Fractional CFO
Fractional CFO support for owner led Australian businesses
When cash, margin, growth or a sale is the decision in front of you, a senior financial mind in the room changes the answer. Institutional grade thinking on profit, cash and value, for businesses ready to move beyond compliance reporting, month to month on 30 days notice.
A fractional CFO is a senior finance partner who works on your business every month, without the cost of a full-time hire. ProfitPulse gives owner led and small businesses in Brisbane and across the East Coast the CFO services larger companies take for granted. Some owners call it a part-time, virtual or outsourced CFO; it is the same senior partnership, on one fixed monthly fee with no timesheets.
Most owners have plenty of financial information. What they are missing is interpretation, perspective, and a senior voice in the room when decisions are made. The reports tell you what happened. They rarely tell you what to do next. If you want a first read before any conversation, the free Profit Pulse Scorecard shows how healthy your profit is in about three minutes.
How do we price for the value we actually deliver? Where is cash really getting trapped? Which clients are profitable once the true cost to serve is counted? When do we hire, and how do we fund it? If we wanted to sell in three years, what would we change today?
These are CFO level questions. A fractional CFO answers them, with the seniority of a full time finance chief but without the base salary and super of an SME CFO, more than $226,000 a year in Brisbane.
New client rates from $2,950 a month plus GST, for our next five new clients. Not available to existing clients. Standard rates from $3,750 a month once the five places are taken.
Add compliance by our registered partner →
Every business is different, so these prices are a guide. Most of our engagements are tailored to what the client needs.
Not sure what help you need? See how we can help →
What a fractional CFO actually does
What it is not
It is not a bookkeeper, and not a tax accountant. It is not a consultant who delivers a report and leaves. It is not a junior finance manager processing transactions. None of those roles sit beside you when the hard calls are made.
What it actually is
It is a senior financial partner who turns your numbers into decisions, builds the forecasts and scenarios behind every major move, and becomes the financial voice on pricing, hiring, investment, funding and exit. Strategy, not data entry.
Bookkeepers and accountants look back; a fractional CFO looks forward
Illustrative timeline of typical work, from the last financial year to the next 36 months.
TakeawayA forecast only works if the records behind it are right, so the work on the left of today supports the work on the right.
Note: Time axis not to scale. A fractional CFO also reviews actual results, to sharpen the next forecast. The hatched bar is one-off accountant work, which can fall at any point.
Most owner led businesses keep an accountant for the annual return, because businesses run through a company, trust or partnership lodge one each year, and for one-off decisions such as how operating and holding entities are structured, how the owners are paid, or what happens on a sale. Only some entities must lodge financial statements with ASIC, such as large proprietary and public companies. A fractional CFO covers the months in between. Rules and rates are stated in general terms. Your legal adviser or tax adviser can confirm how they apply to your business.
What is included
Every partnership is shaped around your business. Most include the following.
Clarity and rhythm
Monthly performance reviews. A clear management pack each month, with the story behind the numbers, not just the numbers.
Rolling cash flow forecasting. Always knowing what your cash position looks like twelve weeks out, and well beyond.
KPI and dashboard design. The handful of numbers that actually run your business, visible and current.
Board and investor reporting. Board grade reporting that stands up to scrutiny from lenders, partners and investors.
Strategy and capital
Pricing and margin analysis. Finding and fixing what quietly dilutes margin across clients, products and services.
Budgeting and scenario modelling. A plan you can steer by, and the ability to test a decision before you make it.
Capital and funding strategy. Structuring debt, facilities and equity so growth is funded on the right terms.
Strategic decision support. A senior partner to think with on every major move, between the formal reviews as well as during them.
Who it is for
Owner led businesses across Australia, typically turning over between $1M and $20M. We work with allied health practices, professional services firms, construction and trades, manufacturing and logistics, retail and hospitality, property businesses, technology companies and family businesses.
You will get the most from a fractional CFO when revenue is growing but profit is not keeping pace, when you are making big decisions without clear financial visibility, when you are preparing for a raise, a sale or a transition, or when your accountant is excellent at compliance but cannot help you think strategically.
Under $1M in revenue, a one-off diagnostic is usually a better place to start than the ongoing partnership.
How the engagement unfolds
Weeks 1 to 2
Discovery and diagnostic
We get under the numbers, understand the business and your goals, and surface the issues and opportunities that matter most.
Weeks 3 to 4
Baseline and rhythm
We establish clean reporting, set up your cash flow forecast, and agree the rhythm of reviews and decisions going forward.
Month 2
First decisions
The early wins start to land, in pricing, in cash, or in cost, and the management pack becomes the centre of how you steer.
Month 3 and beyond
Embedded support
We are now a fixture in how the business runs, the senior financial partner you think with on every major move.
