Knowledge Hub
Practice finance,
explained properly.
In-depth guides to the funding decisions professional practices actually face: buying a practice or a fee block, funding partner capital, releasing cash from WIP and lock-up, spreading PII, paying tax on time and preparing an application lenders take seriously.
Starting a practice
How to Start a Law Firm: Authorisation, Costs and Funding the First Year
The regulatory steps, start-up costs and funding decisions involved in setting up a new law firm, from SRA authorisation and PII to cash flow in the first year.
How to Start an Accountancy Practice: Regulation, Costs and Funding
The regulatory steps, systems and cash flow planning involved in setting up an accountancy practice, and the choice between building a client base and buying a fee block.
Buying & ownership
Partner Capital Loans: How to Fund a Buy-in to a Partnership or LLP
How new partners and members fund their capital contribution to a partnership or LLP, what lenders look at, and what happens to the loan when you eventually leave.
Buying a Professional Practice: Every Cost You Need to Fund
A cross-profession checklist of what you need to fund when buying a law, accountancy, vet, pharmacy, optician, funeral, medical or architects’ practice, and the order to arrange it in.
Buying a Dental Practice: A Finance Guide for Buyers
A practical guide to funding a dental practice purchase: how the NHS and private income mix affects lenders, the approvals involved, and the order to put the finance together.
Fee Block Finance: How Accountancy and Advisory Practices Fund Buying a Client Book
A practical guide to financing a fee block purchase: how deals are priced and structured, what lenders look at, and how to protect cash flow while the clients bed in.
Funding Partner Retirement, Buy-outs and Practice Succession
How partnerships, LLPs and practice owners fund a retiring partner’s capital and goodwill, internal buy-outs and succession, and why planning early makes it easier.
How Much Is a Law Firm Worth? How UK Law Firms Are Valued
How buyers and sellers arrive at a value for a law firm, the factors that move the price, how WIP, lock-up and PII are dealt with, and how an acquisition is typically funded.
Selling a Dental Practice: How Sales Work and Why Buyer Finance Matters
A guide for practice owners to how dental practice sales work: valuation and goodwill, the NHS contract, regulator registration, your team, and how the buyer’s finance shapes the sale.
Buying a Pharmacy: Pharmacies for Sale and How to Fund the Purchase
A guide for pharmacists and pharmacy groups buying a pharmacy: finding pharmacies for sale, judging a listing, the NHS and GPhC steps, freeholds, stock and how purchases are usually funded, with a section for owners selling a pharmacy.
Becoming a GP Partner: Buying Into a GP Partnership and How to Fund It
A guide for GPs considering partnership: what a GP partner is, how it differs from a salaried role, the steps to becoming a partner, what a buy-in pays for and how lenders fund it.
Buying a Veterinary Practice: Vet Practices for Sale and How to Fund One
A guide for vets buying a practice: where veterinary practices for sale are found, how to judge one, RCVS premises registration on a change of owner, valuation, and how purchases are usually funded.
Selling an Accountancy Practice: Valuation, Clients and Buyer Finance
A guide for practice owners to selling an accountancy practice or a block of fees: valuation, retention and deferred payments, clients and confidentiality, your team, tax and how the buyer’s finance shapes the sale.
Cash flow & lock-up
WIP Finance for Law Firms: Funding Work in Progress, Disbursements and Lock-Up
Why profitable law firms run short of cash, the funding options that bridge work in progress and disbursements, and what lenders look at when assessing a firm.
Reducing Lock-Up in Professional Firms: How to Measure It and Bring It Down
How to measure lock-up in a professional firm, what drives it, the practical steps that reduce it, and where finance bridges the gap rather than fixing it.
Tax, PII & annual costs
Funding Your PII Renewal: Professional Indemnity Premium Finance Explained
How premium finance spreads the cost of professional indemnity insurance, what to check before signing, the regulatory context for solicitors, and the alternatives.
Funding Corporation Tax, VAT and Partners’ Tax: Loans or HMRC Payment Plans?
Why profitable practices still feel the squeeze at tax time, and how tax funding loans compare with an HMRC payment plan for corporation tax, VAT and partners’ self assessment.
Solicitors’ Run-off Cover: How It Works, What Drives the Cost and How to Fund It
What run-off cover is, when a law firm needs it, how successor practice rules work on a merger or sale, what happens after six years, and how to plan and fund the premium.
Applying for finance
What Lenders Look For in a Practice Finance Application, and How to Prepare
A practical guide to the documents, numbers and narrative lenders expect from professional practices, the common reasons applications stall, and how a broker presents the case.
Business Finance and Consumer Credit: When the Rules Apply to Your Practice
Who counts as an individual under consumer credit law, how the business purposes exemption works, and what it means for barristers, small partnerships and partners borrowing personally.
Does a Personal Guarantee Affect Your Credit Score or a Mortgage?
What a personal guarantee does and doesn’t put on your credit file, whether it gets in the way of a mortgage or a house move, how personal guarantee insurance works, and what to check before you sign.
Can’t find your question?
Ask a specialist.
Every practice’s position is different, and the guides can only go so far. If you are weighing up an acquisition, a partner change, a large renewal or a tax bill, a short confidential conversation will usually tell you which options are realistic before you approach a lender.
You can also start from what you need to fund, your profession or your practice’s stage.
To estimate repayments on a practice purchase, a partner buy-in, a PII premium or a tax bill, try our practice finance calculators.
This guide is for general information only and should not be treated as legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Funding availability and lender requirements depend on individual circumstances.
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