; our ability to transition our employees efficiently from completed engagements to new engagements; the transition period for new hires that results in a temporary drop in utilization; unanticipated changes in the scope of client engagements; our ability to forecast demand for our services; conditions affecting our clients’ businesses and industries; competition; and acquisitions. In addition, our expansion into or within lines of business or geographic locations where our brand is not well-known or where demand for our services is not well-developed could also contribute to low or lower utilization rates in certain service offerings or locations.

Our primary asset is our people, and our people account for the majority of our expenses. If we are unable to manage staffing levels on a timely basis in light of changing opportunities or conditions, our ability to accept or service client engagements, take advantage of positive market and industry developments, expand into new service offerings, realize future growth or manage our cost structure could be negatively affected, which could negatively impact our client relationships, competitiveness, revenue and profitability.

Restrictions imposed by independence requirements and conflict of interest rules, as well as the nature and terms of our current Administrative Service Agreements, limit our ability to provide services to clients of the attest firms with which we have contractual relationships and the ability of such attest firms to provide attestation services to our clients. Restrictions imposed by independence requirements and state accountancy laws and regulations preclude us from rendering audit and other attest services (other than internal audit services). As such, we and our subsidiaries maintain joint-referral relationships and ASAs with independent, licensed CPA firms under which audit and other attest services may be provided to our clients by such CPA firms. The CPA firms are wholly owned by licensed CPAs, a vast majority of whom are employed by us.

As a condition to close the Transaction, CBIZ CPAs, a CPA firm with which we maintain an ASA, purchased from Marcum substantially all of Marcum's attest business assets, subject to certain exclusions (the "Attest Purchase"). The Attest Purchase significantly increased the attest services received and the revenues generated under our existing ASA with CBIZ CPAs.

Under the ASA with CBIZ CPAs and our other ASAs, we provide a range of services to the CPA firms, including: functions such as professional staff, office management, bookkeeping, and accounting; preparing marketing and promotion materials; and providing office space, computer equipment, systems support and administrative support.

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Services are performed in exchange for a fee. Fees earned by us under the ASAs are recorded as revenue in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. In the event that accounts receivable and unbilled work in process become uncollectible by the CPA firms, the service fee due to us is typically reduced on a proportional basis.

As previously discussed in Item 1, Business, the ASAs do not provide us with control over the associated CPA firms, which are independent entities. As such, the continuation of our association with each CPA firm is subject to the terms and lengths of the applicable ASA, and the ability of the parties to work cooperatively together. Our ability to provide non-attest services to clients that receive attest services from the CPA firms may be contingent on our ability to extend the ASAs as they expire, and the ability and willingness of the CPA firms to retain their attest clients. Further, our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the Transaction will depend in significant part upon maintaining our relationship with CBIZ CPAs and its ability to integrate Marcum’s attest business assets in an efficient and effective manner. Any inability by CBIZ CPAs to successfully and timely integrate Marcum’s attest business assets could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

With respect to CPA firm clients that are required to file audited financial statements with the SEC, the SEC staff has informed us that, under Regulation S-X, it considers CBIZ to be an "associated entity" of the CPA firms with which CBIZ has contractual relationships. Accordingly, we do not hold any financial interest in, nor do we enter into any business relationship with, an SEC-reporting attest client that the CPA firm performing an audit could not maintain. Further, we do not provide any non-audit services to an SEC-reporting attest client that the CPA firm performing an audit could not provide under the auditor independence restrictions set out in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other rules and requirements of the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). As a result, the acquisition of Marcum's attest business assets into CBIZ CPAs and Marcum's non-attest business assets into CBIZ resulted in conflicts and independence impairments that required certain services to be terminated and resulted in a loss of revenue, and future acquisitions could have a similar effect. Applicable professional standards generally permit us to provide additional services to privately-held companies, in addition to those services that may be provided to SEC-reporting attest clients of a CPA firm. We and the CPA firms have implemented policies and procedures designed to enable us to maintain independence and freedom from conflicts of interest in accordance with applicable standards. In the past, given the pre-existing limits set by CBIZ CPAs on its relationships with SEC-reporting attest clients of the CPA firms, and the limited number and size of such clients, the imposition of independence restrictions under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, SEC rules and interpretation, and PCAOB standards did not materially affect our revenues. There has been a significant increase in the number of SEC-reporting attest clients of CBIZ CPAs. CBIZ CPAs’ is now subject to annual inspection by the PCAOB. In addition, its system of quality control could be subject to additional regulatory scrutiny following the Transaction as a result of the previously settled PCAOB and SEC sanctions against Marcum related to quality control failures and violations of audit standards in connection with its prior audit work. It may be more challenging to manage conflicts of interest and independence restrictions and these challenges could adversely impact our revenues and results of operations. The SEC staff has further informed us that independence rules that apply to clients that receive attest services under SEC and PCAOB standards from such CPA firms would prohibit such clients from holding any shares of our common stock.

