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What Centri shows us about AI visibility

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Cathleen Vermaak-Nisbet
By Cathleen Vermaak-Nisbet, Co-founder and CEO

GEO 16 min read

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Centri Business Consulting has a full page on IPO readiness. It covers PCAOB audit support, registration statements, SEC comment letters and SOX planning, and it names two of Centri's partners. [S1]

Yet when we asked AI which firms help a company get its accounting and finance ready for an IPO, Centri wasn't mentioned in any of the 21 answers we evaluated. Deloitte was mentioned in all 21.

Across 10 selected buyer questions, Centri appeared in 24 of 208 evaluated answers (only 11.5%). There were clear strengths as well as areas to investigate. Looking at the individual questions helps us understand both.

Centri is led by Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner Michael Aiello and President and Chief Operating Officer Gerald Wik, alongside Chief Growth Officer Adam Batchelor and Chief Marketing Officer Amanda Zeigler. [S5] The firm provides the working example here, but the process is useful for any business whose expertise helps clients decide who to hire.

0of 21

evaluated answers to “Which firms help a company get its accounting and finance ready for an IPO?” mentioned Centri. Deloitte was in all 21.

Across ten selected buyer questions, it appeared in 24 of 208 evaluated answers: 11.5%.

Source Fimiliar's AI visibility research, 31 October to 6 November 2026.Base: 21 evaluated answers to one buyer question. A short, focused test, not a score for the quality of the firm's work.

01The test

What we tested

We tracked 10 selected US buyer questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview from 31 October to 6 November 2026. Each question matches a service or industry Centri describes on its own website. This is a short, focused test. It doesn't describe everything AI knows about Centri, and it isn't a score for the quality of its work.

The useful question is where its published experience comes through in those answers, and where a buyer might need a clearer explanation or more supporting evidence. Many additional questions could reveal further opportunities, as well as areas of stronger visibility.

How to use findings like these

Start with the questions that matter to the clients you want to win. Compare the answers with your actual experience, then review how clearly that experience is explained and supported online. This is work a business can take practical steps on. To explore it for your firm, you can DM me or book a call and I'll get you started. [F1]

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02The results

The results by question

Figure 1 · By buyer question

Centri visibility by selected buyer question

How often Centri appeared in the evaluated answers to each question.

Centri visibility by selected buyer question Horizontal bar chart of the share of evaluated AI answers to each of the ten buyer questions that mentioned Centri: biotech and life sciences 45.0% (9 of 20); outsourced SEC reporting 33.3% (7 of 21); technical accounting papers 15.0% (3 of 20); de-SPAC accounting 14.3% (3 of 21); crypto and digital assets 4.8% (1 of 21); first PCAOB audit and SOX 4.8% (1 of 21). Centri was not mentioned, 0%, for IPO readiness (0 of 21), quality of earnings for private equity (0 of 21), interim CFO (0 of 21) and outsourced accounting for a startup (0 of 21). Biotech and life sciences45.0%9 of 20 Outsourced SEC reporting33.3%7 of 21 Technical accounting papers15.0%3 of 20 De-SPAC accounting14.3%3 of 21 Crypto and digital assets4.8%1 of 21 First PCAOB audit and SOX4.8%1 of 21 IPO readiness0%NOT MENTIONED0 of 21 Quality of earnings for PE0%NOT MENTIONED0 of 21 Interim CFO0%NOT MENTIONED0 of 21 Outsourced accounting for a startup0%NOT MENTIONED0 of 21
Figure 1. How often Centri appeared in the evaluated answers to each question. Source: Fimiliar research, 31 October to 6 November 2026. Labels are shortened here; the exact questions are listed at the end. There were 21 evaluated answers per question, except biotech and technical accounting, which had 20.

Centri appeared in 9 of 20 answers about biotech and life sciences, and 7 of 21 about outsourced SEC reporting. For technical accounting position papers and for de-SPAC work, it appeared three times each. For crypto and for a first PCAOB audit, it appeared once. It didn't appear at all for four questions, including IPO readiness, quality of earnings for private equity deals and finding an interim CFO.

