Virtual CFO in North Sydney

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

North Sydney runs on professional services, engineering, and construction firms billing $2M to $15M from the towers along Miller Street and the Pacific Highway. Strong on delivery, blind on cash between progress claims and slow-paying clients. The 90-Day Number builds the forward view your bookkeeper was never meant to own, 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 a North Sydney firm or contractor actually runs. No more, no less.
1
A simple 13-week cashflow model
Tied to WIP, debtors, and progress claims, the places cash actually hides in a services or construction business. Five minutes every Monday and you know what is in the bank across the quarter.
2
Three KPIs that drive the week
For a firm, usually utilisation, realisation, and lock-up days. For a builder, WIP, gross margin per job, and cash against progress. Set to your model, reviewed every Friday.
3
A 12-month budget
The plan you run the year by, with the next hire or the next project costed against the run rate. 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 bank, an investor, or yourself in twelve months. No eighty-slide pageantry.
5
Headcount & Capacity Planning
Maps your hiring plan to revenue, cash, and output. Whether utilisation supports the next consultant, or the project book supports the next site team. Trigger logic for when you commit.
6
Margin & Pricing
Gross margin where it lives: by client and engagement for a firm, by job for a builder. Pricing and rate scenarios modelled. The numbers behind a real business, not a busy one.
who it's for

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

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

The professional services firm owner.

You run a consulting, engineering, or advisory firm in one of the Miller Street or Walker Street towers.

Fee revenue around $8M, the work is strong, but utilisation sits in the low sixties and lock-up has crept past ninety days.

Cash is fine until a large client pays late, and then it is not.

The commercial construction or fit-out contractor.

You run a commercial builder or fit-out business along the Pacific Highway corridor.

Revenue past $10M at a 15% to 18% gross margin, with cash tied up in WIP, progress claims, and retentions.

The P&L looks healthy while the bank account tells a different story.

The professionalising group.

You have scaled a B2B services business past $5M across a couple of offices or service lines, on a capable finance manager and your own instinct.

Strong on delivery, light on the forward view.

Ready to stop guessing on hiring, pricing, and cash.
why owners pick this

Why North Sydney 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 fix a fee on a proposal or a price on a contract. You should expect a CFO to fix theirs.
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 North Sydney and the lower north shore, 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 North Sydney professional services and consulting firms?
Yes, they are a core part of the work here. The towers along Miller Street and the Pacific Highway are full of consulting, engineering, and advisory firms between $2M and $15M. The recurring gap is the same: strong fee revenue, and cash that lags because utilisation and lock-up are never watched closely enough. That is the layer a virtual CFO builds.
We are a commercial builder or fit-out contractor on the north shore. Is this for us?
It is. Commercial construction and fit-out is the second cluster we see most around North Sydney. The numbers that matter are WIP, gross margin per job, and cash against progress claims and retentions. The 90-Day Number gives you a 13-week cashflow and a budget that track cash through the project, not just at the end of it.
What does $17,850 +GST buy a North Sydney owner?
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.
Do you meet in person around North Sydney?
Yes. We can meet around North Sydney and the lower north shore for the kickoff and key sessions, and run the weekly cash and KPI reviews remotely. Most of the work between calls is async. The point is the rhythm, not the commute.
Our cash is tied up in WIP and progress claims. Can a 13-week cashflow handle that?
That is the case it is built for. For a builder or a fee-based firm, cash sits in work you have done but not yet billed or collected. The 13-week model maps WIP, progress claims, invoicing, and retentions against payroll and supplier runs, so you see the squeeze before it arrives.
What KPIs make sense for a consulting or engineering firm?
Usually utilisation, realisation, and lock-up days, though we set them to your model in week one. The test is three numbers that move revenue, margin, or cash, reviewed every Friday, not a thirty-metric dashboard nobody opens.
Our lock-up and debtor days are creeping up. Does the model address that?
Directly. Lock-up is one of the most common reasons a profitable North Sydney firm feels cash-poor. We measure it, build it into the 13-week cashflow, and set it as one of your KPIs so it stops drifting unnoticed.
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.
We are tendering bigger projects and thinking about a second office. Can this help us decide?
Yes, that is a common reason owners start here. The budget and the headcount and capacity module cost the next project or office against your current margins and cash, so the decision is quantified rather than a hunch. If you later need a deeper expansion or tender model, we scope that separately as a project.
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 owners need both. We work alongside your accountant, not instead of them.
We might raise in the next year. Does the 90-Day Number help with that?
Yes, that is a common reason owners start here. The headcount and capacity module costs the next venue against your current site margins and cash, so the decision is quantified rather than a hunch. If you later need a deeper expansion model, we scope that separately as a project.
Pitt Street, Sydney
Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand Member
hello@sydneyvirtualcfo.com
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