There can be no assurance that following the policies and procedures implemented by us and the CPA firms will enable us and the CPA firms to avoid circumstances that would cause us and them to lack independence from an SEC-reporting attest client; nor can there be any assurance that state, United States Government Accountability Office or United States Department of Labor accountancy authorities or other accountancy authorities will not impose additional restrictions on the profession. To the extent that the CPA firms for whom we provide staffing, administrative and other services are affected, we may experience a decline in fee revenue from these businesses as well as expenses related to addressing independence concerns. Prior to the Attest Purchase, revenues derived from providing services in connection with attestation engagements of the attest firms performed for SEC-reporting clients have not been material, however, they significantly increased as a result of the Attest Purchase.

Our goodwill and other intangible assets could become impaired, which could lead to material non-cash charges against earnings and a material impact on our results of operations and financial condition. As of December 31, 2025, the net carrying value of our goodwill and other intangible assets totaled $2,329.8 million and $540.0 million, respectively. In accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other, and ASC Topic 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment, we assess these assets, including client lists, to determine if there is any indication of impairment. Failure to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Transaction, significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, adverse changes resulting from new governmental regulations, negative impact on client list due to loss of customers, impact on client list due to declining revenue of existing customers, divestitures and sustained market capitalization declines may result in recognition of impairments. Any impairment of goodwill or intangible assets would result in a non-cash charge against current earnings, which could lead to a material impact

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on our results of operations and financial condition. Given the significant increase in goodwill and intangible assets following the Transaction, the potential magnitude of any such impairment could be significant.

Certain liabilities resulting from acquisitions are estimated and could lead to a material impact on our results of operations. Through our acquisition activities, we record liabilities for future contingent earnout payments that are settled in cash or through the issuance of common stock. The fair value of these liabilities is assessed on a quarterly basis and changes in assumptions used to determine the amount of the liability or a change in the fair value of our common stock could lead to an adjustment that may have a material impact on our results of operations.

We may fail to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions, or they may prove disruptive and could result in the combined business failing to meet our expectations. The success of our acquisitions will depend, in part, on our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses with current operations. If we are not able to successfully achieve this objective, the anticipated benefits of any acquisition may not be realized fully or at all or may take longer or cost more to realize than expected. The process of integrating operations may require a disproportionate amount of resources and management attention. Our management team may encounter unforeseen difficulties in managing integrations.

It is possible that the integration process could result in the loss of valuable employees, the disruption of each company’s ongoing business or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures, practices, and policies that could adversely impact our operations. Disruption and distraction caused by this process could also prevent us from pursuing, or otherwise divert resources and attention from, otherwise attractive business and growth opportunities. Any substantial diversion of management attention or difficulties in operating the combined business could affect our revenues and ability to achieve operational, financial and strategic objectives.

Claims or adverse publicity could harm our brand, reputation and ability to compete and attract and retain clients, talent and future acquisition targets. Our reputation is susceptible to damage by actions or statements made by current or former clients, employees, competitors, vendors, adversaries in legal proceedings, government regulators, professional licensing organizations, members of the investment community and the media. Our engagements may involve matters that may result in a severe impact on a client’s business, cause the client a substantial monetary loss or prevent the client from pursuing business opportunities. Additionally, some of our engagements may involve matters or clients that may be socially or politically unpopular, which could result in adverse publicity and harm our reputation. Our ability to retain existing clients and generate repeat engagements depends upon our ability to maintain a high degree of client satisfaction. Our ability to attract new clients and future acquisition targets, and to hire and retain highly skilled professionals, depends upon our reputation in the professional services industry. As a result, any claims or adverse publicity involving the quality of our services or the reputation of our professionals, matters or clients may be more damaging than similar claims or publicity relating to businesses in other industries. There is a risk that negative information about us, even if untrue, could adversely affect our business, could cause damage to our reputation and be challenging to repair.

