Strategic financial leadership without a full-time hire.
Budgets, rolling forecasts, board reporting and decision support from an experienced finance leader who works from your own numbers.
An outsourced CFO gives an SME senior finance leadership without a full-time hire: management reporting, cash-flow forecasting, budgets, funding readiness and the judgement behind big decisions. At Valont the CFO function sits inside one coordinated back office, so the numbers it works from are reconciled by the same team.
By Nick Lucock, Chief Executive Officer, ValontPublished 14 Mar 2026Last reviewed 8 Sept 2026
Key facts, current as at 14 Oct 2026
| Fact | Value | Source | As at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company tax rate | 25% for base rate entities (aggregated turnover under $50 million and 80% or less passive income); 30% otherwise | ATO, Company tax rates | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Valont delivery model | One Trusted Advisor coordinating Finance, People, Operations and Growth as one team; Brisbane-based, delivered Australia-wide | Valont, the connected back office | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Valont engagement terms | Fixed monthly fee, month-to-month, 30 days notice, no lock-in | Valont pricing | 14 Oct 2026 |
| Who may provide BAS services for a fee | Only a BAS or tax agent registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (Tax Agent Services Act 2009); registration is checkable on the public register | Tax Practitioners Board, public register | 14 Oct 2026 |
An outsourced CFO is a part-time, contracted finance leader who provides the strategic financial direction of a chief financial officer, budgeting and forecasting, scenario modelling, board reporting and decision support, without a full-time hire. Valont delivers it as the strategic-finance function within your finance hub, one part of a wider connected back office, with an experienced advisor working from the same data as the rest of your team.
Outsourced CFO at a glance
Scope, cadence and fee confirmed in writing before you start- What you get
- An annual budget and rolling forecast with variance analysis; board or management packs with KPIs, commentary and forward projections; scenario models for the decisions in front of you, pricing, hiring, a new site, an acquisition, funding; lender and investor materials when you need them; and a KPI set designed for your business rather than a generic dashboard.
- Cadence
- Continuous rather than project-based. Reporting is kept current from the same data your bookkeeping and payroll run on; the rolling 13-week cash-flow forecast is updated weekly; and strategic sessions with your CFO advisor run at a cadence agreed at the start, stepping up during a raise, an acquisition or year-end.
- Who it fits
- Businesses whose decisions have outgrown the bookkeeper’s remit, they now need budgets, forecasts and board-level reporting, but that don’t yet need a full-time CFO. Growth plans, capital raising, exit preparation and multi-entity groups are the usual triggers.
- When it’s the wrong move
- If the books aren’t current, start with bookkeeping: CFO-level advice on unreliable data is expensive guesswork. If the real need is BAS and tax returns done well, buy that instead. And once the need becomes daily and operational, a full-time CFO is the right spend.
- What sets the fee
- One fixed monthly fee. It moves with the scope of outputs (a budget and board pack is a different engagement from a capital raise), the CFO time that scope needs, business size and complexity, and which hubs you engage. No hourly charges on top, see how fees work.
- Comparing providers?
- Our guide to the best outsourced CFO services in Australia compares ten providers by shape , fractional networks, client-type specialists and integrated providers, Valont included , alongside market-rate benchmarks from a published 2026 cost guide.
You've outgrown your bookkeeper but can't justify a full-time CFO.
You need someone who can build a budget, prepare board papers, model an acquisition, or present financials to investors. But the business isn't at the point where a full-time CFO makes sense.
So you make do, making complex financial decisions without the financial leadership that larger companies take for granted. Your bookkeeper does their job well, but strategy isn't their job.
Without financial leadership:
- Major strategic decisions made without proper financial analysis
- Board or investor meetings without professional financial presentations
- No budget or forecast, flying blind on financials
- Can't model scenarios before committing to them
- Nobody translating financial data into business insights
- Missed opportunities to optimise capital structure or improve margins
Financial leadership at the level your decisions need.
Budgeting and forecasting
Annual budgets, rolling forecasts, and variance analysis. Financial planning that drives accountability and informs strategy.
Learn more →Board reporting
Professional board packs with financial performance, KPIs, commentary, and forward-looking projections.
Learn more →Financial strategy
Capital structure, funding strategy, growth modelling, and exit planning aligned with your business objectives.
Learn more →Decision support
Financial analysis for major decisions: acquisitions, new locations, product launches, pricing changes, and capital investments.
Learn more →Investor and lender relations
Preparation and presentation of financial information for investors, lenders, and board members.
Learn more →KPI design and monitoring
Identification and tracking of the financial and operational metrics that actually matter for your business.
Learn more →From assessment to strategic partnership in weeks.
Financial maturity assessment
We assess your financial maturity and identify the gaps in your current financial management and reporting.
CFO assignment
A CFO-level advisor is assigned based on your industry expertise, business complexity, and stage of growth.
Engagement structuring
The engagement is continuous rather than project-based: reporting is kept current from the same books the rest of the finance function runs on, and…
Cross-hub integration
Your CFO advisor integrates with the rest of your Valont team for full-context decision support and strategic alignment.
Businesses that need strategic financial leadership without the full-time cost.
Outgrown the bookkeeper
Decisions now need budgets, forecasts and board-level reporting, but not yet a full-time CFO
Growth-stage
Planning significant expansion, new locations, or new product lines
Capital raising
Seeking investment or debt financing and need sophisticated financial presentations
Exit planning
Preparing for acquisition or sale and need strategic financial positioning
The CFO function draws on data from every hub.
People costs and projections from the People Hub. Technology and infrastructure costs from Operations. Revenue pipeline and customer economics from Growth. This cross-hub visibility is what makes the CFO function genuinely strategic rather than just producing numbers.
Try it yourself
FreeFree interactive tools to help you understand where you stand right now.
Financial Visibility Score
Score your financial reporting capabilities across 6 dimensions. Find out where you have blind spots before they become problems.
Try it nowBusiness Valuation Estimator
Estimate your business valuation using industry-specific multiples. Understand what drives your business worth.
Try it nowFrequently asked questions
The short answers are here. For anything else, ask below or get in touch.
It depends on what the engagement is set up to deliver. Time is scoped around the outputs, the budget, the forecast cadence, board packs, decision work, rather than sold by the hour, and it can step up during intensive periods (capital raising, M&A, year-end) and back down in steady state.
The honest AI answer
Is there such a thing as an AI CFO?
The software exists; the accountability does not. The practical model is AI-compressed analysis with a human owning the advice, not ChatGPT or Claude as your CFO:
Read next
Related reading on this site: the best outsourced CFO services in Australia, AI CFO, cash flow reporting and pricing.
Changes to this page
- 14 Oct 2026Answer paragraph, sourced key-facts table, byline and dates added (organic programme WS5).
Ready for CFO-level input on the decisions ahead?
Talk to a Finance Advisor about what the engagement would cover for your business, the outputs, the cadence, and a fixed monthly fee quoted for your situation.