CFO Services
A budget is a decision, made once, kept daily.
We build a robust working budget from your strategic plan and real numbers, identify your break-even point, and track performance each month.
What you get
What the budget gives you.
Built on drivers, not last year plus five percent.
It starts with your strategic plan and a critical discussion about revenue, gross profit and growth plans, with real costs adjusted for seasonality.
Your breakeven number.
The revenue you must write each week before profit starts. Surprisingly few owners know it.
A spending compass.
We analyse key expenditure across administration, marketing, employment and occupancy, challenging the return from every dollar spent.
Tracked monthly.
Actuals measured against budget, variances explained, budget kept alive and corrective action taken. No excuses. No exceptions.
Budget and strategic plan
The chicken or the egg? The strategic plan comes first.
Ideally, every business has a simple strategic plan for the year ahead, broken into quarterly action plans. The annual budget is built from that plan and translates it into a financial commitment: what the business intends to earn, spend and achieve. Revenue, Gross Profit, key expenditure and target net profit.
Quarterly board-level reviews compare actual performance against the budget and strategic plan. Together, they show whether the business is on track and, more importantly, what corrective action is required when it is not.
Quarterly board-level reviews compare actual performance against the budget and strategic plan. Together, they show whether the business is on track and, more importantly, what corrective action is required when it is not.
Our process
How this works.
Good work follows a process. Here is ours.
Align the plan and drivers
We clarify your strategic priorities, revenue lines, margins, costs, seasonality and the assumptions that will drive performance, all gathered in one session.
The build
Budget and breakeven modelled and agreed, in numbers you understand.
The tracking
Actuals against budget every month, variances explained, decisions made early. Corrective action taken and followed up to ensure agreed actions happen.
Common questions
Questions we get asked.
No. With access to your file and one working session, a first robust budget usually comes together quickly. Keeping it alive monthly is where the value compounds.
The sales level at which you cover every cost and profit begins. Knowing it changes how you price, hire and spend. Most owners we meet have never calculated it.
The budget remains the commitment and the variances tell the story. Significant changes may flow into a revised forecast. Through monthly and quarterly reviews, we identify what has changed and take corrective action through the way we work with clients.
Yes, a working budget is one of the five business basics in that engagement. This page is for owners who want to start with the budget alone.
Yes. We first understand and challenge the assumptions you have made to confirm they are robust and aligned with the plan for achieving your goals. We then provide practical recommendations. You can make the changes, or we can update the budget for you.
Like a quick chat to see if we can help?
20 minutes. No obligation. No product pitch, just an honest conversation.
Or call (03) 9574 8300
