Virtual CFO for Agencies in Sydney

Your numbers in 90 days. Fixed scope, fixed price, then it stops.

Agencies look profitable and feel tight, because project milestones and payroll never land in the same week, debtors stretch, and media spend runs through your account before the client pays.

The 90-Day Number builds the forward view that ties the pipeline to cash, and hands it over on day 90.
See if you're a fitBook a 30-min intro
Senior finance for $2m-$15m Sydney businesses. The work is led by Chartered Accountants, with experience across public, private, and owner-led businesses.

Every virtual CFO sells a retainer. We sell a deliverable.

$17,850

+ GST
That is $5,950 a month for three months, then it stops. Fixed. No retainer pressure after day 90.
what's included

Four deliverables. Two modules. One fixed price.

Everything that lands in your hands by day 90, built around how an agency actually runs. No more, no less. Scope-creep proof.
1
A simple 13-week cashflow model
Tied to project milestones, retainers, debtor days, and any media you float for clients. Five minutes every Monday and you know what is in the bank across the quarter.
2
Three KPIs that drive the week
Usually utilisation, revenue per head, and lock-up or debtor days, set to your agency. The three numbers your operating week runs on, reviewed every Friday.
3
A 12-month budget
The plan you run the year by, with the next hire costed against the pipeline, not last quarter's wins. Assumptions you can defend to a board or a bank. Updated monthly, not filed once.
4
A one-page board readout you want to read
Revenue, margin, cash, KPIs, headcount, on a single page. The page you would hand a board, a bank, or yourself in twelve months. No eighty-slide pageantry.
5
Headcount & Capacity Planning
Maps your hiring plan to revenue, cash, and output. Whether the pipeline and utilisation support the next account director or creative. Trigger logic for when you commit.
6
Margin & Pricing
True margin by client and project, after pass-through media and freelancers. Rate-card and scoping scenarios modelled. The numbers that tell you whether you have a real business or a busy one.
who it's for

Built for $2M to $15M agency owners past instinct, short of a CFO.

Three profiles where the 90-Day Number consistently lands here.

The creative or branding agency.

You run a creative, branding, or design agency on project work and a few retainers.

Billing $2M to $6M, profitable on paper and tight on cash, because milestones and payroll never line up and a slow-paying client can swallow a month. Utilisation is the lever you do not watch.

The digital or performance agency.

ou run a performance or media agency that floats client ad spend through your own account.

Revenue looks large, but true margin is thin once pass-through is stripped out, and a single client's media bill can put real cash at risk before they pay you.

The growing or retainer-heavy agency.

You have scaled past $5M on a mix of retainers and projects, hiring on instinct as you win work.

Strong on the work, light on the forward view, with no clean read on which clients and which people actually make money.

why owners pick this

Why agency owners pick this over an indefinite retainer.

Four reasons the structure of the 90-Day Number works where the standard virtual CFO retainer does not.
A 90-day decision point
The standard offer is an open-ended retainer at $4K to $8K a month with no end date. You sign on in March, cannot tell if it is working by July, feel awkward cancelling by September. This ends on day 90 by design. You decide what is next: continue, project work, or wrap with the four deliverables.
One fixed price, on the page
$5,950 a month for three months. $17,850 total, fixed. Not "from $X", not "$300 an hour", not "scoped after a discovery call". You price your range to a margin and a landed cost. You should expect a CFO to price their own work.
One named CFO, every week
Same person on day one, day forty-five, day ninety. Not a roster, not an account manager between you and the senior. You meet your CFO on the intro call and they run the engagement. Founder-direct, no layers.
Four documents, not eighty slides
We hand over the cashflow model, the three KPIs, the budget, and the one-page board readout. If it does not fit in those four documents, it is not strategic finance. It is theatre.
If your virtual CFO can't tell you the deliverable on day 90, you don't have a virtual CFO. You have a retainer.
how to start

Four weeks to a finance function. Twelve more to operate it.

Book a 30-minute intro. We talk through your stage, your numbers, and what you are trying to work out. We can meet in person around Sydney, or over a call.

If the 90-Day Number is a fit, we send a scoping doc within 48 hours and start the following Monday.

The diagnostic lands at the end of week one. The model is working by week four. The board readout is in your hands on day 90.
Book a 30-min intro

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Frequently Asked Questions

The questions founders ask before signing. Plain-English answers.
Do you work with creative, digital, and media agencies?
Yes, they are a core part of the work. The pattern repeats across Sydney agencies between $2M and $15M: good work, real clients, and cash that never lines up with payroll because project billing and debtor timing pull in different directions. That forward view is what a virtual CFO builds.
What KPIs make sense for an agency?
Usually utilisation, revenue per head, and lock-up or debtor days, though we set them to your agency in week one. The test is three numbers that move revenue, margin, or cash, reviewed every Friday, not a thirty-metric dashboard.
What does $17,850 +GST buy an agency?
Three months of senior virtual CFO work and four named deliverables: a 13-week cashflow model, three KPIs, a 12-month budget, and a one-page board readout. Plus two modules, headcount and capacity, and margin and pricing. Fixed price, billed as three monthly payments of $5,950, then it stops.
How is this different from my accountant?
Your accountant handles the backward view: tax, structuring, compliance, year-end. We handle the forward view: cashflow, budget, KPIs, the decisions in front of you this quarter. Most agencies need both. We work alongside your accountant, not instead of them.
Our cash is lumpy because we are project-based. Can a 13-week cashflow handle that?
That is the case it is built for. Project milestones and payroll falling in different weeks is the core reason agencies feel tight despite being profitable. The 13-week model maps milestones, invoices, and debtor timing against payroll and supplier runs, so you see the squeeze before it arrives.
We float client ad spend through our account. How do you handle media pass-through?
Carefully, because it is one of the biggest hidden cash risks in a media agency. We separate pass-through media from your true revenue and margin, and map the timing of when you pay the platforms against when the client pays you, so a large media month does not quietly put your own cash at risk.
How do you work out true margin by client and project?
We strip out pass-through media and freelancers and load in the real cost of your people's time, so the margin you see is what the client actually leaves behind. That usually reveals which "big" clients are barely profitable and which quiet ones carry the agency.
We are hiring as we win work. Can you tell us what we can afford?
Yes, that is the core of the headcount and capacity module. We cost the next hire against your pipeline and utilisation, not last quarter's wins, so you do not staff up for work that has not landed.
How is this different from a virtual CFO for professional services?
The finance shape differs. A professional services firm runs on utilisation, realisation, and lock-up on fee-based work. An agency carries a project-plus-retainer mix, media and supplier pass-through, and lumpier project cash. We build to whichever you are, and tell you which lens fits in week one if you straddle both.
What happens after day 90?
You have the four deliverables and a working operating rhythm. We have a short conversation about what is next, with three honest options: continue on an optional monthly retainer with no lock-in, take on a scoped project, or wrap with the deliverables and stay in touch.
We have outgrown the bookkeeper but cannot justify a finance hire. Is this the in-between step?
Yes, that is the exact gap. A full-time finance lead at this stage is a $200K to $300K commitment with super, leave, and recruitment on top. This builds the layer that hire would own, hands it over documented, and leaves you running it for a fixed $17,850.
Is there a lock-in or minimum term?
No. The 90-Day Number is fixed at $17,850 +GST and ends on day 90. It does not auto-renew. If you continue afterwards, that is month to month with no lock-in either. You decide what is next, not a contract.
Pitt Street, Sydney
Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand Member
hello@sydneyvirtualcfo.com
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