That doesn't tell us Centri lacks those capabilities. It tells us the firm wasn't mentioned in the answers we recorded for those questions. A different question or another day could produce a different result.

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03IPO readiness

A closer look at IPO readiness

Centri's IPO readiness page gives us something concrete to compare with the AI answers: a defined service, the work it covers, and the partners named on it, Christopher Mora and Derek Kearns. [S1]

Who did AI mention instead? One ChatGPT answer from 6 November suggested a shortlist of Deloitte, CFGI, Riveron, Accordion, Embark and RSM, and singled out the firms that work alongside a company's CFO and controller. That's one answer, rather than a complete competitor list.

The pages AI cited for this question were mostly firms' own IPO pages and guides. Riveron's guide to preparing accounting and finance for an IPO was cited in eight answers. [U1] No Centri page was cited for this question, even though the dedicated page exists.

Before and after · One GEO fix

Before fixes: a buyer asks ChatGPT which firms help a company get its accounting and finance ready for an IPO, and the answer lists Deloitte, CFGI, Riveron and RSM, with Centri missing; 0 of 21 AI answers mentioned Centri. After fixes, an illustrative target: the same answer lists Centri Business Consulting second, with a link to its IPO readiness page.
Before and after. The "after" is an illustrative target, not a measured result. No single change guarantees an AI recommendation. Source: Fimiliar research, 31 October to 6 November 2026; Centri's page reviewed 11 November 2026.

What I would do with this

A practical first step would be to make the IPO readiness page answer the question a buyer actually asks: what needs to be in place, in what order, and who does each part. Link it to the SEC reporting, technical accounting and PCAOB audit work Centri already describes, so it connects to the areas where AI does recognise the firm. An explanation from Christopher Mora or Derek Kearns, in their own words, would add the expert voice a page like this needs. Client-approved examples, even anonymised ones with a timeframe and an outcome, would give AI something specific to cite.

What to test next

Track related questions separately: IPO readiness for venture-backed companies, for life sciences companies, and for companies that already use an outside SEC reporting provider. Read the answers and the percentages. Check which firms are named, what work they are described as doing and which pages are cited.

04Quality of earnings

Quality of earnings and the lists AI reads

Centri's private equity page lists buy-side and sell-side financial due diligence and quality of earnings. [S2] It also publishes a case study on a private equity add-on acquisition, where the buyer closed the books of its new subsidiary within seven days of period end. [S6]

Yet when we asked which firms do quality of earnings and financial due diligence for private equity deals, Centri appeared in none of the 21 answers.

Two lists AI cited for this question, each in six answers, don't include Centri. Dealroom's list of financial due diligence firms names 24 firms, and a 2026 review of quality of earnings providers names seven. [U2] [U3] When a buyer asks AI for a shortlist, pages like these are part of what it reads.

0of 21

evaluated answers about quality of earnings and financial due diligence for private equity deals mentioned Centri.

Two lists AI cited for this question, in six answers each, don't include Centri.

Source Fimiliar's AI visibility research, 31 October to 6 November 2026.Base: 21 evaluated answers to one buyer question.

What I would make easier to find

  • A quality of earnings page in its own right, rather than a line on the private equity page.
  • What the work covers, how long it usually takes and what the buyer receives at the end.
  • The add-on acquisition case study, linked from that page, with the due diligence role spelt out.
  • The people who lead the work, and their experience.
  • A short note to the editors of the lists AI reads, asking them to consider Centri, with evidence.

05Crypto

Listed, but still not named: crypto

Centri is listed as a Certified Partner on Bitwave's directory of crypto accounting firms. AI cited that directory in nine of the crypto answers. [U4] Centri still appeared in only one of 21 answers to “Which accounting firms specialize in crypto and digital asset companies?”

