Free finance review: know what to fix before you pay

How it works

Three steps. Nothing is charged at any step.

01
A 20 minute call.

Tell me what the business does and what’s bothering you about the numbers. Phone or video.
02
A written review in 24 hours.

The diagnosis you’d normally pay a CFO for, in writing, before you pay anything.
- What’s costing you money, with a dollar figure on each
- What’s exposing you, before it becomes a problem
- The fixes, in order of what each one is worth
- The manual work that could be automated
- A walkthrough call where I take you through all of it
See a sample review
03
You decide what happens next.

Keep the report and do nothing, a Finance Rebuild, or CFO Advisory. The report is yours either way.

Get my free review

After the review

Three ways it can go. All of them are fine.

01

Do nothing. Keep the report.

It is yours. Fix it yourself, hand it to your accountant or your team, or file it. Nothing follows unless you ask.

Free

02

A Finance Rebuild.

Every finance process taken apart, rebuilt on systems, documented and handed to your team. Scoped and priced after the review, against what it will save you.

Fixed fee, typically $15,000 to $40,000 Finance Rebuild

03

CFO Advisory.

Senior judgement every month: forecasts, pricing, cash, hires, lenders and the board. No lock-in.

From $1,500 a month CFO Advisory

Who writes it

One senior person. Not a firm’s add-on, not a panel.

I’m Liam Collier, founder of Infraxus. Business advisory at BDO first, then running the finance function of a 130 person professional services firm: cash, management reporting, profitability, owner decision support. I completed the CA program, then chose commercial finance over compliance work. Infraxus now has clients in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. The person on the first call is the person who writes your review and does the work.

Completed the CA program Ex-BDO business advisory Ran finance for a 130 person firm One person, every time

A sample review

Clean books, A$5.2M in revenue, and A$72,000 a year nobody could see.

A worked example from an Australian business, representative of what real reviews find. No client’s file is ever used in marketing, yours included.

Finance review · example Delivered within 24 hours

Summary

Reviewed: Xero file, 24 months. Management reports (bookkeeper’s monthly P&L and balance sheet). The forecast spreadsheet and the job tracker the business runs on.

The bookkeeping is fine. Reconciled, BAS lodged on time. What it does not show is margin, cash timing or who pays slowly. The P&L is by account, not by client or job. The forecast spreadsheet does not tie to the ledger; it was built in 2024 and rolled forward since. Cash is managed from the bank balance, and the BAS has been lodged on time but paid late in three of the last four quarters.

Four findings. 01: A$72,000 a year in margin on two clients. 02: about A$7,400 a year in ATO interest from paying the BAS late. 03: A$186,000 more than 60 days overdue, across four clients. 04: about 42 hours a month of manual work, about A$32,280 a year, and a nine day close.

01 · MarginA$72,000 a year

All 28 staff sit in one line, “Wages and salaries,” under overheads. There is no gross margin figure anywhere in the file. Recut using the job tracker’s hours, delivery margin is 34 percent against the 41 percent the pricing model assumes. Two of the six retained clients run below 15 percent.

Client	Fees a year	Margin now	At 30%	Gain
A	A$240,000	A$26,400 11%	A$72,000	A$45,600
B	A$160,000	A$21,600 13.5%	A$48,000	A$26,400
Both	A$400,000	A$48,000 12%	A$120,000	A$72,000

Target is 30 percent, below the firm’s 34 percent average. Figures are on current fees. Route: cut delivery hours on both to what the fees support, or reprice at renewal. No new work required.

02 · CashA$7,400 a year in ATO interest

The ATO is funding the business, at interest that is no longer deductible. Over the year the business is not short of cash. It is short for about ten days each quarter, when the BAS and a fortnightly payroll fall due together, about A$210,000 in total. Instead of drawing the account down, it pays the BAS late and in part. The ATO balance has run between A$40,000 and A$90,000, averaging A$65,000. At the current general interest charge of 11.43 percent that is about A$7,400 a year, none of it deductible since 1 July 2025. A 13-week cash forecast shows each of those ten days eight to ten weeks ahead, in time to bring debtors in (03) or move an invoice run so the BAS is paid on the due date.

03 · DebtorsA$186,000 over 60 days

The two lowest-margin clients are also two of the four slowest payers. Trade debtors are A$690,000. A$186,000 is over 60 days, A$61,000 of it over 90, across four clients. Clients A and B from finding 01 are two of the four: the business is financing its lowest-margin work. Invoices are chased when cash is tight, so collection and the BAS squeeze coincide. A weekly aged debtors review and a 14-day follow-up rule would collect most of the A$186,000 within a quarter.

04 · Manual workAbout A$32,280 a year, and a nine day close

The finance function runs on hands, not systems. Three processes take most of the time, and none of them needs a person for more than the judgement at the end.

Process	Who	Hours a month	Rate	Cost a month
Bills keyed from PDFs	Accounts assistant	16	A$55	A$880
Month end reconciliation	Bookkeeper	12	A$55	A$660
The pack, built by hand	Bookkeeper	10	A$55	A$550
Reviewing it	Owner	4	A$150	A$600
All four		42		A$2,690

A$2,690 a month is about A$32,280 a year. The books close nine working days after month end, so every decision in the month is made on numbers more than a week old. Illustrative rates; a real review uses your people’s.

Recommended next step

A Finance Rebuild, scoped to findings 01, 02 and 04. The ledger restructured so margin shows by client, a 13-week cash forecast so the BAS is paid on the due date, and the three manual processes rebuilt on systems with a person approving the exceptions.

The fee is set against the recurring saving it would be priced against: A$72,000 a year in margin (01), about A$7,400 a year in ATO interest (02) and about A$32,280 a year of manual work (04), plus a close cut from nine days. Finding 03 is collected by the same forecast and needs no separate work.