Damage to our reputation could also reduce the value and effectiveness of our brand name and could reduce investor confidence in us. Any such claims, adverse publicity or negative connotations may adversely affect our reputation or the reputations of our professionals, or may otherwise harm our ability to attract or retain clients, employees and acquisition targets, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to acquire and finance additional businesses, which could limit our ability to pursue our business strategy. We acquired one business during 2025. Strategic acquisitions are part of our overall business growth strategy, and it is our intention to selectively acquire businesses or client lists over time that are complementary to existing service offerings in our target markets and/or new and attractive markets. However, we cannot be certain that we will be able to continue identifying appropriate acquisition candidates and acquire them on satisfactory terms, and we cannot be assured that such acquisitions, even if completed, will perform as expected or will contribute significant synergies, revenues or profits. In addition, we may face increased competition for acquisition opportunities, which may inhibit our ability to complete transactions on terms that are favorable to us. As discussed below, there are certain provisions under the 2024 Credit Facilities (as defined below) that may limit our ability to acquire additional businesses. In the event that we are not in compliance with certain covenants as specified in the 2024 Credit Facilities, we could be restricted from making acquisitions, restricted from borrowing funds from the Term Loan and Revolving Credit Facility (as defined below) for other uses, or required to pay down the outstanding balance on the line of credit. To the extent we are unable to find suitable acquisition candidates or finance the acquisition of such candidates, an important component of our growth strategy may not be realized.

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We will incur transaction, integration, and restructuring costs in connection with our acquisition program. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant costs in connection with our acquisition program, including fees of our attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors. If acquisitions are consummated, we expect to incur additional costs associated with transaction fees and other costs related to the acquisitions. Whether or not such acquisitions are consummated, the related costs may adversely affect our revenues and ability to achieve operational, financial and strategic objectives.

Governmental regulations and interpretations are subject to changes, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Changes in laws and regulations, or the interpretation and application thereof, could result in changes in the amount or the type of business services required by businesses and individuals, as well as our operational obligations under such legal or regulatory changes, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and our operational, financial and strategic objectives. We cannot be sure that future laws and regulations will provide the similarly favorable opportunities for us to provide business consulting and management services to businesses and individuals, or to meet our operational, financial and strategic objectives.

Uncertainty in the current economic and geopolitical environment could lead to declines in demand for certain of our services. Demand for our services is affected by global economic conditions, including recessions, inflation, interest rates, tax rates, geopolitical conflicts, tariffs, trade wars, government debt ceiling negotiations and economic uncertainty, and the general level of economic activity in the geographic regions and industries in which we operate. When conditions in the global economy, including the credit markets, deteriorate, or economic activity slows, many companies [outsource less of their nonrecurring projects to service providers and some companies, as a cost-saving measure, choose to rely on their own in-house resources to conduct such nonrecurring projects internally, and under these conditions, companies have cut back on demand for the services we offer, all of which negatively affects our financial condition and results of operations.] We also experience more competitive pricing pressure during periods of economic decline. If the geopolitical uncertainties result in a reduction in business confidence, when the national or global economy or credit market conditions in general deteriorate, the unemployment rate increases or any changes occur in U.S. trade policy (including any increases in tariffs that result in a trade war), such uncertainty or changes put negative pressure on demand for our services and our pricing, resulting in lower cash flows and a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, some of our clients experience reduced access to credit and lower revenues, resulting in their inability to meet their payment obligations to us.

Changes in the United States healthcare environment, including new healthcare legislation, may adversely affect the revenue and margins in our healthcare benefit businesses. Our employee benefits business, specifically our group health consulting and brokerage businesses, receives commissions for brokering employer-sponsored healthcare policies with insurance carriers on behalf of the client. In many cases, these commissions consist of a ratable portion of the insurance premiums on those policies, based upon a sliding scale pertaining to the dollar value of premiums and/or the number of participants in the plan.

Changes in the healthcare environment, including any legislated changes in the United States’ national healthcare system, that affect the methods by which insurance carriers remunerate brokers, could adversely impact our revenues and margins in this business. Specifically, legislation or other changes could afford our clients and their employees the ability to seek insurance coverage through other means of direct access with insurance carriers or other similar avenues, which could eliminate or adversely alter the remuneration brokers receive from insurance carriers for their services. Furthermore, statutory or regulatory changes may result in establishing alternatives to employer-sponsored healthcare insurance or replace it with government-sponsored health insurance programs. These changes could materially alter the healthcare industry in the United States and our ability to provide effective services in these areas may be substantially limited and adversely affect revenue and margins in our healthcare benefit business.

