From around £10,000 to £500,000+Larger facilities available in suitable cases
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In short
Accountancy firms usually fund an office refit with a mix of asset finance for furniture, IT and meeting-room technology, and an unsecured term loan for building work that a lender cannot take back. Firms that own their premises can also borrow against the property. Lenders look at fee income and profit after the new costs, how much of the lease is left compared with the loan term, and whether the landlord has consented to the works.
An accountancy office has changed more in the last few years than in the previous twenty: fewer fixed desks, more rooms for video calls, paper files gone to the cloud, and a reception that has to impress an owner-managed business client as well as a pensioner dropping off a tax return. This page is for practice owners planning a refit and deciding how to pay for it. Smart Funding Solutions is a broker, not a lender: we search our panel of 300+ lenders for funding from around £10,000 to £500,000+, with larger facilities available in suitable cases. Every other kind of practice borrowing is covered on our accountancy practice loans hub.
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Hire purchase or leasing spreads the cost of equipment over its working life, with the equipment itself as the lender's security, which can reduce the reliance on personal guarantees. Our asset finance guide covers hire purchase against leasing, and our article on soft asset finance explains how funders treat software, telephony and installed systems. The trade-off is that IT has a short life, so a term longer than the equipment will last leaves the firm paying for kit it has replaced.
02
An unsecured loan for building works
Partitions, flooring and air conditioning have no resale value, so they are usually funded with an unsecured business loan assessed on the practice's fee income and profit. Terms are commonly a few years. Partners or directors are normally asked to give personal guarantees, which our guide to personal guarantees explains. Some lenders offer loans supported by the British Business Bank's Growth Guarantee Scheme, where the government guarantee sits with the lender; our Growth Guarantee Scheme guide covers eligibility.
03
Borrowing against premises you own
Firms that own their office, directly or through a partners' property vehicle, can raise a larger sum over a longer term with a secured business loan, or by refinancing onto a commercial mortgage that includes the refit budget. It suits a major project on a building the firm intends to keep; the property is at risk if repayments are missed, and valuation and legal work add time and cost.
04
A landlord contribution
Not borrowing, but often the cheapest money available. On a new lease or renewal, landlords may fund some works or offer a rent-free period in exchange for a longer commitment. Negotiate this before arranging finance, because it changes the amount needed and the lease term lenders will look at.
For larger or phased projects across several premises, our general guide to fit-out and refurbishment finance covers staged drawdowns and contractor payments.
What prompts an accountancy office refit
A lease event: renewal, a break clause or a move, where the new space needs fitting out and the old one may carry a dilapidations bill on exit.
A merger or acquisition: two teams moving into one office, often with a rebrand and a single reception, after the firm has bought another practice.
Hybrid working: staff in two or three days a week, so the firm swaps rows of desks for hot-desking, focus rooms and well-equipped meeting rooms.
Going paperless: removing filing rooms and an on-site server once client records and practice software move to the cloud, which frees floor space and changes the cabling.
Recruitment: trainees and qualified staff compare offices, and a tired one makes a hard hiring market harder.
Client confidentiality: private meeting rooms, secure document drop-off and controlled access to areas holding client data.
Timing matters in this profession more than most. Building work between November and the end of January competes with the self-assessment peak and the busiest year-ends, so most firms schedule works for late spring or summer and arrange funding a few months earlier.
Illustration: a £120,000 refit split two ways
Illustration only, with hypothetical round numbers. A 20-person practice moves to a smaller, better-configured floor on a new ten-year lease with no break for the first five years. The refit costs £120,000: £45,000 for furniture, laptops and meeting-room screens, and £75,000 for partitioning, lighting, cabling and decoration. The firm finances the equipment over three to five years through asset finance and takes a five-year unsecured loan for the building works, so neither term runs past the lease break. The landlord's contribution, negotiated as part of the new lease, reduces the loan requirement before any lender is approached.
Tax reliefs and the risks worth weighing
You will know the capital allowances position better than most borrowers, but it affects the after-tax cost and therefore the choice of structure. Furniture, computers and many integral features can qualify for the Annual Investment Allowance, while decoration and repairs are usually revenue expenses and some building alterations qualify for no relief at all; HMRC's list of what you can claim capital allowances on is the reference. Whether an item is leased or bought on hire purchase also changes who claims the allowance.
The risks are practical:
Refurbishments overrun, so allow a contingency and avoid borrowing the absolute maximum on the original quote.
Reinstatement clauses can mean paying to remove the works at the end of the lease.
