Virtual CFO support, without the full-time salary.
Virtual CFO and outsourced financial controller services for Australian businesses that need someone accountable for the numbers — reporting, controls, forecasting, funding conversations and board papers — but do not need that person five days a week.
experience
worked across
in one team
What outsourced CFO and financial controller support covers.
Scope is agreed up front against what is actually missing. Not every business needs all of this, and we will say which parts you do not.
Financial strategy input
The financial consequences of pricing, capacity, expansion or exit — worked through before you commit, not after.
Board and management reporting
Packs written for the people who read them, saying what happened, what it means and what to do.
Forecasting and capital planning
Budgets, rolling forecasts and scenarios, including what a funding need looks like and when it bites.
Margin and profitability analysis
Where you actually make money, by product, job, client or site — often not where you assume.
Financial control and close discipline
A documented close calendar and a month-end that finishes on a date, not whenever it finishes.
Finance team oversight
Supervision of your existing finance staff, setting the standard and giving them someone senior to escalate to.
Lender and investor liaison
Preparing what banks, financiers and investors ask for — and being in the room when they ask.
Systems and process improvement
Reviewing the finance stack, so reporting does not depend on rebuilding a spreadsheet every month.
We provide financial management and reporting support. We do not provide financial product advice, investment recommendations or insurance advice, and tax lodgement remains with your registered tax agent. [ASSUMPTION — confirm with HSC Edge: typical engagement shape (days per month, minimum term), whether the role is performed remotely or includes on-site attendance, and whether board meeting attendance is included.]
Full-time CFO hire or part-time support?
A full-time CFO is the right answer at a certain scale and complexity. Below that, you are usually paying for availability you cannot use.
If your complexity, headcount or transaction volume genuinely warrants a full-time CFO, we will tell you that — and we can help you define the role and review candidates instead.
Part-time CFO and financial controller support for businesses between stages.
The usual trigger is a decision nobody in the business is qualified to model, or a board that has started asking harder questions.
The owner is the de facto CFO and shouldn't be
Where the person running the business is also the one building the forecast, the finance work gets done last and least well. We take the financial thinking off that plate without taking the decisions.
The ledger is maintained but nobody interprets it
Competent bookkeeping without senior review produces accurate records and no insight. We sit above the existing function, review its output and translate it into decisions.
External stakeholders expect more rigour
Where a board, lender, grant body or investor is involved, reporting and forecasting get examined by people who know what to look for. We prepare the material and stand behind the numbers in it.
Diagnose first, then commit to a scope.
Open-ended senior engagements drift. We define what the role covers and what success looks like before it starts.
Diagnostic review
We look at the current reporting, the close process, the forecast if there is one, and who is doing what in finance — then tell you whether the gap is controller work, CFO work, or neither.
Agree the scope and rhythm
What we own, what stays with you, how often we meet, what you receive each period, and which decisions we are expected to be involved in. Written down, not assumed.
Deliver and review
Reporting and analysis on the agreed cycle, with the scope revisited periodically — including reducing it when the gap we were filling has been closed.
You are buying judgement, so the background matters.
At this level the work is not processing. It is telling an owner their best-performing product line is their least profitable, or telling a board that the growth plan runs out of cash in month seven. That requires someone who has had those conversations before and is willing to have them again.
Our principals are Chartered Accountants with more than 20 years across commercial, government, not-for-profit and regulated environments — and the whole finance function sits in one team, so controller-level work does not have to be coordinated across two firms.
Common questions.
If yours isn't here, send it through and we will answer it directly.
Book a consultation01Do we need a CFO or a financial controller?
If the numbers arrive late or you do not trust them, the gap is controller work. If the numbers are reliable but nobody is using them to decide anything, the gap is CFO work. Many businesses need the first before the second, and we will say which applies.
02Will you replace our existing bookkeeper or accountant?
Usually not. We commonly sit above an existing bookkeeper, reviewing their output and setting the standard for it, and we work alongside your tax agent rather than replacing that relationship.
03Is this remote or on-site?
The work is delivered remotely to clients across Australia, with scheduled meetings on an agreed rhythm. Where on-site attendance or board meeting attendance is required, that is scoped and agreed as part of the engagement.
04Can you advise on raising capital or investments?
We prepare the financial information, forecasts and analysis that funding conversations require, and we can be present for them. We do not provide financial product or investment advice, which requires a licensed adviser.
05What does this cost?
Fees are set against the agreed scope and time commitment — generally a fixed monthly fee for a defined rhythm of work, quoted after the initial diagnostic review so both sides know what is being bought.
Start with the diagnostic.
Tell us what your finance function looks like today and what decision is in front of you. We will tell you whether you need CFO support, controller support, or something smaller than both.
We reply to every enquiry directly — no call centre, no sales script.