Ongoing
Ongoing CFO
Strategic finance, month after month — the calls on cash, growth and funding, and a steady hand on the plan. The management accounts run underneath.
Fractional CFO · Australia & the US
Complex finance,
made clear.
A fractional CFO for owner-led businesses from $2m to $50m — the numbers you need to run your business, and the plain words to act on them.
Gavan S. Porter · FCPA · Chartered Manager (CMgr) · Certified Chair
Certified · Accredited · Award-winning
The gap
You've got the numbers. You're still flying blind.
Someone runs the day-to-day accounting — payroll, invoices, reconciliations. That's the floor, not a finance function. Above that line there's usually no one: no forecast, no management accounts, no read on cash three months out.
So the big calls — hire, invest, borrow, hold — get made on gut and a bank balance. Growth only makes it worse. A full-time CFO fixes it, but most businesses your size can't justify the salary. That's the gap I fill.
The offering
A fractional CFO, sized to your business.
Senior, strategic finance at the level you need — flexed from a day a month to a day a week. Not a full-time hire.
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01
See the future in numbers
Forecasts, budgets and a rolling 3-way cashflow, tied to your goals.
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02
Cash & funding
Enough cash to trade and grow — and the right debt or equity when you need it.
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03
Management accounts that mean something
On time, accurate, and read for decisions — not filed and forgotten.
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04
Board-ready reporting
The story behind the numbers, for banks, boards and investors.
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05
Benchmarks & accountability
Metrics that keep you and the team on track, month after month.
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A modern management-accounting team sits behind the strategy — so the numbers underneath stay reliable, and the routine work keeps getting cheaper.
How we work together
Three ways to work with me.
Same CFO — different intensity.
Project
Project work
One defined job, done properly. A system move, a historical rebuild, funding, budgets, or getting the business ready to sell.
Pressure
Turnaround
When it's under pressure. A 13-week cashflow, ATO and creditor plans, an honest diagnosis, and someone driving it through.
Selected results
The work, in numbers.
Renewables (wind) · AUD
$7M → $28M · 15% EBIT
Rebuilt the finance function through a restructure — and took the owners to a clean sale.
- Came in after bad debts forced a restructure and a run of short-lived CFOs.
- Built a 13-week cashflow, rebuilt reporting and controls, and secured debt facilities.
- Grew from breakeven to $28M at 15% EBIT, then guided the founders through due diligence to sale.
Contract IT services · AUD
$400k+ → $20k / month
Funded payroll inside a week — and put a distressed, growing business back on solid ground.
- Legacy ATO debt, overdue creditors, no experienced finance resource in-house.
- A cashflow forecast surfaced an immediate payroll gap; secured debtor finance in just over a week.
- Agreed the $400k+ ATO debt down to a $20k/month plan, with monthly 3-way reporting current.
E-commerce · US · USD
24 months of accounts, rebuilt
Gave a fast-growing US seller numbers it could trust — and the systems and funding to scale on.
- A large US online retailer growing fast, but running without reliable management accounts.
- Rebuilt 24 months of history with proper e-commerce metrics — margin by channel, contribution, cash cycle.
- Cut transaction fees via a processor tender, advised the Cin7 rollout, and arranged working-capital finance.
Who I am
20+ years in the finance chair.
I've sat where you sit — and I make complex finance simple, from the boardroom to the shop floor.
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Management Accountant to CFO — across Australia and internationally: Brisbane, Mackay, Melbourne, London.
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12 years as CFO and Company Secretary inside a $50m+ family business — I've made the calls, not just advised on them.
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30+ businesses supported over the last three years — industrial, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and not-for-profit.
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I sit on boards and finance & risk committees, and chair advisory boards.
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A modern finance team behind me — senior management accountants plus contract CFOs at my level.
Earlier, in the chair full-time
- Repositioned the finances and overhead structure of a $50m+ family business to secure its survival through a downturn that cut revenue by half.
- Completed a $10m debt restructure with an alternative lender — stronger working capital and lower interest.
- Built governance and risk frameworks, and steered a business through a major cyber-security event.
- Reviewed and restructured governance, finance and risk for not-for-profits — including securing Public Benevolent Institution status.
The team behind the numbers
A finance function — not a single point of failure.
Behind the strategy sits a dedicated team: senior and intermediate management accountants, plus contract CFOs at my level. AI-trained and built on modern tech stacks, so the routine work runs faster, cleaner and at lower cost — and the numbers underneath your decisions stay reliable.
Let's talk
Let's find your number.
I help owners do two things: reach their financial goals, and understand how money really moves through their business. Worth a quick 20 minutes to see if it's a fit?
Brisbane, QLD · serving owner-led businesses across Australia & the US