Hazelgrove Lending Group helps accounting, tax, consulting, engineering and insurance firms in Redding, CA and Shasta County compare business funding: working capital and lines of credit for salaries while clients pay, and term loans for practice or insurance agency acquisitions. Shasta County counted 86 accounting, 92 consulting, 63 engineering and 74 insurance agency employers in 2023.
| Accounting and payroll firms, Shasta County, CA (2023) | 86 |
|---|---|
| Consulting firms | 92 |
| Architecture and engineering firms | 63 |
| Insurance agencies | 74 |
| Needs this page covers | Salaries while clients pay, acquisitions |
| Structures to compare | Working capital, lines, term loans |
A people-and-receivables business
A professional firm's costs can be mostly salaries, rent and software, paid on a fixed schedule. Income arrives when clients pay invoices or when carriers pay commissions. Revenue can arrive unevenly, around project milestones for engineering and consulting firms and around deadline-driven work for tax practices, so a firm can be fully booked and still short of cash in the weeks before the work is billed and collected.
Accounting firm financing and CPA firm financing
Accounting business loans can cover payroll for the extra preparers and reviewers a firm brings on ahead of a heavier workload, and the software and hardware that go with them. A line of credit drawn as hiring starts and repaid as fees are collected matches that cycle. CPA firm financing for buying another practice's client list is a term loan question, reviewed on the seller's billing history and client retention.
Consulting and engineering firms
Management consultants and engineers bill by project phase, and public or institutional clients can take weeks to pay. Working capital for a firm in that position is sized to the receivables that will close the gap; see working capital. Engineering firms also finance survey equipment, plotters and software licenses, which can be handled through equipment financing.
Insurance agency loans and acquisition financing
Insurance agency financing can serve two purposes: smoothing salaries while commissions arrive, or buying another agency's book of business. Insurance agency acquisition loans are typically term loans repaid from the commissions the acquired book produces. Partners look at the book's retention, its carrier mix and how much of the commission income will transfer to the buyer.
Illustrative example: buying a book of business
Hypothetical figures, not an offer. An agency agrees to buy a book of business for $240,000. Financed over 84 months at an assumed annual rate of 9.5 percent, the payment is about $3,923 a month. The question for the buyer is whether the commissions the book produces, after some clients leave in the transition, still cover that payment with room to spare. A book producing exactly the payment leaves no margin for attrition.
Before buying a practice or a book
- How many clients or policies are active, and how many renewed last year?
- How much of the revenue comes from the five largest clients or accounts?
- Will the seller introduce clients personally and stay through a transition?
- Which software, files and employees come with the sale?
- Are there any clients or carriers that can refuse the transfer?
Partners reviewing CPA firm financing or an insurance agency purchase look for the same answers, because client retention after the sale is what repays the loan.
Architecture and engineering firms: billing by phase
Architecture and engineering firms bill by project phase, and payment can wait for a client's own approval or funding step. A firm with several projects between phases can carry weeks of salaries for work already done. Retainers at the start of a project and prompt invoicing at each phase shorten that gap before any funding is needed.
Professional firms in Shasta County, CA
County Business Patterns counted, among Shasta County employers in 2023: 86 accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll firms (NAICS 5412), 79.1% of them with fewer than five employees and 31 in ZIP 96001; 92 management, scientific and technical consulting firms (NAICS 5416), 77.2% under five employees and 44 in ZIP 96001; 63 architectural and engineering firms (NAICS 5413), 61.9% under five employees and 30 in ZIP 96001; and 74 insurance agencies and related activities (NAICS 524210), 67.6% under five employees.
Nonemployer Statistics, a separate program, counted these firms with no paid employees in 2024: 249 in accounting and bookkeeping, 359 in consulting, 143 in architecture and engineering and 129 in insurance agencies. Being a separate program and year, these are kept apart from the employer counts.
What partners usually review
- Bank statements and accounts receivable aging
- Billing or commission history by month
- For acquisitions: the seller's client or book history and the purchase agreement
- Existing loans and lines
- Owner tax returns for smaller firms
Related page: law firm funding. Compare structures on the term loan page, browse all industries or see county figures on the Redding, CA page.