What this cannot fix

Whether to reprice A and B, or exit one, is a commercial decision; the margin figures above are the input.

The forecast needs rebuilding from the ledger, not patching. One that does not tie to the accounts drifts again within a quarter.

A$72,000A year in margin, recurring

A$186,000Overdue cash, most of it in within a quarter

A$7,400A year in ATO interest, not deductible

A$32,280A year in manual work, illustrative rates

L. Collier A worked example. No client file is used in marketing.

Two clients, in their own words, on working this way.

Client reference

“When our previous CFO moved on, Liam stepped in as our fractional CFO and has been the person we go to for anything complex in our finances since. He prepares the financial statements for our group entities, ran our annual budgeting process, and owns the forecasts our external stakeholders rely on. When we changed payroll and HR platforms mid-year, he delivered the migration on schedule, with every employee record and leave balance reconciled. He is highly responsive and turns urgent work around at short notice.”

Levent Shevki · Chief Executive Officer, Cornwalls, Melbourne

Client reference

“Liam rebuilt our budget from the bottom up and restructured the ledger so we could actually see delivery margins and where payroll was really going… The reporting was genuinely useful: true cash position after obligations, utilisation by consultant, and straight commentary on what needed a decision each month. Always delivered on time, no fuss, and having clean numbers made life easier when the business changed hands.”

George Darwent · then Chief Executive Officer, Centauri Consulting, Melbourne · Recommendation on LinkedIn

Compare

What you’re actually choosing between.

Comparison	Accounting firm, CFO add-on	CFO panel or network	Infraxus
Who you deal with	Whichever senior is available	Whoever the panel assigns	One senior person, from the first call to the last
Before you pay	A free consult	A free consult	A written review of your whole finance function, in 24 hours
Then	A monthly retainer	A monthly retainer	Whatever the review supports, including nothing
How it’s priced	Packages, price on application	$2,000 to $8,000 a month, where published	A fixed fee for a rebuild, never hourly. Advisory from $1,500 a month, no lock-in
Manual work	Not usually offered	Not usually offered	Measured in every review, removed where it pays
If you walk away	You keep nothing	You keep nothing	You keep the report

Infraxus

Who you deal withOne senior person, from the first call to the last

Before you payA written review of your whole finance function, in 24 hours

ThenWhatever the review supports, including nothing

How it’s pricedA fixed fee for a rebuild, never hourly. Advisory from $1,500 a month, no lock-in

Manual workMeasured in every review, removed where it pays

If you walk awayYou keep the report

Accounting firm, CFO add-on

Who you deal withWhichever senior is available

Before you payA free consult

ThenA monthly retainer

How it’s pricedPackages, price on application

Manual workNot usually offered

If you walk awayYou keep nothing

CFO panel or network

Who you deal withWhoever the panel assigns

Before you payA free consult

ThenA monthly retainer

How it’s priced$2,000 to $8,000 a month, where published

Manual workNot usually offered

If you walk awayYou keep nothing

Get my free review

Fit

Built for businesses from $1M in revenue.

Construction and infrastructure, trades and contractors, professional services, agencies, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, healthcare practices, ecommerce, hospitality groups, and groups running several entities. Ten years of it, from single-entity operators to a group running thirteen entities and hundreds of fixed assets.

Under $1M, the fix is usually accounting or bookkeeping, done properly every month, from $149 a month:

Accounting, New Zealand Bookkeeping, Australia Bookkeeping, United States

FAQ

Before you book.

Q01Why is the review free?

It’s how I find clients worth working with, and it costs me a few hours to be useful to you. If the review shows work worth doing, the walkthrough call ends with a fixed quote. If it doesn’t, I say so in writing. Either way the report is yours, and nothing follows unless you ask for it.

Q02I already have an accountant and a bookkeeper.

Keep them. They handle compliance and the ledger, and they should. This is the job neither of them is doing: forward numbers, margin by job and client, cash you can see coming, and the decisions that sit on top of all three.

Q03What do I have to share?

Whatever you’re comfortable sharing. Usually that’s your accounting file, read only, plus the reports and spreadsheets you actually run the business on. The more I can see, the more complete the review. Read-only access, granted on the call, revoked in one click whenever you like. How your data is handled is on the security page.

Q04Is this a sales call?

No. The review is written before any pricing is discussed, and it may say you need nothing. If it does, that’s what it’ll say.

Q05What if I only need one thing fixed?

Then the review says so, and names it. Fix it yourself or hand it to someone else. If you want us to fix it, it is quoted as a fixed fee on the walkthrough call, never hourly, and you know the full cost before you commit.

Q06What does a Finance Rebuild cost, and CFO Advisory?

A Finance Rebuild is a fixed fee, typically $15,000 to $40,000, scoped and priced after the review against what the rebuild will save you, and never hourly. CFO Advisory starts from $1,500 a month, scoped to what the review found, with no lock-in. The written proposal states the currency.

Q07How fast?

A call within days. The review within 24 hours of access. Expect six to ten weeks for a typical rebuild.

Q08What if the review says everything is fine?

Then you have a clean bill of health in writing, and you’ve avoided a fee you didn’t need. That’s a good outcome.

Book your review

Book the 20 minute call.

Free. A written review within 24 hours. Yours to keep whatever you decide.

What happens next.

01You pick a time for the 20 minute call, straight after this form.
02Nothing to prepare. Twenty minutes, phone or video, whichever you prefer.
03Your written review lands within 24 hours, then a walkthrough call: do nothing, a Finance Rebuild, or CFO Advisory.

Find out what your finance is costing you, before you pay for anything.