Centri's digital assets page describes the work, and its Fintech and Digital Assets practice is led by Mike Andrusko. [S4] In this test, being listed wasn't enough to be named. A clearer explanation on Centri's own site, linked to and from the places that already list it, would give AI more to work with.

06Interim CFOs

An open question: interim CFOs

When we asked where a company can find an interim CFO quickly after its CFO leaves, none of the 11 firms we tracked appeared in any of the 21 answers. AI cited interim executive marketplaces and staffing firms instead.

Centri's CFO advisory page lists “interim needs for contract CFO services due to an unexpected vacancy”. [S3] That's the exact situation in the question. No firm in our tracked set owns this answer yet, which makes it an open opportunity rather than a lost one.

07Strengths

Build on the recognition Centri already has

Centri appeared in nine of 20 biotech and life sciences answers, including every ChatGPT answer to that question. It appeared in seven of 21 answers about outsourced SEC reporting, including five of the seven Google AI Overview answers. When Centri was named, it was the first firm we tracked in 14 of its 24 appearances.

Centri's own website is part of that. It was the third most-cited website across the whole test, after Deloitte's and EisnerAmper's. But almost all of those citations sat on SEC reporting, biotech and technical accounting. The same approach could carry over to IPO readiness, quality of earnings and interim CFO support.

Centri also publishes measurable results in this area. Its SEC reporting case study reports a financial close shortened by two business days, and draft SEC financial statements produced four business days faster. [S7]

08The sources

The sources are worth looking at too

We also looked at specific pages cited in the audit. That helps us see how other firms are described and where Centri already appears. The counts below are the number of evaluated answers that cited each page.

Table 1 · Cited pages

Four pages AI cited, and what to do about eachWhat we found on each page, and what I would do.
Page AI citedWhat we foundWhat I would do
Bitwave crypto accounting directory9 answersLists Centri as a Certified Partner. [U4]Make sure Centri's own digital assets page explains the same work, and links both ways.
Riveron guide to IPO readiness8 answersRiveron's own guide. No other firms named. [U1]Publish an equally useful IPO readiness guide on Centri's site.
Dealroom list of due diligence firms6 answersLists 24 firms. Centri isn't on it. [U2]Ask the publisher to consider Centri, with evidence to back it up.
Review of quality of earnings providers6 answersLists 7 providers. Centri isn't on it. [U3]Check the criteria and, if it fits, ask to be considered.

Source Fimiliar's AI visibility research, 31 October to 6 November 2026. Company and source pages reviewed 11 November 2026. Number of evaluated answers that cited each page.

These sources suggest places to check and possible content improvements. They don't prove why any firm was recommended or omitted. Most pages AI cited were firms' own service pages, which is a useful pattern in itself: AI often cites the firm whose page matches the question.

09Where you ask

The answer also depends on where you ask

Figure 2 · Tracked firms

Eight of the eleven tracked firms in the same audit

Share of the 208 evaluated answers that mentioned each firm.

Eight of the eleven tracked firms in the same audit Horizontal bar chart of the share of the 208 evaluated AI answers that mentioned each of eight tracked firms: Deloitte 46.6% (97 of 208), EisnerAmper 21.2% (44 of 208), CFGI 20.7% (43 of 208), BPM 18.8% (39 of 208), Aprio 15.4% (32 of 208), Cherry Bekaert 12.0% (25 of 208), Centri 11.5% (24 of 208) and CohnReznick 9.6% (20 of 208). Centri is highlighted. The bar scale runs from 0 to 50%. Deloitte46.6%97 of 208 EisnerAmper21.2%44 of 208 CFGI20.7%43 of 208 BPM18.8%39 of 208 Aprio15.4%32 of 208 Cherry Bekaert12.0%25 of 208 Centri11.5%24 of 208 CohnReznick9.6%20 of 208
Figure 2. Eight of the eleven tracked firms, measured against the same 208 evaluated answers. Several firms can appear in one answer. These figures describe our test, rather than market share or firm quality. Firms we didn't track, such as RSM, PwC, EY and KPMG, also appeared in answers.