New client rates from $2,950 a month plus GST, for our next five new clients. Not available to existing clients. Standard rates from $3,750 a month once the five places are taken.
Case study
Twelve months on, in a business like yours
Each is a real engagement, anonymised, apart from the property example, which is illustrative. Choose your industry to see what changed in a business like yours.
A residential builder, twelve months on
A $6.8M residential builder with 22 staff completed 18 to 22 projects a year, founded by an owner who moved north from Brisbane seven years ago. Revenue had tripled over four years but gross margin had drifted from 15% to 11%, and the owner could not isolate why. Working capital was permanently tight despite a healthy pipeline.
Time on site across active projects surfaced three issues. Variations were being completed but not consistently billed, with an estimated 4 to 6% of revenue delivered and never charged for. There was no view of which project types were genuinely profitable, and one was structurally loss-making. And work in progress had stretched to roughly 90 days against a benchmark closer to 60, tying up about $340k. Over the year, variation tracking was rebuilt into the contract workflow, the unprofitable project type was repriced to reality, milestone billing was tightened, and project level profitability reporting replaced the old quarterly rollup.
11 to 16%
Gross margin recovery
$290k
Working capital released
2.0x
Net profit on flat revenue
~$1.8M
Valuation uplift
Client details are anonymised and figures are rounded to protect confidentiality. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
An allied health group, twelve months on
A multi-site allied health group was growing quickly, yet the owners were working harder for the same money and could not see why. We took on the fractional CFO role. Within the first quarter we had rebuilt the reporting, mapped profitability by site and service, and reset pricing that had drifted below the true cost to serve. Over twelve months the picture changed.
19%
EBITDA margin, up from 12%
$185k
working capital released
41%
more owner drawings, same revenue
$1.2M
estimated valuation uplift
Client details are anonymised and figures are rounded to protect confidentiality. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
A hospitality group, twelve months on
A $5.2M boutique hospitality group ran three venues across the Gold Coast with 38 staff and an owner working 65 hours a week. Net margin sat at 6%, which the owner assumed was just how hospitality worked. Working capital was permanently tight.
Time on site across the venues surfaced four issues. The function space was running close to break even and quietly being carried by the other two. Menu pricing had not moved in 18 months while supplier costs climbed. Inventory turn at the restaurant was 18 days against a benchmark of 10 to 12, tying up roughly $95k. And labour ran at 38% of revenue at one venue against 28 to 32% at the others. Over the year, function pricing was restructured, menus were realigned to current costs, stock ordering was tightened, and labour was scheduled around revenue by day part.
6 to 13%
Net margin
$185k
Working capital released
65 to 32
Owner hours per week
~$1.5M
Valuation uplift
Client details are anonymised and figures are rounded to protect confidentiality. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
A specialised manufacturer, twelve months on
A $8.5M Toowoomba based manufacturer with 32 staff had grown revenue 45% over three years. Profit had grown only 6%. The owners had an excellent accountant and a competent bookkeeper, but neither had the brief to dig into the unit economics of each product line or the working capital cycle that had stretched as the business scaled.
Time on the production floor surfaced three issues. One product line was running at gross margin 14 points below the other, with a cost allocation that had not been refreshed in three years overstating the larger line. Work in progress had grown to roughly 65 days against a benchmark of 35 to 40, tying up about $700k. And production was scheduled by capacity rather than margin, so the higher margin line was frequently delayed for the lower one. Over the year the weaker line was repriced or exited, scheduling was rebuilt around margin contribution, and WIP was tightened through revised milestone billing.
28 to 36%
Gross margin
$620k
Working capital released
2.1x
Net profit on 7% growth
~$2.4M
Valuation uplift
Client details are anonymised and figures are rounded to protect confidentiality. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
An illustrative agency and rent roll
This example is illustrative: the figures are typical of an agency this size, not one client's results. A $3.4M real estate agency in South East Queensland managed a rent roll of about 900 properties beside its sales team. Sales had a strong year, yet profit fell, and the principal could not see why.
A review of the numbers would surface three things. Commission splits had crept up as new agents joined, so the agency kept less of each sale than it did two years earlier. The rent roll was losing about 10% of its managements a year, most of them within months of being signed. And management fees had not kept pace with the work each property now takes. Over a year, splits would be reset against a profit floor for each sale, retention of new managements tracked monthly, and fees repriced where the service has outgrown them.
12 to 18%
Net margin
10 to 6%
Managements lost each year
$140k
Commission kept each year
~$600k
Rent roll value uplift
This example is illustrative and is not a client engagement. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
A professional services firm, twelve months on
A $6.5M Sydney professional services firm with 40 staff had strong utilisation but flat margins. The partners were busy and the pipeline was healthy, yet the cash never quite reflected the effort going in.