Higher rates of unemployment in the United States could result in a general reduction in the number of individuals with employer-sponsored healthcare coverage. This decline in employee participation in healthcare insurance plans at our clients could result in a reduction in the commissions we receive from insurance carriers for our brokerage services, which could have an adverse impact on revenues and margins in this business.

We are subject to risks relating to processing customer transactions for our payroll and other transaction processing businesses. The high volume of client funds and data processed by us, or by our out-sourced resources abroad, in our transaction related businesses entails risks for which we may be held liable if the accuracy or timeliness of the transactions processed is not correct. In addition, related to our payroll and employee benefits businesses, we store personal information about some of our clients and their employees for which we may be liable under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other governmental regulations if the security

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of this information is breached. In the past, our third-party service providers have experienced data breaches that allowed unauthorized third-parties to gain access to the Company’s and its clients’ data, including personally identifiable information. While such breaches have not subjected the Company to liability under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other governmental regulations, there can be no assurance that in the event of a future breach, we will not be liable under those governmental regulations. We could incur significant legal expense to defend any claims against us, even those claims that we believe are without merit and against which we believe we have substantial defenses. While we carry insurance against these potential liabilities, we cannot be certain that circumstances surrounding such an error or breach of security would be entirely reimbursed through insurance coverage. We make risk-based decisions on the measures to implement, and we believe we have appropriate controls and procedures in place to address our fiduciary responsibility and mitigate these risks. However, if we are not successful in managing these risks, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may could be harmed in the future.

Cyberattacks or other security breaches involving our computer systems or the systems of one or more of our vendors could materially and adversely affect our business. Our systems, like others in the industries we serve, are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks, and we are subject to potential disruption caused by such activities. Companies like ours are subject to frequent attacks on their systems. Such attacks may have various goals, from seeking confidential information to causing operational disruption. We have experienced cyber-attacks and other security breaches in the past. Although to date such activities have not resulted in material disruptions to our operations or materially affected our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition, no assurance can be provided that we will not experience material disruptions or suffer material adverse effects in the future. Any future significant violations of our data security privacy could result in the loss of business, litigation, regulatory investigations, penalties, ongoing expenses related to notifications and client credit monitoring and support, and other expenses, any of which could damage our reputation and adversely affect the growth of our business. Additional events or cyberattacks in the future could exacerbate the foregoing risks and create additional challenges to maintaining client relationships and our reputation. While we have deployed resources that are responsible for maintaining what we consider to be appropriate levels of cybersecurity, and while we utilize third-party technology products and services to help identify threats and protect our information technology systems and infrastructure against security breaches and cyber-incidents, we do not believe such resources or products and services can provide absolute protection against all potential risks and incidents. We make risk-based decisions on the measures to implement, and our responsive and precautionary measures may not be adequate or effective to prevent, identify, or mitigate attacks by hackers, foreign governments, or other actors or breaches caused by employee error, malfeasance, or other disruptions. We are also dependent on security measures that some of our third-party vendors and customers are taking to protect their own systems and infrastructures. In the past, our third-party vendors have experienced issues with their security measures. Although to date such issues have not resulted in material disruptions or materially affected our business, financial condition, or results of operations, no assurance can be provided that we will not experience material disruptions or suffer material adverse effects in the future if our third-party vendors do not maintain adequate security measures, do not require their sub-contractors to maintain adequate security measures, do not perform as anticipated and in accordance with contractual requirements, or become targets of cyberattacks.

We are subject to risk as it relates to software that we license from third parties. We license software from third parties, much of which is integral to our systems and our business. The licenses are generally terminable if we breach our obligations under the license agreements. If any of these relationships were terminated or if any of these parties were to cease doing business or cease to support the applications we currently utilize, we may be forced to spend significant time and resources to replace the licensed software. However, we cannot assure you that the necessary replacements will be available on reasonable terms or on a reasonable timeline, if at all.