Figure 3 · By AI engine

The same question set returned different results by engine

Share of answers on each engine that mentioned Centri.

The same question set returned different results by engine Horizontal bar chart of the share of evaluated answers on each AI engine that mentioned Centri: Google AI Overview 16.2% (11 of 68), ChatGPT 11.4% (8 of 70) and Perplexity 7.1% (5 of 70). The bar scale runs from 0 to 20%. Google AI Overview16.2%11 of 68 ChatGPT11.4%8 of 70 Perplexity7.1%5 of 70
Figure 3. Centri appeared in 11 of 68 Google AI Overview answers, 8 of 70 ChatGPT answers and 5 of 70 Perplexity answers. Source: Fimiliar research, 31 October to 6 November 2026.

Centri's visibility varied between the platforms. Seven of its eight ChatGPT mentions came from one question, biotech and life sciences, which is another reason to look beyond an overall percentage.

A useful ongoing review would measure each platform separately and read full answers too.

10Practical steps

Practical steps a business can take

IPO readiness and quality of earnings

IPO readiness and quality of earnings would be useful places to start this review. Both connect a published service with no visibility in the tested question. The order of further work should reflect the clients Centri wants to win and the evidence it can share. This audit doesn't measure how often buyers ask each question.

  1. 1. Keep the original questions and results, so there’s a clear starting point for comparison.
  2. 2. Review the pages and work already on the website. Improve a useful existing page before adding another one covering the same ground.
  3. 3. Speak to the people doing the work. Get the explanations and client permissions needed to publish something specific.
  4. 4. Connect the service explanation, relevant work and expert content so a buyer can move between them easily. Check that the pages are accessible.
  5. 5. Review the third-party pages appearing in the audit. Correct errors and ask for editorial consideration where the firm is a relevant fit.
  6. 6. Track the same questions again over comparable periods. Keep a record of what changed, including other content, PR and source updates.

Check whether the work is helping

Look for relevant mentions, accurate descriptions of the business and citations to useful pages. Where reliable data exists, track enquiries and qualified meetings too.

Improvement should be assessed over time. A visibility change alone doesn't establish that one page caused it or that more business followed.

11The starting point

Ten questions are only the starting point

The value of a small audit is that it makes the next steps specific.

Centri has relevant work and recognised strengths to build on. The areas identified here can be investigated and improved through ordinary content, evidence and website maintenance work, while tracking what happens next. A wider programme could find many more opportunities, but their scale and value would need to be measured.

The workbook sets out the page briefs and a 90-day plan for the opportunities in this audit. If you'd like to know what AI recommends when buyers look for a firm like yours, apply for a GEO audit.

Apply for a GEO audit

12Workbook

The Centri workbook

The Centri AI Visibility Action Plan turns the opportunities in this audit into practical work, using Centri as the working example.

It includes:

  • Ten fixes from this audit, starting with IPO readiness and quality of earnings
  • A page brief for each fix
  • Checklists to work through
  • A 90-day plan

It's designed to be useful whether a business does the work itself or with outside support.

The Centri AI visibility workbook lying on a wooden table next to a cup of coffee, showing 11.5% visibility across 208 evaluated responses

Free workbook (PDF)

Download the Centri AI Visibility Action Plan

Download the Centri workbook

Prepared by Fimiliar.

We help B2B service businesses become more fimiliar to the buyers they want to reach. Through research, expert content, authority building and relationship-led marketing, we connect visibility with commercial opportunities.

Fimiliar | Capture today's demand. Build tomorrow's pipeline.

13 · Methodology

How we ran the audit

We evaluated 208 AI answers to ten selected US buyer questions from 31 October to 6 November 2026. Centri appeared in 24. Visibility is the share of evaluated answers mentioning the firm: 24 divided by 208, or 11.5% rounded to one decimal place. Repeated mentions within an answer do not increase that count.