Funding everything as one long loan can leave the firm repaying for laptops it has already replaced.
Phasing the work, or funding part from the year's profits, may cost less than borrowing the whole sum.
Underwriting
What lenders check on a practice refit
01
Affordability after the project
whether fee income covers the new repayments on top of rent, salaries, software subscriptions and the indemnity premium.
02
Lease length
lenders are wary of a loan that outlasts the lease or runs past a break clause, because the works would be left behind if the firm moved.
03
Landlord consent
most leases require a licence for alterations before works start, and may require the space to be reinstated when you leave.
04
Quality of the quotes
fixed-price contractor quotes with a clear schedule of works carry more weight than a budget estimate.
05
Fee stability
the share of recurring compliance fees and the firm's client retention, especially if the refit follows a merger.
06
Existing borrowing
any acquisition loans, partner capital loans or tax funding already being repaid.
Checklist
Documents for a refurbishment application
Contractor and supplier quotes, and the schedule of works
Invoices or quotes for furniture and IT, itemised so they can be asset financed
The lease, with any licence for alterations or landlord correspondence
Filed accounts and current management accounts
Recent business bank statements
A fee analysis showing recurring income
A cash flow forecast including the new repayments and any rent change
Side by side
Compare your options
How the main business finance structures work. Lenders set their own terms, so treat this as a guide to the questions to ask.
General information only. Every lender has its own criteria, and all finance is subject to status.
Splitting the budget by what each item is
Lenders fund physical assets, soft costs and building works in different ways, so the cheapest structure usually comes from dividing the budget before applying.
Element of the refit
Route that usually fits
Why
Desks, chairs, storage, meeting tables
Asset finance
Identifiable items the funder can own or take back
Laptops, screens, video conferencing, printers
Asset finance or leasing
Short useful life, so the term should be short too
Network cabling, Wi-Fi, door access, phone system
Soft asset finance or a term loan
Some funders treat installed technology as an asset; others do not
Partitioning, flooring, lighting, air conditioning, decoration
Unsecured term loan, or secured borrowing if you own the building
Becomes part of the building and cannot be recovered
Designer, project manager, building control fees
Term loan or cash
No asset to finance
Removals and dilapidations on the old office
Term loan or cash
A one-off cost, often agreed late
The broker’s view
How we put the funding together
Send us the quotes, the lease and your latest figures. We separate the budget into the parts that suit asset finance and the parts that need a loan, approach lenders on our panel for each, and compare the offers with you, including guarantees and early repayment terms. Each lender makes its own decision. We can also look at equipment financing on its own if the building works are being paid from cash. It is free to enquire; any broker fee is disclosed separately before you proceed.
What our clients say
I manage the VFO department at an accountancy practice and contacted Simon on behalf of a client whose unique situation made him appear unsuitable for finance. I had a chat with Simon and he got straight onto the case and found a fantastic finance deal which allows my client to take his business to the next level. Finance that appeared unattainable was sorted within a short period of time.
Accountancy practiceIntroduced a clientGoogle review
FAQs
Questions clients ask
Can a practice finance a refit before moving into a new office?
Yes, provided the lease is agreed or close to completion. Lenders will want to see the lease terms and the landlord's consent to the works, and some release funds in stages against contractor invoices rather than in one sum.
Should dilapidations on the old office be funded with the refit?
They can be, and it is often sensible to budget them together because the exit bill and the new fit-out land in the same months. The dilapidations figure is frequently negotiated late, so leave room in the facility or in cash rather than borrowing the first number the old landlord quotes.
Can a sole practitioner accountant get refurbishment finance?
Yes. The same routes apply, though smaller amounts are more likely to be assessed on personal income and credit history. Borrowing of £25,000 or less by sole traders and small partnerships can be regulated consumer credit, which brings additional protections.
Can the refit be funded as part of buying another practice?
Some lenders will include integration costs, including a refit, in an acquisition facility if they are budgeted from the start. Our pages on block of fees finance and buying an accountancy practice cover how that purchase is assessed.
Over what term can accountancy office refurbishment finance be repaid?
The term is normally matched to the useful life of what is being funded. Furniture, laptops and video conferencing kit on asset finance tend to run over shorter terms than building works, which may sit on a business loan or within a property facility if the practice owns its office. Lenders set their own limits, so splitting the budget lets each part run for a sensible period. See our guide to fit-out and refurbishment finance.
Accountancy partner buyout finance funds the continuing partners or directors when a partner or founder retires, covering…
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