Funding Options for Accounting Firms, Compared
Not every option below is something we offer. Several are better than what we offer, for the right firm. Here is the honest map.
Bank term loan
Best for: established firms with strong, consistent financials and time to wait.
The cheapest money available. If your firm has multiple profitable years, clean financials and a banking relationship, start here — and if you qualify, take it.
The catch for a seasonal practice: underwriting leans on consistency. A revenue curve with four heavy months and eight thin ones reads as volatility, and the review runs weeks. If you need capital for December hiring and you start the conversation in November, you will likely miss the season.
SBA loans
Best for: practice acquisition and large, planned expansion.
SBA pricing is genuinely good and the structures suit buying a retiring practitioner's book. Often the right answer for acquisition.
The catch: the timeline is measured in months and the documentation is heavy. Byzfunder does not offer SBA loans — if that is your fit, a bank or an SBA-preferred lender is where to go.
Practice acquisition lending
Best for: buying another firm's client list or merging in a retiring practitioner.
A specialist niche with lenders who understand that a tax practice's main asset is a recurring client relationship. Worth approaching directly for a sizeable acquisition.
Merchant cash advance
Best for: a defined, time-sensitive need where speed decides the outcome.
An MCA is a purchase of a fixed amount of your future receivables at an agreed factor rate, repaid as an agreed share of receipts. It is not a loan and does not carry an interest rate; the cost is the factor rate, and you should calculate the total dollar cost before signing.
Why it suits the shape: repayment tracks receipts, so it accelerates through February and March and eases in May. That alignment is the point.
The honest part: it is more expensive than bank credit. It is priced for speed and for accepting files a bank declines. It is a real obligation with real consequences for non-payment. Qualification starts at a 525 FICO and funding can be same-day on approved files.
Revenue-based revolving capital (ByzFlex)
Best for: costs that arrive in waves rather than all at once.
Use what you need, repay, and the capacity becomes available again. For a firm spending on marketing in November, payroll in December and software in January, three requests beat one lump sum taken early and carried unused.
It is revenue-based revolving capital, not a bank line of credit, and should not be compared to one on price. Qualification starts at a 550 FICO.
Business credit cards
Best for: software, subscriptions, small equipment.
For a few thousand dollars of annual renewals, a card with a promotional rate is often cheaper and simpler than any funding product. Not a serious tool for payroll.
Equipment financing
Best for: workstations, servers, scanners.
Secured by the equipment, usually cheaper than unsecured capital. If the need is strictly hardware, this beats general working capital.
How to choose
| Your situation | Start with |
|---|---|
| Strong financials, 60+ days of runway | Bank term loan |
| Buying a practice or client book | SBA or practice-acquisition lender |
| Hardware only | Equipment financing |
| Software and subscriptions only | Business credit card |
| One defined pre-season investment, needed fast | MCA |
| Several costs arriving across the season | Revenue-based revolving capital |
| Declined by the bank, season starting | MCA or revolving capital |
Two tests before any of it:
- Does the return beat the cost? For a seasonal hire, does the billable work clear the fully
loaded cost plus the capital? Write the number down.
- What happens if the season disappoints? If the answer is "we cannot make the payments," the
amount is too large regardless of product.
Where Byzfunder fits
We fund MCA and ByzFlex directly from our own balance sheet, and advertise a term loan arranged or made through our affiliated entity. Files that do not fit our box are sometimes placed with another funder in our network rather than simply declined.
We are a reasonable answer for a firm the bank turned down, or one that needs capital inside a season that has already started. We are not the cheapest capital in the market, and if you qualify for bank pricing you should take it.
Approval is based on file fit. No one can promise approval before seeing your file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an accounting firm qualify for funding outside tax season?
Yes. Underwriting looks at the full-year deposit pattern, not a single month. A practice that bills most of its revenue between January and April is a recognised seasonal shape, and a quiet July is expected rather than disqualifying. Approval still depends on file fit — time in business, deposit history and FICO — and no one can promise it before seeing the file.
Is a merchant cash advance a loan?
No. An MCA is the purchase of a fixed amount of your future receivables at an agreed factor rate, repaid as an agreed share of receipts. It has no interest rate and no fixed monthly payment, but it is a real obligation with real consequences if it is not repaid. Work out the total dollar cost, not just the factor rate, before you sign.
What is the difference between ByzFlex and a business line of credit?
ByzFlex is revenue-based revolving capital, not a bank line of credit, and the two should not be compared on price. You request what you need, repay, and the capacity becomes available again. Pricing and qualification follow revenue rather than bank credit standards — ByzFlex starts at a 550 FICO, where an MCA starts at 525.
Should a firm borrow for a seasonal preparer hire?
Only if the arithmetic clears. Take the preparer's fully loaded cost from December through April, subtract it from the returns they can realistically complete multiplied by your average fee, then subtract the cost of the capital for the months you hold it. If what remains is comfortably positive the hire funds itself. If it is thin, hire fewer; if it is negative, do not borrow to make it.
We were declined by our bank. Does that rule out funding?
No. A bank decline is the ordinary starting point for most of the businesses we fund — banks weigh collateral and a clean, unbroken financial history, and a seasonal practice frequently fails both tests on paper. Revenue-based underwriting reads the deposit pattern instead. It is more expensive than bank credit, which is the honest trade; if you qualify for bank pricing, take it.
How fast can a tax practice actually get funded?
Same-day funding is available on approved files. The realistic path is an application, three months of business bank statements, an underwriting decision, and funding once the offer is accepted. The thing most firms get wrong is timing rather than speed: applying in November leaves room to compare offers, while applying the week seasonal payroll starts does not.