We are reliant on information processing systems and any failure or disruptions of these systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our ability to provide business services depends on our capacity to store, retrieve, process and manage significant databases, and expand and upgrade periodically our information processing capabilities. Interruption or loss of our information processing capabilities through loss of stored data, breakdown or malfunctioning of computer equipment and software systems, telecommunications failure, or damage caused by extreme weather conditions, electrical power outage, geopolitical events, or other disruption could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we have disaster recovery procedures in place and insurance to protect against such contingencies, we cannot be sure that insurance or these services will continue to be available, cover all our losses or compensate us for the possible loss of clients occurring during any period that we are unable to provide business services.

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We could be held liable for errors and omissions. All of our business services entail an inherent risk of malpractice and other similar claims resulting from errors and omissions. Therefore, we maintain errors and omissions insurance coverage. Although we believe that our insurance coverage is adequate, we cannot be certain that actual future claims, judgments, settlements, or related legal expenses would not exceed the coverage amounts. If such judgments, settlements, or related legal expenses exceed insurance coverage by a material amount, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, we cannot be certain that the different insurance carriers that provide errors and omissions coverage for different lines of our business will not dispute their obligation to cover a particular claim. If we have a large claim, or a large number of claims, on our insurance, the rates for such insurance may increase, and amounts expended in defense or settlement of these claims prior to exhaustion of deductible or self-retention levels may become significant, but contractual arrangements with clients may constrain our ability to incorporate such increases into service fees. Insurance rate increases, disputes by carriers over coverage questions, payments by us within deductible or self-retention limits, as well as any underlying claims or settlement of such claims, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are not a CPA firm and we do not perform any attest services for clients. We do not maintain any ownership interest in or control over any CPA firm with which one of our subsidiaries may maintain an ASA. All of our administrative and professional staff who are provided to such CPA firms work under the sole direction, supervision and control of the particular CPA firm, and we do not control how attest work is conducted. For these reasons we do not believe we have liability to any party related to their receipt of attest services from such CPA firms. Nevertheless, from time to time we have been sued for attest work that we do not perform but which is performed by such CPA firms. While we have been successful to date in defending against such suits, it is possible that similar claims may be brought in the future. We will be required to defend against such claims, and may incur expenses related to such lawsuits and may not be successful in defending against such lawsuits. In the event that the CPA firms with which we maintain ASAs incur judgments and costs related to such suits that threaten the solvency of the CPA firms, we could incur expenditures related to such proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The business services industry is competitive and fragmented. If we are unable to compete effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be negatively impacted. We face competition from a number of sources in the business services industry. Many of our competitors are large companies that may have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources. Our principal competitors include financial and management consulting firms, the consulting practices of major accounting firms, local and regional business services companies, independent contractors, the in-house or former in-house resources of our clients, as well as new entrants into our markets. We cannot assure you that, as our industry continues to evolve, additional competitors will not enter the industry or that our clients will not choose to conduct more of their business services internally or through alternative business services providers. Although we monitor industry trends and respond accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will be able to anticipate and successfully respond to such trends in a timely manner. We cannot be certain that we will be able to effectively compete against current and future competitors, or that competitive pressure will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to maintain our reputation and brand could impact our ability to attract and retain clients, employees and future acquisition targets, and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. As a professional services advisor, our ability to secure new engagements depends heavily upon maintaining our reputation and brand and the individual reputations of our professionals. Any factor that diminishes our brand or reputation or that of our professionals, including not meeting client expectations or illegal practices or misconduct by our professionals, could make it substantially more difficult for us to attract new clients, employees and acquisition targets, or to retain existing clients and employees. Similarly, because we obtain many of our new engagements from former or current clients, or from referrals by those clients, any client that is unsatisfied with the quality of our work could impair our ability to secure new engagements and clients, and could impair our ability to hire new employees or attract acquisition targets.

Further, we provide our services primarily in connection with significant or complex matters that often involve confidential and sensitive information, and our work is the product of the judgments of our professionals and other staff operating under significant time and other pressures. As a result, we may not always perform to our client’s standards or expectations. In addition, we may face reputational damage from, among other things, litigation against us, SEC or other domestic or foreign governmental investigations or sanctions, professional licensing organization disciplinary investigations or actions or our failure to protect confidential information. For example, in 2023, the SEC and PCAOB implemented sanctions against Marcum related to quality control failures and violations of audit standards in connection with its audit work for a large number of special purpose acquisition company clients as