The evaluated base comprises 70 ChatGPT answers, 70 Perplexity answers and 68 Google AI Overview answers. Each question ran once a day on each platform. Two Google AI Overview runs, on 3 and 5 November, produced no evaluated answer, so the base is 208 rather than 210.

The overall percentage gives each evaluated answer equal weight. These are repeated AI outputs, not independent survey respondents.

The competitor comparison covers the eleven firms we tracked; other firms also appeared in answers.

The audit does not measure market demand, lost revenue or the causal effect of content changes.

The ten questions

  1. 1.Which firms help a company get its accounting and finance ready for an IPO?0/21 (0.0%)
  2. 2.Which firm can act as an outsourced SEC reporting team for a public company?7/21 (33.3%)
  3. 3.Who can help with de-SPAC accounting and SEC filings?3/21 (14.3%)
  4. 4.Who can help a private company prepare for its first PCAOB audit and SOX compliance?1/21 (4.8%)
  5. 5.Who can write technical accounting position papers for a company preparing to go public?3/20 (15.0%)
  6. 6.What is the best outsourced accounting and fractional CFO firm for a venture-backed startup?0/21 (0.0%)
  7. 7.Where can a company find an interim CFO quickly after its CFO leaves?0/21 (0.0%)
  8. 8.Which firms do quality of earnings and financial due diligence for private equity deals?0/21 (0.0%)
  9. 9.Which accounting firms specialize in crypto and digital asset companies?1/21 (4.8%)
  10. 10.Which firms help biotech and life sciences companies with accounting and SEC reporting?9/20 (45.0%)

Audit data was retrieved, and company sources were checked on 11 November 2026. Later monitoring is excluded. Titles are taken from Centri's team page.

14 · Sources

Sources and further reading

Company and source pages were reviewed on 11 November 2026. Figures and charts are from Fimiliar AI visibility research, 31 October to 6 November 2026. The questions, evaluated bases and limitations are stated above. The individual answer example illustrates one response, rather than the full set of recommendations.

15Questions

What people ask about Centri and AI search.

or pick the ones to ask your AI

How visible is Centri Business Consulting in AI search?

In Fimiliar’s research, Centri appeared in 24 of 208 evaluated AI answers, or 11.5%, across ten selected US buyer questions on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview from 31 October to 6 November 2026. It appeared in 9 of 20 answers about accounting and SEC reporting for biotech and life sciences companies, but wasn’t mentioned in any of the 21 answers about getting accounting and finance ready for an IPO.

Does Centri appear differently on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview?

Yes. Centri appeared in 11 of 68 Google AI Overview answers (16.2%), 8 of 70 ChatGPT answers (11.4%) and 5 of 70 Perplexity answers (7.1%). Seven of the eight ChatGPT mentions came from one question, biotech and life sciences. That’s a good reason to measure each platform separately and read the full answers, rather than relying on one overall percentage.

Which tracked firms appeared more often than Centri?

In the same test, Deloitte appeared in 97 of 208 evaluated answers (46.6%), EisnerAmper in 44 (21.2%), CFGI in 43 (20.7%), BPM in 39 (18.8%), Aprio in 32 (15.4%) and Cherry Bekaert in 25 (12.0%), compared with 24 (11.5%) for Centri. CohnReznick appeared in 20. Several firms can appear in one answer, and these figures describe our test, rather than market share or firm quality.

How was AI visibility measured in the Centri audit?

Visibility is the share of evaluated answers mentioning Centri: 24 divided by 208, or 11.5%. The evaluated base was 70 ChatGPT answers, 70 Perplexity answers and 68 Google AI Overview answers to ten selected US buyer questions, tracked from 31 October to 6 November 2026. Repeated mentions within an answer do not increase that count.

What practical steps can a business take to improve its AI visibility?

Fimiliar’s Centri audit points to six practical steps. Keep the original questions and results as a starting point. Review the pages and work already on your website. Speak to the people doing the work. Connect the service explanation, relevant work and expert content. Review the third-party pages that appear in the answers. Then track the same questions again over comparable periods.

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