From Corporate Finance to Fractional CFO: Why I Chose to Help SME Business Owners

Laura Schiller, CPA

Founder, The CFO Agency | Virtual CFO & Fractional CFO Advisory

My name is Laura Schiller, CPA and founder of The CFO Agency. For more than 15 years, I worked in finance leadership and FP&A roles supporting executive teams at organisations including Melbourne Airport, CPA Australia, Cricket Australia and Australian Industry Group before establishing a Virtual CFO and Fractional CFO practice focused on Australian SME business owners.

The work was demanding, commercial and often high stakes. Large organisations expect their finance teams to do far more than prepare reports. They expect judgement, leadership, strategic thinking and the ability to influence decisions that shape the direction of the business.

In those environments, finance is not simply a back-office function. It is part of how the business decides where to invest, what to stop doing, how to manage risk and how to allocate resources effectively.

Whether I was working on budgeting, forecasting, pricing, management reporting or strategic planning, the purpose was always the same: to give decision-makers the right information before important choices were made.

The conversations that changed my direction

While working in corporate finance, I began receiving questions from people I knew in the business community. Some were founders. Some were directors. Some were business owners trying to make decisions with limited financial visibility.

The questions were practical:

• Can I afford to hire another employee?
• Why is cash flow tight when revenue is growing?
• Which products or services are actually profitable?
• Should I invest in growth now or wait?
• How should I price this properly?

I always tried to help. At first, those conversations were informal. Then one introduction led to another. Over time, I realised the issue was not that these business owners lacked financial information. Many already had accountants, bookkeeping systems and reports.

What they lacked was interpretation.

They wanted someone to help them understand what the numbers meant, what the risks were and what decision made the most commercial sense.

SME owners often need more than compliance

Traditional accounting services are essential. Tax compliance, BAS lodgements, bookkeeping and accurate financial statements all matter.

But commercial decision-making requires a different focus.

In large organisations, tax, compliance and commercial finance are usually separate disciplines. A tax specialist is not expected to build the strategic forecast, challenge pricing assumptions or lead the executive team through a major commercial decision.

Yet in the SME market, these roles are often treated as though they are the same thing. They are not.

This is where virtual CFO services, Fractional CFO Australia support and part-time CFO services can provide significant value.

Why the virtual CFO model made sense

When I began researching the market, I found that the virtual CFO and fractional CFO model was already developing overseas. The concept made immediate sense.

Many SMEs face the same financial questions as larger organisations. They need to manage cash flow, improve profitability, assess pricing, plan growth, understand performance and make confident decisions.

The difference is that smaller businesses often cannot justify a full-time CFO.

A Virtual CFO Australia model gives business owners access to senior financial leadership on a flexible basis. A part-time CFO can provide the strategic insight, forecasting and commercial support a business needs without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive appointment.

Why I founded The CFO Agency

I founded The CFO Agency because I believed SME business owners deserved access to the same quality of commercial financial thinking that large organisations rely on.

Not more reports. Not more dashboards for the sake of dashboards. Not generic financial commentary.

Practical financial insight that helps owners make better decisions.

Through our work providing virtual CFO Melbourne, services we help business owners with:

• Cash flow forecasting
• Budgeting and strategic planning
• Financial modelling
• Pricing and profitability analysis
• KPI and management reporting
• Growth planning
• Commercial decision support

For many businesses, the value is not simply in having the numbers prepared. The value is in understanding what action should be taken next.

A strategy-first accounting model

The CFO Agency is structured differently from a traditional accounting firm.

We lead with virtual CFO and fractional CFO services. Strategy comes first. Compliance supports it.

As a CPA Public Practice and Registered Tax Agent, we also work with experienced tax, compliance and systems specialists. This allows business owners to access strategic financial leadership while still having the technical accounting and tax support required to run a compliant business.

For some clients, this means engaging us as a small business part-time CFO. For others, it means a broader finance function that combines CFO oversight, financial insights and reporting, compliance, systems and tax support under one coordinated service.

The objective is not to replace good compliance work. The objective is to connect compliance, reporting and strategic decision-making so business owners have clearer information and stronger financial control.

Why this matters for Australian SMEs

The market for Virtual CFO Australia, Fractional CFO Australia and part-time CFO services continues to grow as business owners look for senior financial support that is flexible, practical and commercially focused.

This is particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses. The decisions are often just as important as those made in large organisations, but the margin for error can be much smaller.

A pricing mistake, hiring decision, poor forecast or cash flow issue can have a major impact.

That is why financial reporting should do more than describe what happened last month. It should help owners understand what is happening now and what may happen next.

Final thoughts

I did not leave corporate finance because the work was small. I left because I could see how valuable those same skills could be to SME business owners.

Large organisations already understand the importance of commercial finance, forecasting, budgeting and decision support.

SME business owners need that support too.

That is why The CFO Agency exists: to bring executive-level financial thinking to Australian businesses that need clarity, confidence and better decisions.