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well as other clients. Likewise, in the past, employee negligence or misconduct has adversely affected our business, and we cannot assure that this will not occur in the future. If our employees engage in actual or perceived misconduct or negligence in the provision of client services, we could be subject to regulatory sanctions and legal liability and could suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial position, current client relationships and ability to attract future clients, and our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to fully compensate us for any losses we may incur. It is not always possible to deter or prevent employee misconduct or negligence, and the precautions we take may not be effective in all cases. In addition, our professionals and other employees are responsible for the security of the information in our systems or under our control and for ensuring that non-public information is kept confidential. Should any employee not follow appropriate security measures, this could result in the improper release or use of confidential information. If our employees engage in misconduct or fail to follow appropriate security measures, we could be subject to legal liability and reputational harm, which could impair our ability to attract and retain clients and in turn materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent on our existing client base and our ability to retain and expand our relationships with those clients. Our clients may terminate our engagements with little or no notice and without penalty, which may result in unexpected declines in our revenue or unexpected costs. Our ability to maintain continuing relationships with our clients and successfully obtain payment for our services is essential to the growth and profitability of our business. However, the volume of work performed for any specific client varies from year to year, and we generally do not have long-term commitments from clients to use our services. A client in one year may not provide the same level of revenue for us in any subsequent year. Further, one or more of our clients could be acquired, and there can be no assurance that the acquirer would choose to continue to use our services. In addition, the services we provide to our clients, and the revenue and income from those services, may decline or vary as the type and quantity of services we provide changes over time. Our business model also depends on relationships our teams develop with our clients so that we can understand our clients’ needs and deliver services that are tailored to those needs. If a client is not satisfied with the quality of work performed by us, or with the services delivered, we could incur additional costs to address the situation, the profitability of that work might be impaired, and the client’s dissatisfaction with our services could damage our ability to obtain additional work from that client or new clients in the future. In particular, clients that are not satisfied might seek to terminate existing contracts, which could cause us to incur costs for the services performed prior to termination with no associated revenue. This could also direct future business to our competitors.

Our clients’ ability to terminate engagements with little or no notice, and our clients’ inability or unwillingness to pay for services we performed, can make our future revenue and profitability difficult to predict. Although a substantial majority of our revenue is generated from clients who contributed to our revenue in past years, our engagements with our clients are typically singular in nature. Therefore, we must seek to obtain new engagements when our current engagements end.

The engagement letters that we typically enter into with clients do not obligate them to continue to use our services. Termination, non-renewal, delay or renegotiation of an engagement could cause us to have a higher-than-expected number of unassigned employees and thus compress our margins until we are able to reallocate our headcount. Clients that delay payment, request modifications to their payment arrangements, or fail to meet their payment obligations to us could increase our cash collection time, cause us to incur bad debt expense, or cause us to incur expenses in collections actions. We may also fail to assess the creditworthiness of our clients adequately or accurately. If we are unable to replace clients or revenue as engagements end, or if clients unexpectedly cancel engagements with us or curtail the scope of our engagements and we are unable to replace the revenue from those engagements, eliminate the costs associated with those engagements or find other engagements to utilize our professionals, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

Given our levels of share-based compensation, our tax rate may vary significantly depending on our stock price. We apply FASB ASC Topic 718, Compensation - Stock Compensation under which the tax effects of the accounting for share-based compensation may significantly impact our effective tax rate from period to period. In future periods in which our stock price is higher than the grant date fair value of the share-based compensation vesting or exercises in that period, we will recognize excess tax benefits that will decrease our effective tax rate. In future periods in which our stock price is lower than the grant price of the share-based compensation vesting in that period, our effective tax rate may increase. The amount and value of share-based compensation issued relative to our earnings in a particular period will also affect the magnitude of the impact of share-based compensation on our effective tax rate. These tax effects are dependent on our stock price and exercise activity, which we do not control, and a decline in our stock price could significantly increase our effective tax rate and adversely affect our results of operations.

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We may be subject to the actions of activist stockholders. Our Board of Directors and management team are committed to acting in the best interest of all of our stockholders. We value constructive input from investors and regularly engage in dialogue with our stockholders regarding strategy and performance. Activist stockholders who disagree with the composition of the Board of Directors, our strategy or management approach may seek to effect change through various strategies and channels. Responding to stockholder activism can be costly and time-consuming, disrupt our operations, and divert the attention of management and our employees from our strategic initiatives. Activist campaigns can create perceived uncertainties as to our future direction, strategy, or leadership and may result in the loss of potential business opportunities, harm our ability to attract new employees, investors, and customers, and cause our stock price to experience periods of volatility or stagnation.

