Not for profit

Many organisations (Small, Medium and Large) outsource their CFO and or internal finance function. Outsourcing the CFO and/or internal accounting function can give an organisation access to finance capability, discipline and reporting support without needing to build or maintain the full capability internally. The benefits below are based on RSM internal materials and publicly available commentary on outsourced finance functions.

Key benefits

• Access to senior finance expertise without a full-time hire
• Improved financial visibility and control
• Scalability as the business changes.
• More time for management to focus on core operations.
• Continuity and reduced key-person dependency.  
• Improved systems, processes and automation.  
• Better decision-making through clearer reporting
• Support for compliance and governance.  
• Access to broader specialist capability.
• Potential cost flexibility

For a confidential discussion on how we can assist please contact Andrew Bowcher 

• Financial stress indicators — declining cash reserves, missed budget targets, delayed payments, covenant pressure, growing debtor days, or reliance on short-term funding.  
• Operational deterioration — service delivery failures, customer/member complaints, falling quality standards, inability to meet key obligations, or repeated project delays.  
• Governance concerns — incomplete reporting, late board papers, unresolved audit findings, poor management follow-through, conflicts of interest, or unclear accountability.  
• Compliance and legal risks — breaches, regulatory notices, workplace safety incidents, privacy issues, licence conditions, or failure to meet statutory deadlines.  
• People and culture risks — high staff turnover, key person dependency, unresolved complaints, poor engagement, absenteeism, or leadership instability.  
• Strategic drift — initiatives not linked to strategy, lack of measurable progress, emerging competitor threats, or material changes in funding, demand, or stakeholder expectations.  
• Reputation signals — negative stakeholder feedback, adverse media, social licence concerns, or loss of confidence from funders, members, regulators, or partners.  
• Information quality issues — inconsistent data, unexplained variances, overly optimistic forecasts, missing KPIs, or management reports that do not clearly identify exceptions. 

• Regular missed deadlines — month-end close, board reporting, BAS/GST, payroll, supplier payments or management accounts are consistently late.  
• Increasing error rates — corrections, rework, journal adjustments, coding mistakes, reconciliation differences or repeated audit queries are becoming more common.  
• Backlogs are growing — invoices, debtor follow-ups, reconciliations, reporting packs or approvals are accumulating faster than the team can clear them.  
• Key-person dependency — one or two people hold critical knowledge, and work stalls when they are unavailable.  
• Limited management insight — financial reports are produced late, lack analysis, or do not clearly explain variances, risks, cash flow, or performance drivers.  
• Reactive rather than proactive work — the team is constantly responding to urgent requests and has little time for process improvement, forecasting, analysis or controls.  
• Poor cash-flow visibility — cash forecasts are unreliable, not updated regularly, or do not provide enough notice of funding pressures.  
• Control weaknesses — reconciliations are delayed, approvals are informal, segregation of duties is weak, or issues are only found after the fact.  
• Audit or compliance pressure — audit preparation, grant acquittals, regulatory returns, tax obligations or board papers require excessive last-minute effort.  
• Staff fatigue or turnover risk — finance staff are consistently working long hours, taking limited leave, or showing signs that workloads are unsustainable.  
• Business growth has outpaced systems — transaction volumes, entities, funding streams, locations or reporting needs have increased but processes remain manual.  
• Manual workarounds are common — spreadsheets, duplicate data entry, email approvals or disconnected systems are being used to compensate for system limitations.  
• Stakeholders lose confidence — executives, board members, managers, funders or auditors frequently question the accuracy, timeliness or usefulness of finance information.  
• Strategic work is being deferred — budgeting, forecasting, scenario planning, pricing, procurement review or business partnering is postponed because transactional work dominates. 

The current financial challenges are

• Expenses rising faster than revenue
• Higher service demand from cost-of-living pressure
• Payroll, wage and workforce cost pressure
• Funding uncertainty and poor cost recovery
• Reduced cash reserves and financial resilience
• Small charities being disproportionately exposed and facing greater pressure  
• Donations and grants not keeping pace with inflation
• Increasing governance, fraud, cyber and compliance costs 

The most effective improvement is to move from a reactive acquittal process to a grant lifecycle control process.  

This means

• budget in the same format as the acquittal;
• code every transaction to the grant;
• keep contemporaneous supporting evidence;
• monitor spend and outcomes monthly;
• obtain written approval for variations where required;
• certify reports through the right authority;
• prepare early for audit or review requirements;
• reconcile grant reporting with ACNC and annual financial reporting obligation (including funding agreements)

Due diligence to complete before a merger

• Confirm strategic and charitable-purpose alignment
• Governance and legal structure review
• Check regulatory status and confirm any approval required
• Undertake Financial due diligence
• Undertake a Tax and concessions review
• Review Contracts, funding agreements and grants
• Review employment, industrial relations and volunteers
• Confirm any Litigation, disputes and claims
• Review any property, leases and assets
• Undertake an Insurance and risk management review
• Undertake a privacy, data, IT and cybersecurity review
• Confirm ownership, usage and ability to transfer intellectual property and branding
• Undertake an operational and service delivery review
• Review culture, stakeholders and develop a communications strategy  
•  Ascertain if any reputational, conflicts and related-party risks exist
• Determine how the merger will be structured, process (transaction)  and any implementation risks
• Create a register of all required approvals, consents and conditions