In 2025, the UK’s accountants are no longer just number-crunchers or tax compliance experts. They are evolving into strategic business advisors who help clients navigate capital acquisition, manage cash flow, mitigate risk, and make growth decisions in an increasingly complex environment. One of the most powerful and underutilised tools at their disposal is embedded lending.  

With the rapid rise of embedded finance in the UK, particularly lending solutions developed by SaaS companies that integrate with accounting platforms, e-commerce solutions, and existing systems, accountants have a unique opportunity to capitalise on this trend. They can use embedded lending to not only offer clients access to faster, smarter capital but also to reshape how businesses think about financial decisions, working capital, risk, and long-term planning.  

Let’s explore how embedded lending is transforming the advisory role for accountants, and how they can use it to help clients make better, data-driven decisions.  

Key UK Trends Driving Embedded Lending for Accountants 

Embedded lending is here to stay. In the UK, 2025 has brought several developments that make it highly relevant for accountants working with businesses:  

FCA Regulation of BNPL and Small Business Lending

The FCA is tightening rules on consumer credit, BNPL, and affordability, which require clearer disclosures, customer outcome monitoring, and affordability assessments. This also applies to business lending disguised as consumer offers (e.g. sole traders). Accountants will need to guide clients on the suitability and compliance of embedded lending products.  For example, a lender might advertise something like: 

“Get up to $50,000 in 24 hours! No business credit needed!” 

But in the fine print, it’s actually: 

• A business loan, not a personal loan. 
• Not covered by consumer protection laws (like TILA, FDCPA, or state usury caps). 
• May involve a merchant cash advance, invoice factoring, or a UCC lien on business assets. 

Demand for Real-Time Capital Access  

Many small businesses in the UK face persistent cash flow volatility, rising interest costs, and delayed customer payments. Traditional credit options remain slow or inaccessible. Embedded lending offers clients nearly instant access to funds, typically based on transactional or accounting data.  

Data as the New Collateral  

With Open Banking, Open Accounting, and real-time access to financial data, embedded lenders are moving away from paper-heavy underwriting. Instead, lending decisions are based on cash flow trends, invoice reliability, recurring revenue, and customer activity. Accountants play a crucial role in ensuring data quality and helping clients present a stronger credit profile for funding acquisition.  

Accountants can also leverage solutions from SaaS companies, such as Pulse. For example, Pulse’s Business Insights (BI) platform enables accountants to track the financial health of their clients under a single interface, providing several critical insights. Accountants can track KPIs, leverage trend analysis and even keep tabs on their clients’ credit ratings in real-time.   

Pulse’s cash flow forecasting tool, aiPredict, and accounts receivable tool, DebtorIQ, provide accountants with complete control over cash flow forecasting, scenario modelling, li and automation of the accounts receivable process, respectively. While accountants utilise these tools, Pulse also offers bespoke and timely funding solutions tailored to each client’s financial situation, which pop up within Pulse’s ecosystem, further empowering accountants to guide and advise their clients.   

To learn more about Pulse’s BI platform, aiPredict or DebtorIQ, contact Pulse today.  

What Embedded Lending Unlocks for Accountants  

Here’s how accountants can use embedded lending not just as a service add-on, but as a core input to better client decision-making:  

Practical Use Cases Accountants Should Explore  

Let’s bring this to life with a few examples that UK accountants are already encountering in 2025:  

Scenario 1: Revenue-Based Finance for Growth 
An e-commerce startup in Bristol is scaling quickly but has limited assets for traditional loans. Using embedded lending via Pulse, their accountant helps them secure revenue-based financing, enabling them to scale marketing efforts without diluting equity or straining their cash reserves. 

Scenario 2: Seasonal Stock Purchasing 
A boutique food importer in Manchester is looking to increase its stock ahead of the holiday season. Their accountant, spotting a cash flow shortfall in December while using Pulse’s cash flow forecasting module (aiPredict), uses Pulse’s embedded financing solutions to help the client secure £25,000 in working capital.  

Compliance, Risk & Ethics: A Core Role for Accountants

Embedded lending isn’t without risks, and accountants are best positioned to help clients navigate it carefully.  

Regulatory Oversight 
With the FCA cracking down on opaque BNPL and embedded lending practices, accountants must ensure clients are not being mis-sold products, especially sole traders or partnerships whose borrowing may not fall under consumer protection rules.  

Transparent Disclosure 
Many embedded lending offers are marketed with low headline fees but contain compounding interest or payment-linked obligations that can increase the overall cost. Accountants should scrutinise the real cost of funding and model repayment scenarios under different revenue conditions.  

Over-reliance and Debt Risk 
Since embedded loans are easy to access, there’s a risk of “debt creep”. Accountants should monitor client leverage ratios, interest coverage, and repayment capacity, particularly when short-term financing is used to cover recurring expenses.  

The Accountant’s Role: Making Embedded Lending Work for Clients  

As embedded finance becomes a standard part of the accounting software ecosystem, the most forward-thinking accountants will:  

• Integrate: Make embedded lending part of cash flow planning, budgeting, and tax forecasting.  
• Educate: Help clients understand the options, risks, and costs, rather than just accepting the offer that appears on-screen.  
• Monitor: Track repayment behaviour, borrowing trends, and their financial impact across quarters.  
• Advocate: Ensure clients are protected from poor lending practices and help them choose partners with fair, transparent, and regulated offers.  
• Leverage Insights: Use embedded lending data to offer sharper business advice. What’s driving revenue fluctuations? How do borrowing patterns reflect operational issues?  

Conclusion: Embedded Lending as an Accounting Insight Engine

In 2025, embedded lending is not a replacement for traditional financing. It’s a new tool in the accountant’s advisory toolkit. When used carefully and transparently, it gives clients the correct capital solutions at the right time. But more importantly, it provides real-time signals about their financial health, customer behaviour, growth readiness, and operational risks. For accountants, this means moving beyond compliance into insight generation and strategic business advisory by leveraging SaaS solutions from reliable companies like Pulse, along with embedded lending opportunities.