Fourteen kinds of firm. One set of criteria.
Billable Capital funds professional-service firms of every kind — including the contingency practices, tax-season businesses and single-client firms that most lenders read as unstable. The criteria are the same for all of them: $15,000 a month in deposits, 6 months in business, no minimum credit score for working capital. What changes is the cash cycle, and which product fits it.
- Law firms
- Contingency-fee & personal injury firms
- Accounting & CPA firms
- Bookkeeping & tax preparers
- Management consultancies
- IT consulting & managed services
- Marketing & advertising agencies
- Design, branding & video production studios
- PR & communications firms
- Architecture firms
- Engineering firms
- Surveying & environmental consultants
- HR consultants & recruiters
- Firms with one anchor client
Law firms
Litigation, transactional, insurance defense, estate and family practices, from solo to mid-size.
- Cash cycle
- Hourly matters billed monthly, paid on net-30 to net-60 by the client’s AP department; flat-fee and retainer work that renews on the 1st; trust deposits that are not yours. Payroll runs twice a month regardless.
- What usually fits
- Working capital or a line for the gap between billing and collection; receivables funding for corporate and insurance-defense invoices; a term loan or SBA for a partner buyout.
- Underwriting note
- Send the operating account, not the IOLTA account. Trust funds are not revenue. A firm with thirty retainer clients reads as a very strong file.
Contingency-fee & personal injury firms
Plaintiff-side practices paid at settlement or verdict.
- Cash cycle
- Case costs — experts, records, depositions, filing fees — go out for months or years before the fee arrives, and the fee arrives all at once. Deposits are a handful of large settlements a year, not a steady monthly line.
- What usually fits
- Working capital for case costs and payroll between settlements, structured weekly; a line of credit opened the month after a settlement clears.
- Underwriting note
- Approved. Most lenders read a lumpy deposit history as instability. We read it as a contingency practice, size against your floor, and will ask about your docket and fee pipeline. Contingency fees cannot be factored until billed.
Accounting & CPA firms
Tax, audit, advisory, outsourced-CFO and monthly-close practices.
- Cash cycle
- Seasonal hiring starts in January; the fees land in April and May. Monthly-close and advisory clients pay on retainer or net-30. Summer is the floor for a tax-heavy firm.
- What usually fits
- A line of credit opened in June and drawn January to April; working capital for a hire or an acquisition of a retiring practitioner’s book. How CPA firms fund tax-season staffing →
- Underwriting note
- Send four months of statements, not three, so the window shows both a busy and a quiet month. A firm that has shifted toward monthly advisory fees sizes larger.
Bookkeeping & tax preparers
Independent bookkeepers, enrolled agents and storefront tax practices.
- Cash cycle
- Deposits can be heavily concentrated in February through April, with the rest of the year running well under the floor. Many clients pay by card or at the desk.
- What usually fits
- Working capital for seasonal staff and software, 4 to 6 months, timed to clear from spring receipts; a line of credit for firms with year-round bookkeeping clients.
- Underwriting note
- Approved. $15,000 a month in deposits is the floor, and an off-season month can sit just above it. Send four months and tell us which ones are off-season.
Management consultancies
Strategy, operations, change and boutique advisory firms.
- Cash cycle
- Engagements billed on milestones or monthly time-and-materials to corporate clients on net-45 to net-60. Staffing up for an engagement happens before the first invoice, and the bench between engagements is paid either way.
- What usually fits
- Working capital for the staff-up; receivables funding on the corporate invoices; a line for the bench months.
- Underwriting note
- Client concentration is normal and is not a decline. We will ask about the contract behind a single payer, and price a firm with several active clients more favourably.
IT consulting & managed services
MSPs, systems integrators, development shops and IT advisory firms.
- Cash cycle
- Monthly recurring service revenue sits alongside project work billed on milestones. Hardware, licences and subcontractors are paid before the client reimburses them.
- What usually fits
- A line of credit for licence and hardware pass-through; receivables funding on project invoices; working capital to staff a new contract.
- Underwriting note
- Recurring monthly service deposits are read the same way retainers are — as a floor. Pass-through hardware revenue is counted but noted as lower margin.
Marketing & advertising agencies
Full-service, digital, performance and media agencies.
- Cash cycle
- Retainers renew monthly; brands pay on 60- and 90-day terms; media and production are fronted before reimbursement. A lost retainer shows up in the statements the next month.
- What usually fits
- Receivables funding for the brand invoices; a line of credit for fronted media; working capital for a hire ahead of a new account.
- Underwriting note
- Pass-through media spend inflates both deposits and outflows. Tell us roughly what share of deposits is media, and we underwrite the agency fee underneath it rather than the gross.
Design, branding & video production studios
Brand studios, UX and product design, video and photo production.
- Cash cycle
- Project-based billing in thirds or halves — a deposit, a midpoint, a delivery payment — with the delivery invoice paid last and slowest. Crew, freelancers and gear rentals are paid during production.
- What usually fits
- Working capital for production costs between the deposit and the delivery payment; receivables funding on delivery invoices to business clients.
- Underwriting note
- Few, large, irregular deposits are expected and are underwritten weekly rather than daily. Send four months if the window contains a gap between projects.
PR & communications firms
Public relations, investor relations, public affairs and crisis communications firms.
- Cash cycle
- Monthly retainers from a modest number of clients, with pass-through costs for events and media monitoring. Retainer turnover is the main swing.
- What usually fits
- A line of credit sized to a month of retainers; working capital for a senior hire ahead of a new account.
- Underwriting note
- A retainer book is a strong file. We will ask how long the largest retainers have been in place.
Architecture firms
Residential, commercial and institutional architecture and interiors practices.
- Cash cycle
- Fees billed by phase — schematic, design development, construction documents, construction administration — to owners and developers who pay when their own financing allows. Consulting engineers and renderers are paid by the firm first.