Three issues surfaced early. Realisation, the share of work performed that actually converted to collected revenue, was sitting at 82%, so close to one dollar in five of effort was leaking. Pricing had not been reviewed in two years while salaries had climbed. And lock-up, the combination of unbilled work and debtor days, had stretched to 95 days, tying up roughly $700k. Over the year, scope and pricing were reset, billing was tightened and brought forward, and senior time was redirected to the work that actually built margin.
82 to 91%
Realisation rate
$450k
Released from lock-up
14 to 20%
Net margin
~$1.6M
Valuation uplift
Client details are anonymised and figures are rounded to protect confidentiality. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
A consumer brand, twelve months on
A $7M Melbourne consumer brand selling through both wholesale and its own online store, with 25 staff, was scaling fast and always short of cash despite strong sales. The owner could not see why growth kept consuming money rather than creating it.
Three issues surfaced early. Inventory was overstocked and turning only 5 times a year, well below where it should sit, locking up cash on the shelf. Discounting across channels had crept up and was quietly eroding gross margin, with no view of profitability by channel. Wholesale debtor days had stretched as the customer base grew. Over the year, ranging and reorder points were rebuilt, channel level margin was made visible and discounting brought under control, and wholesale terms and collection were tightened.
38 to 46%
Gross margin
$420k
Working capital released
5 to 8
Inventory turns per year
~$1.7M
Valuation uplift
Client details are anonymised and figures are rounded to protect confidentiality. Results vary by business and are never guaranteed.
Why ProfitPulse
Institutional experience
Our financial leadership was forged on large scale transactions across debt, mezzanine and equity. We bring that institutional lens to businesses your size.
Transparent pricing
Every package price published. Our new client rates are from $2,950 a month plus GST for our next five new clients (not available to existing clients), held for 24 months, while 62 per cent of the Australian CFO firms we checked publish no price at all.
Built for decisions
We are not here to replace your accountant. We work alongside them, focused on the forward looking decisions that grow profit and value.
Built on institutional experience
ProfitPulse was founded by a Chartered Accountant whose career was built in investment banking, structuring and executing more than 50 large scale infrastructure transactions across Australia, Asia and Africa, spanning debt, mezzanine and equity finance.
We bring that same institutional grade thinking into Australian SMEs. The discipline used to underwrite a major infrastructure project is the discipline that transforms a $5M business. The principles do not change with the size of the balance sheet, only the scale. That is the thinking you have alongside you, every month. You can read more about the firm and the bench behind it on our about page.
Across Australia
Serving clients from Cairns to Adelaide
Beyond South East Queensland, we serve owner led businesses in the major cities from Cairns to Adelaide remotely, and we visit you at your premises monthly, quarterly or annually, as your business needs. We are a relationship first firm and we strive for excellence in client care and service. Working remotely between visits keeps your spend efficient, and every engagement receives the same high standard, in every industry and every city.
We also work with clients in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
- Our Brisbane base
- Cities we serve remotely, with visits at your premises
- Clients welcome
How often we visit is agreed in the scope of each engagement.
How we can help
Not sure what help you need?
A few quick questions, in your industry's own words, show how complex your business is. You then see the help that fits, with a price sized to it.
Common questions
What does a fractional CFO cost?
ProfitPulse is priced from $2,950 a month plus GST for our next five new clients (not available to existing clients), held for 24 months, and from $3,750 a month once the five places are taken. Employing an SME CFO in Brisbane costs more than $18,800 a month in base salary and super alone, so our Essential new client rate is 84 per cent less.
How is this different from my accountant?
Your accountant looks backward, keeping you compliant and lodging your tax. A fractional CFO looks forward, helping you decide what to do next. The two roles work best together, and we partner with your existing accountant rather than replacing them.
Is my business big enough?
The ongoing partnership suits businesses turning over roughly $1M to $20M. If you are smaller than that, a one-off diagnostic is usually the better starting point, and we will tell you so honestly.
How quickly will I see value?
You will have a clear management pack within the first few weeks. The reporting rhythm and the first real decisions are typically in place inside the first 90 days.
Do you work with businesses outside Queensland?
Yes. We work with owner led businesses across the East Coast, from the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast to Sydney and Melbourne, and remotely across Australia, at the same prices everywhere.
Can you help when we raise capital or sell?
Yes. Our Executive package includes capital and funding strategy and transaction support for a raise, refinance, acquisition or sale.
What if our financial records are messy?
That is common, and it is not a problem. The first weeks are spent getting the numbers clean and reliable, so every decision that follows rests on something solid.
Can you help me understand what my business is worth?
Yes. Understanding and lifting your value is part of the work. Our guide on how a business is valued explains the fundamentals, and we go further with an indicative valuation when you need a real number.
Bring senior financial thinking into your business
There is no charge and no obligation. You will come away with at least one practical observation about your business, whether or not we go on to work together.