Rapid technological changes could significantly impact our competitive position, client relationships and operating results and our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the Transaction. The professional business services industry has been and continues to be impacted by significant technological changes and innovation, enabling companies to offer services competitive with ours. Those technological changes may (i) reduce demand for our services, (ii) enable the development of competitive products or services, or (iii) enable our current customers to reduce or bypass the use of our services. Additionally, rapid changes in artificial intelligence, block chain-based technology, automation and related innovations are increasing the competitiveness landscape. The ability of our combined organization following the Transaction to invest in technology and data analytics in order to serve our client base was a key rationale for the Transaction. While this provides opportunities, it also can expose us to elevated risk if we do not effectively manage these investments, which may be significant. If we are not successful in anticipating or responding to technological changes, we may not generate a return on these investments and demand for our services could be further reduced by advanced technologies being deployed by our competitors. In some cases, we depend on key vendors and partners to provide technology and other support. If these third parties fail to perform their obligations or cease to work with us, our ability to execute on our strategic initiatives could be adversely affected.

The widespread outbreak of a communicable illness or any other public health crisis could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may face risks related to public health threats or widespread outbreak of a communicable illness. A widespread outbreak of a communicable disease or a public health crisis could adversely affect the global and domestic economy and our business partners’ ability to conduct business in the United States for an indefinite period of time. Any mitigation measures implemented by foreign, federal, state, and local governments in response to future public health threats could adversely impact the ability of our employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, and other business partners to conduct business activities. Future public health threats or widespread outbreaks of communicable illnesses could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations, and will depend on numerous factors that we may not be able to predict, the duration and severity of the public health threat or pandemic, governmental actions in response to the public health threat or pandemic, the impact of business and economic disruptions on our clients and their demand for our services, and our clients’ ability to pay for our services.

Risk Factors Related to Our Indebtedness

We require a significant amount of cash for interest payments on our debt and to expand our business as planned. As of December 31, 2025, our debt consisted primarily of $1,472.4 million in principal amount outstanding under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, by and among CBIZ Operations, Inc., as the Borrower, the Company, the several banks, financial institutions, institutional lenders and other investors from time to time party thereto as the Lenders, and Bank of America, N.A., as Agent, as Issuing Bank and as Swing Line Bank (as amended by that certain First Amendment, dated as of March 7, 2025 and as further amended by that certain Second Amendment, dated as of April 29, 2025, the "2024 Credit Facilities") providing for $2,000.0 million in senior secured credit facilities, consisting of a $1,400.0 million term loan (the "Term Loan") and $600.0 million revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Credit Facility"). Our debt requires us to dedicate a portion of our cash flow from operations to pay interest on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the funds available to use for acquisitions, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes. Our ability to make interest payments on our debt, and to fund acquisitions, will depend upon our ability to generate cash in the future. Insufficient cash flow could place us at risk of default under our debt agreements or could prevent us from expanding our business as planned. Our ability to generate cash is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations and future borrowings may not be available to us under the 2024 Credit Facilities in an amount sufficient to enable us to fund our other liquidity needs. Volatility in interest rates from monetary policy or economic conditions could increase interest expense, cause uncertainty and impact our ability to pay interest on our indebtedness. Refer to Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk, for further information regarding interest rate risk.

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Terms of the 2024 Credit Facilities could adversely affect our ability to run our business and/or reduce stockholder returns. The terms of the 2024 Credit Facilities could impair our ability to operate our business effectively and may limit our ability to take advantage of business opportunities. For example, the 2024 Credit Facilities contain covenants that could (i) restrict our ability to repurchase or redeem our capital stock or debt, or merge or consolidate with another entity; (ii) limit our ability to borrow additional funds or to obtain other financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, investments and general corporate purposes; (iii) limit our ability to dispose of our assets, to create liens on our assets, to extend credit or to issue dividends to our stockholders; and/or (iv) make us more vulnerable to economic downturns and reduce our flexibility in responding to changing business and economic conditions.

Our failure to satisfy covenants in our debt instruments could cause a default under those instruments. Our debt instruments include a number of covenants relating to financial ratios and tests. Our ability to comply with these covenants may be affected by events beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial and industry conditions. The breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under these instruments. An event of default would permit our lenders and other debt holders to, among other things, declare all amounts borrowed from them to be due and payable, together with accrued and unpaid interest. If the lenders accelerate the repayment of borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay our debt.