- What usually fits
- Receivables funding on phase invoices to developers and public owners; working capital for consultant fees ahead of the phase payment; a term loan for a second studio or a buyout.
- Underwriting note
- Long payment cycles are normal here. A firm with several projects in different phases has a smoother deposit line than it feels like from the inside, and sizes accordingly.
Engineering firms
Civil, structural, MEP, geotechnical and environmental engineering practices.
- Cash cycle
- Progress billing to general contractors, developers and public agencies, often on pay-when-paid terms that stretch past 60 days. Licensed staff are expensive to carry through a slow billing month.
- What usually fits
- Receivables funding on progress invoices; a line of credit for the pay-when-paid gap; a term loan for an acquisition or a partner’s retirement.
- Underwriting note
- Public-agency receivables are strong collateral for a receivables facility. Tell us the payer mix — public, GC, private owner — and we structure to it.
Surveying & environmental consultants
Land surveyors, environmental assessment, remediation consulting and permitting specialists.
- Cash cycle
- Project fees tied to a closing or a permit date that slips; field crews and lab fees paid in the meantime. Spring and summer field seasons in much of the country.
- What usually fits
- Working capital for crew and lab costs through the field season; receivables funding on invoices to developers, lenders and agencies.
- Underwriting note
- Seasonal field work is underwritten like any other seasonal practice: four statements, payment sized to the floor.
HR consultants & recruiters
Executive search, contingency recruiting and HR advisory firms.
- Cash cycle
- Placement fees are invoiced on the candidate’s start date and paid 30 to 60 days later, with guarantee periods that can claw them back. Retained search is paid in thirds. Deposits swing with hiring cycles.
- What usually fits
- Receivables funding on placement invoices to corporate clients; a line of credit for the months between placements.
- Underwriting note
- Placement invoices inside a guarantee period are funded on a recourse basis. Tell us your typical guarantee term.
Firms with one anchor client
Any professional-service firm where one client is most of the billing.
- Cash cycle
- The firm is healthy, the invoices are paid, and every lender’s concentration rule says no. A single payer on net-60 means a single late payment is the whole month.
- What usually fits
- Receivables funding on the anchor client’s invoices if that client’s credit is strong; working capital or a line sized to the contract.
- Underwriting note
- Approved. We will ask to see the engagement letter or master services agreement and how long the relationship has run, and we price the concentration instead of declining it.
What a firm needs to qualify.
Every number below is a real criterion. If you clear these, apply. If you don’t, call us and we’ll tell you what would change it.
| Minimum monthly revenue | $15,000 in business bank deposits |
|---|---|
| Minimum time in business | 6 months |
| Minimum credit score | None for working capital or receivables funding. 600+ for a line of credit. 650+ for a term loan. 680+ for SBA. |
| Funding range | $10,000 to $2,000,000 for working capital. Up to $5,000,000 for term loans, SBA, and receivables facilities. |
| Time to a real offer | About 4 business hours on a complete file. |
| Time to funding | 24 hours. Same day if a clean file is signed before 11:00 AM ET. |
| Documents required | Application plus your 3 most recent months of business bank statements. 4 months if your billing is seasonal (tax season, contingency fees, year-end retainers). |
| Contract length | 2 pages. |
| Repayment | Fixed daily or weekly ACH from your operating account. No split funding. No holdback percentage. No lockbox on your operating account. |
| Prepayment discount | Up to 30% off the remaining cost of funding when a working capital advance is paid off within the first 30, 60, or 90 days. |
| Retainers & client billing | Counted. Retainer deposits, recurring client payments and lump-sum settlements all count toward your approval. Client trust (IOLTA) accounts are not underwritten as revenue — send the operating account. |
| Billing system requirement | None. Any practice-management, time-and-billing or invoicing system, or none at all. Underwriting is from bank statements. |
| Firm types approved | Law firms including contingency-fee practices, accounting and CPA firms, bookkeeping and tax preparers, management and IT consultancies, marketing, advertising, PR and creative agencies, architecture, engineering, surveying and environmental firms, HR consultants and recruiters. |
| Not required | Collateral for working capital. A business plan. Tax returns under $500,000. A minimum headcount or number of partners. A specific billing system. An audited financial statement. |
| Open to | U.S. businesses with a U.S. business bank account. All 50 states. |
Four minutes. Three bank statements. No credit impact to apply.
Questions by firm type.
Do you fund contingency-fee and personal injury firms?
Yes. A plaintiff-side practice with a handful of large settlements a year is approved at Billable Capital. Most lenders read a lumpy deposit history as instability; we size the payment against your slowest month and structure it weekly. Contingency fees cannot be factored until the matter resolves and the fee is billed.
Are the criteria different by firm type?
No. The same criteria apply to all fourteen types: $15,000 a month in business bank deposits, 6 months in business, and no minimum credit score for working capital or receivables funding. What changes by type is which product fits and how the payment is structured.
Does a client trust or IOLTA account count toward my deposits?
No. Trust funds belong to your clients and are not underwritten as revenue. Send statements for the firm’s operating account. Retainers that are earned and moved to operating count.
My firm has one big client. Will you decline for concentration?
No. We will ask to see the engagement letter or master services agreement and how long the relationship has run, and we price the concentration rather than declining it. If that client’s credit is strong, receivables funding on its invoices is often the best-priced option.
Do you fund a brand-new firm?
Six months in business and $15,000 a month in deposits is the floor for working capital. A receivables facility can open at 3 months in business with $20,000 in open B2B invoices. A spin-out from a larger firm that arrives with clients often clears both quickly.
Your kind of firm is on the list.
Including the three most lenders decline. $15,000 a month, six months open, no minimum FICO for working capital.