Fast business loans for professional services

Where the cash goes in a professional firm

Professional services firms sell time and expertise. Their biggest cost is people, paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Their revenue arrives after the work is done, invoiced and — eventually — paid. In between sits work in progress (time spent but not yet billed) and debtors (billed but not yet paid).

When a big project runs long before its milestone invoice, a major client stretches payment, or the firm hires ahead of new work, that gap widens quickly. Add a quarterly BAS or a partner leaving with a payout due, and fast funding becomes necessary.

Common funding needs

Need	Trigger	Suggested pathway
Salaries during a WIP or debtor gap	Slow billing or slow payers	Line of credit
Partner buy-out or buy-in	Retirement, departure, succession	Buying a business, often property-secured
Hiring ahead of new clients	Contract win	Payroll funding or working capital
Office fit-out or move	Lease start	Secured or unsecured loan
BAS and tax bills	Quarter end	BAS funding
Acquiring another firm or client book	Opportunity	Property-secured loan

Firm types and their funding patterns

Accounting and bookkeeping practices have strong seasonal peaks around tax deadlines and frequently buy or sell client books.

Management and technical consultancies run project-based billing, often with large milestone invoices and long payment terms from corporate or government clients.

Marketing, design and digital agencies carry media and production costs on behalf of clients, sometimes paying suppliers before clients pay them.

IT services and managed service providers combine recurring monthly revenue with project work and hardware purchases.

Legal practices carry disbursements and work in progress on matters that may take months to bill.

Engineering and architecture firms bill by stage and often wait on client approvals before invoicing.

What lenders look for

• Billings and receipts — steady, regular deposits from a spread of clients.
• Debtor quality — who owes you, and how quickly they pay. An aged debtors report tells this at a glance.
• Client concentration — reliance on one or two clients is common but considered carefully.
• Tax position — BAS lodged and paid, or a plan in place.
• Security — few firms own significant hard assets, so property owned by partners or directors often drives speed for larger amounts.

Partner leaving or big client paying late? Tell a specialist what’s needed — no credit check to enquire.

Partner exits: planning a quick, clean payout

A partner’s departure is one of the most common reasons professional firms need a large amount quickly. The departing partner wants certainty; the remaining partners want continuity. Practical steps:

1. Confirm the payout figure and timing under the partnership or shareholder agreement.
2. Get your accountant to model the firm’s cash flow without the departing partner’s drawings — often the loan can be repaid from them.
3. Identify security — typically homes or investment properties owned by the remaining partners.
4. Arrange funding before the exit date, not after.

Questions to expect on the first call

• What does the firm do, how long has it traded and how many staff?
• What’s the funding for and when is it needed?
• Who are the top clients and what share of revenue do they represent?
• What are typical debtor days?
• Is property available among the owners?

Mistakes to avoid

• Billing late. Every week of unbilled work is a week of self-funded salaries.
• Letting BAS slide during a busy period.
• Funding a partner payout without modelling cash flow after the exit.
• Hiring before the contract is signed.

An illustrative example

A Sydney engineering consultancy wins a major infrastructure design contract billed on stage completion, with the first stage invoice about four months away. It needs to hire six engineers now. The firm sets up a line of credit sized to four months of the extra salaries and super, draws monthly, and repays as stage invoices are paid. Illustrative only.

Work in progress: the hidden loan you’re already making

Every hour your team works before an invoice goes out is, in effect, a loan from your firm to your client. On a long project with milestone billing, that can add up to months of salaries. Many firms don’t see it because it doesn’t appear as debt — it appears as an empty bank account.

Three habits shrink it:

• Bill progressively wherever the engagement allows, rather than on completion.
• Ask for retainers or upfront fees on new clients and large projects.
• Review WIP weekly, not at month-end, so unbilled time is caught early.

What remains after those habits is the genuine working capital need, and that’s the figure to fund — usually with a line of credit that rises and falls with the billing cycle.

Buying a client book or another firm

Acquisitions are common in accounting, financial services, IT and other professional sectors. The price is usually based on recurring fees, and the risk is client retention after the sale. Lenders funding a book purchase quickly will typically rely on property security rather than the book itself, while the buyer does due diligence on client retention, fee levels and any restraints. Structuring part of the price as a retention-based payment can reduce both the upfront funding and the risk.

Keep your people paid and your clients served

Professional firms run on talent and time; funding gaps shouldn’t disrupt either. Enquiring doesn’t involve a credit check, your details aren’t sent around a panel of lenders, and a real person reviews your billings and plans before suggesting a structure. Please give us accurate billings and debtor information on the form. See if you qualify.