In 2025, accountants are doing far more than balancing books and filing tax returns. They’re becoming the strategic growth partners for small businesses, guiding cash flow, forecasting risk, and even helping clients access capital. In the current UK economy marked by inflation, supply chain delays, and credit tightening, traditional loan channels often fall short. That’s where embedded lending comes in. 

While high-street banks such as NatWest and HSBC have increased lending by 30 per cent year-on-year in Q1 2025, total support remains below pre-COVID levels. The result? SMEs are reluctantly forgoing growth simply because they can’t borrow under traditional models. 

Accountancy Software as the New Front Door to Finance 

Accountants and finance professionals know the struggle: third-party loan applications, manual uploads, and long waits. Thankfully, embedded lending is changing that. 

Embedded lending integrates credit into tools already used by accountants, such as ERPs, invoicing systems, or BI and e-commerce dashboards. This means firms can access working capital within their accounting workflow, without enduring months’ worth of documentation and tedious procedures. 

PwC highlights how embedding lending directly in platforms like ERP or invoicing tools not only simplifies processes but also reduces cost and speeds up decisions by leveraging real-time transactional data instead of static reports.

Measurable Value: Efficiency, Insight, and Inclusion 

Embedded finance doesn’t just make lending simpler; it makes it smarter. 

• SME Adoption: A Temenos study reports that 38 percent of UK SMEs expect to increase their use of embedded financial services in the next 12 months. 

• Tangible Gains: Those using embedded services cite better customer service (40 percent), improved cash flow (38 percent), faster payments (34 percent), and reduced admin (24 percent). 

Beyond lending, embedded tools bring real-time analytics and automation. Businesses gain dashboards for cash flow, trend insights, and forecasting, which were all previously manual processes. These insights let accountants provide proactive and strategic advice.

A real-world example is Pulse, where users can leverage Pulse’s aiPredict for cash flow forecasting and DebtorIQ for accounts receivable automation, all accessible through one interface with easy-to-integrate APIs.

Embedded Lending: The Tech Powering Inclusion

Traditional lenders typically rely on credit history or collateral, barriers for fast-growing, asset-light SMEs. Embedded lending flips that. 

Platforms now draw on alternative, real-time data such as bank feeds, invoices, and trades to assess credit. AI and machine learning make instant underwriting possible, decisions happen in minutes, not weeks. 

SaaS companies like Pulse offer embedded lending solutions via their Unified Lending Interface (ULI). Banks, lenders, aggregators, accountants, advisors, and businesses can leverage solutions that automate, expedite, and streamline processes such as loan origination, loan management, and automated underwriting. Pulse’s Einstein aiDeal transforms underwriting, with an AI-powered solution that’s capable of processing thousands of applications and decision 95% of deals in under 60 seconds with customisable criteria. 

Accountants should not only acquaint themselves with embedded lending but also ensure that their existing accounting packages and systems have embedded finance integrations. Embedded finance would suggest appropriate funding options, tailor-made to their clients’ financial situation and needs. Accountants can then double down on their roles as business advisors who can now facilitate funding acquisition in addition to providing guidance on business strategy. Ensuring that existing systems are integrated with lending APIs, such as Pulse ULI, allows accountants to leverage embedded finance for context-aware lending solutions and provide timely funding suggestions that their clients can utilise to ensure stability and growth.

This matters because embedded lending is growing fast. Globally, the market for embedded lending is expected to rise from US $7.66 billion in 2024 to $45.74 billion by 2034, at about 19.6 percent CAGR—B2B use cases are a major growth driver Meanwhile, Europe’s embedded finance market could reach €100 billion by 2030, with embedded lending growing fastest. 

This underlines a shift: data-rich, tech-driven lending is empowering firms that would otherwise fall through cracks. 

Embedded Lending Complements Regulatory & Tech Innovation 

The UK has doubled down on enabling embedded finance: 

• The Open Banking expansion into Open Finance aims to allow safe data sharing across banking, pensions, and insurance, laying the foundation for smarter lending tailored to SMEs. 

• Bodies like CFIT and the Smart Data Council support open standards and access to credit for SMEs. 

• RegTech integration is now embedded with compliance as code, AML/KYC automation, and real-time monitoring, cutting costs by up to 80 percent. 

These shifts combine to make embedded lending both permitted and protected, a regulatory and technological turning point. 

Practical Use Cases Accountants Need to Know 

Embedded Invoice Factoring
A business can factor a single invoice within its accounting tool. Instant liquidity. No manual steps. This integrates receivables financing into everyday workflows as per PWC. 

AI-Driven Personal Lending
Embedded lenders like Pulse offer plug-and-play interfaces for loan origination, underwriting, and post-disbursement management. Their Einstein aiDEAL handles over 90 percent of deals in under 60 seconds. 

Predictive Forecasting and Lending Suggestions
Embedded dashboards spot cash flow gaps and proactively suggest lending options, making accountancy tools advisory as well as operational 

Why UK Accountancy Toolkits Need Embedded Lending Now

Shorter, simpler, and far more strategic— that’s the essence. 

Accountancy tools are no longer just about closing the books. They are strategic platforms: automated, insightful, and able to unlock capital when businesses need it most. The embedded lending layer is the engine that powers this transformation. 

Conclusion 

The UK’s small business economy is at an inflexion point. Traditional lending is failing many firms. Accountants are best positioned to bridge that gap, but only if they leverage modern, embedded tools. 

Embedded lending is the future of financial services as we know it. It simplifies workflows, injects agility, improves access, and empowers accountancy professionals to serve not just as numberkeepers, but as growth enablers. 

Accountancy toolkits that do not embrace embedded lending risk are becoming obsolete. The future of finance isn’t external; it runs through the platforms and systems accountants already use. It’s time to embed capital where it matters: at the heart of the accountancy workflow.