Our increased leverage following the Transaction may adversely impact our business. We incurred substantial indebtedness to fund the Transaction. As a result, our debt to EBITDA ratio has increased significantly following the closing of the Transaction. If we do not perform in accordance with our expectations following the Transaction, we could be unable to reduce our debt to EBITDA ratio to be consistent with our prior levels, whether in anticipated timeframes or at all. We could also face difficulties servicing and complying with the covenants and other terms of our debt instruments. The 2024 Credit Facilities provide for floating-rate indebtedness, so increases in interest rates could result in higher interest expense and/or additional hedging costs. In addition, if we are unable to reduce our levels of indebtedness following the Transaction, we may be unable to pursue business and growth opportunities and uses of capital that would be beneficial to us and our stockholders, such as additional acquisitions and share repurchases.

Risk Factors Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

We may be more sensitive to revenue fluctuations than other companies, which could result in fluctuations in the market price of our common stock. A substantial majority of our operating expenses, such as personnel and related costs and occupancy costs, are relatively fixed in the short term. As a result, we may not be able to quickly reduce costs in response to any decrease in revenue. This factor could cause our quarterly results to be lower than expectations of securities analysts and stockholders, which could result in a decline in the price of our common stock.

The significant number of shares issuable as the stock consideration in the Transaction may adversely impact our stock price. There can be no assurance the Transaction will be accretive to earnings per share, at all or in expected timeframes. If we do not perform as expected following the Transaction or costs or assumed liabilities are greater than anticipated, our earnings per share could be adversely impacted by the significant increase in outstanding shares. In addition, Marcum partners are no longer subject to contractual limitations on their ability to resell shares they received upon the closing of the Transaction. Additionally, pursuant to the terms of the Transaction, CBIZ is obligated to deliver shares to the Marcum partners each month for 36 months following January 2, 2025. While the delivery of the stock consideration in installments over approximately four years may mitigate the potential for sales of a large volume at any particular time, persistent selling, or the perception of persistent selling, could adversely impact the market price of our common stock.

The future issuance of additional shares could adversely affect the price of our common stock. Future sales or issuances of common stock, including those related to the Transaction described below, or the perception that sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and dilute the percentage ownership held by our stockholders. We have authorized 250.0 million shares of common stock, and have approximately 54.7 million shares of common stock outstanding at January 31, 2026. A substantial number of these shares have been issued in connection with acquisitions, including the Transaction. As part of many acquisitions, shares are contractually restricted from sale for a one-year period, and as of January 31, 2026, approximately 63 thousand shares of our common stock were under lock-up contractual restrictions that expire by December 31, 2026. We cannot be sure when sales by holders of our stock will occur, how many shares will be sold or the effect that sales may have on the market price of our common stock.

Furthermore, once fully issued, the future stock consideration issuable from the Transaction is expected to constitute approximately 12%, as of December 31, 2025, of our outstanding shares of common stock, without giving

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effect to any subsequent issuances, repurchases or other changes in the number of shares outstanding. As a result, our current stockholders will own a meaningfully smaller percentage of the Company than they currently own, and collectively will have less ability to influence the Company’s management and policies. In addition, to the extent that Marcum partners retain a significant portion of the shares that are issued to them, they will collectively have significant influence on any matters requiring a vote of stockholders.

There is volatility in our stock price. The market for our common stock has, from time to time, experienced price and volume fluctuations. Factors such as announcements of variations in our quarterly financial results and fluctuations in revenue, as well as the expectations of stockholders and securities analysts regarding the ability of our business to grow and achieve certain revenue or profitability targets, could cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly. In addition, the stock market in general has experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of companies such as ours. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the price of our stock, regardless of our operating performance.

The price of our common stock could be adversely impacted if we do not perform to expectations following the Transaction. The market price of our common stock could be adversely affected if we do not perform to our own and investor expectations. We are a larger and more complex organization following the closing of the Transaction, and in order to maintain and earn the trust of our investors, we will have to effectively execute on our strategy and achieve the anticipated benefits and synergies of the Transaction. This process will take time, and it will be necessary to effectively communicate our progress and strategy to investors. If we experience challenges or delays in this process, it could adversely impact, or cause volatility in, our operating results. It could also result in a decrease in investor confidence and have an adverse impact to the market price of our common stock or cause increased volatility in trading prices.