Industry guide
Business finance for professional services
Professional firms sell time. There is little to secure a loan against, so lending is assessed on fee income, work in progress and the partners themselves.
Professional services finance is lending to accounting, legal, engineering, architecture and consulting firms, funding work in progress, office fit-outs, technology and partner buy-ins against fee income rather than physical assets.
The defining financial feature of a professional services firm is work in progress. Staff are paid every fortnight while a matter, an audit or a design package runs for weeks or months before it can be billed, and then sits in debtors for another 30 to 60 days. Accounting practices feel it most acutely around tax season; law firms carry it on litigation and property matters; engineering and architecture firms carry it across long project phases. Profitable firms routinely have most of their annual profit sitting in unbilled WIP and receivables at any given moment.
There is very little to secure a loan against. Balance sheets consist of debtors, WIP, some technology and a fit-out worth nothing on exit. That pushes professional firms toward unsecured lending, debtor finance and, where partners own property, secured facilities against personal real estate. Lenders do view established professional firms favourably — client relationships are sticky and fee income is recurring — and some panel lenders will treat accounting and legal practices as a preferred category, particularly for fee funding and partner buy-in finance.
The cash-flow pattern we plan around
Fortnightly salaries against work in progress that is billed weeks later and then paid on 30–60 day terms, with seasonal peaks around tax and reporting deadlines.
What professional services typically fund
- Funding work in progress and unbilled time
- Office fit-out and relocation
- Practice management software, servers and devices
- Partner buy-in or practice acquisition
- Hiring ahead of contracted work
Documents lenders usually ask professional services for
- ABN and two years of practice financials
- Aged debtors and work-in-progress reports
- Fit-out, equipment quote or partnership agreement
Finance options for professional services
Unsecured business loan for professional services
Because a professional firm has almost nothing tangible to offer as security, unsecured lending does much of the work. A term loan funds a specific event — an office move, a lateral hire, a tax liability, or a partner exit — with a clear repayment schedule out of fee income.
Business line of credit for professional services
A revolving limit is the natural fit for a WIP-driven business. Draw during the months when unbilled work is high, repay as fee notes are issued and settled, and hold the headroom for the next cycle.
Invoice finance for professional services
Firms billing corporate and government clients on 45 or 60-day terms can advance against fee notes as they are issued. Engineering and consulting practices with large institutional clients are good candidates; the debtors are strong even if the payment terms are slow.
Fit-out finance for professional services
A professional office fit-out — partitioning, meeting rooms, joinery, acoustic treatment, reception and cabling — is a substantial spend that has no resale value and cannot be taken with you. Fit-out finance spreads it across the lease term instead of consuming the firm’s cash reserves, which in a partnership usually means preserving partner drawings.
Business acquisition finance for professional services
Professional practices change hands constantly — a partner buying in, a firm acquiring a smaller book, a retiring principal selling a client list. Lenders on our panel will lend against fee-base goodwill for accounting and legal practices in particular, because client retention after a well-managed transition is high.
Technology finance for professional services
Practice management platforms, document and matter management systems, cloud migrations, laptops and monitors for a hybrid workforce, and cyber security tooling are ongoing rather than one-off costs. Technology finance funds hardware, software licences and implementation labour as one facility over about three years.
Assets we finance for professional services
Lenders active in this space
Banjo, Macquarie, Moneytech, Westpac — among others on our panel of 18+. Your broker checks fit before anything is submitted.
Key terms
Professional services finance
Professional services finance is lending to fee-based firms such as accountants, lawyers, engineers and consultants, assessed on fee income, debtors and work in progress rather than on physical security.
Work in progress funding
Work in progress funding is finance that covers the cost of work performed but not yet invoiced, bridging the gap between paying staff and issuing the fee note that recovers their time.