Industry · professional services
Underwriting MCAs in Professional services
Professional service merchants — accountants, attorneys, consultants, agencies — bill in retainers, project fees, and consulting engagements, producing a deposit pattern where customer concentration on long-term retainer clients is structural rather than risky.
Key takeaways
- Retainer clients dominate revenue legitimately.
- Project-based fees are larger and lumpier.
- ACH from corporate clients is the dominant channel.
- Trust account flows are separate from operating revenue.
- Personal-to-business mixing is more common than other segments.
How underwriting differs
A professional services firm may have 40% of revenue from three retainer clients. That is normal. Concentration limits for retail or restaurants do not apply here.
Project fees produce lumpy deposits — a $50K consulting engagement may settle in two payments. Lumpiness is real business reality, not manipulation.
Trust accounts (legal, accounting) hold client funds and appear as bidirectional flows. Industry tuning prevents these from triggering kiting or symmetry flags.
Common deposit signatures
| Type | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Retainer payments | Recurring monthly or quarterly ACH from corporate clients. |
| Project fees | Larger, irregular deposits tied to engagement completion. |
| Hourly billings | Smaller, frequent deposits with invoice references. |
| Trust account flows | Inflows and outflows on client trust accounts, distinct from operating revenue. |
Common fraud patterns to watch
Personal-to-business kiting
Self-transfers from personal accounts into the business account inflating apparent revenue.
Friendly-client recycling
Money sent to a related party (own LLC, friend's business) and returned as "consulting fees".
Trust account commingling
Trust account funds moved to operating in ways that double-count as revenue.
What underwriters watch for
- Are retainer clients identifiable as legitimate entities?
- Is the project-fee pattern consistent with claimed billing cadence?
- Are trust account flows isolated from operating revenue?
- Is there personal-to-business movement that inflates the statement?
How Vyaso handles professional services
Vyaso recognizes professional services' retainer-driven pattern. Concentration thresholds acknowledge the structural reality. Trust account signatures are flagged as separate flows. Personal-to-business kiting is detected through fuzzy-name matching.