I help boards and CEOs navigate high-stakes decisions with confidence, turning financial complexity into strategic clarity.

As a Chief Financial Officer with nearly two decades of expertise, I've worked across healthcare, aged care, NDIS, FMCG, mining, and global corporates. I've directly managed budgets exceeding $500M and led financial transformations that unlocked over $50M in savings.

My track record spans mergers, acquisitions, regulatory reform, and turnaround situations. I've secured $12M in government funding and built resilient, compliant organisations positioned for sustainable growth amid emerging regulatory and technological transformation.

Beyond the balance sheet, I translate financial expertise into action. I've authored five Amazon-published books, including Beyond the Numbers, NDIS Financial Management, Survive and Thrive - Cash Flow Strategies that Actually Work, The AI Playbook for the Practical CFO and Aged Care Reform 2025, that turn financial governance and strategy into practical executive playbooks. Through my blog (CFOInsights.blog) and speaking engagements, I share frameworks that bridge governance and growth, sparking industry conversations on resilience and innovation.

At the board level, I serve as Non-Executive Director and advisor, delivering financial governance, risk oversight, and strategic execution that empowers organisations to achieve their most ambitious goals.

What drives my approach:

1. Strategic partnership: I go beyond financial stewardship to unlock opportunity and co-create growth.
2. Clarity in complexity: I deliver actionable insights, even when uncertainty is high.
3. Governance with purpose: I fuse deep sector expertise with strategic leadership for lasting impact.

My focus now: partnering with boards and leadership teams that need transformative financial guidance where governance, growth, and purpose converge to create real value.

Let's connect if your organisation is ready for financial leadership that drives meaningful outcomes.

The best resume I ever hired turned out to be my worst CFO hire.

Here's why:

The Resume:

Big 4 accounting background (8 years)
MBA from a top university
CPA qualified
Previous CFO at $50M company
Glowing references
I was thrilled to hire him.

3 months later:

Operations Manager: "I don't understand what he's saying."
CEO: "His reports are confusing."
Board Chair: "Can you translate what he means?"

He was technically brilliant.

But completely useless.

The problem:

He spoke in finance jargon to people who needed clarity.

Examples:

"EBITDA deterioration driven by adverse contribution margin variance"
"Working capital compression due to DSO extension"
"OpEx leverage dilution from fixed cost absorption"

Translation:

"We're less profitable because services cost more than planned."
"We're tight on cash because customers pay slowly."
"Costs are high because we're not busy enough."

The breaking point:

Board meeting. Presenting monthly results.

The director asked, "So, are we on track?"

His response: "Well, on a normalised basis, adjusting for one-time items and phasing effects, our run-rate EBITDA suggests..."

Director: "Is that a yes or no?"

Him: "It's nuanced..."

We let him go 2 weeks later.

What I learned:

Technical skills are table stakes.

Communication is the actual job.

Now, when I hire, I ask:

"Explain EBITDA to someone who's never heard the term."

If they can't do it simply, they can't do the job.

The best finance people make complex things simple.

Not simple things, complex.

Your test:

Ask your finance team to explain one concept to a non-finance person.

If they use jargon, they're not communicating.

They're showing off.

Big difference.

Can your finance team explain things simply?

Steven Taylor

Talks about #trust, #authentic, #cfoinsights, #futureready, and #teamdevelopment

CFO & Board Director | Author of 5 Finance Books | Helping Healthcare CFOs Navigate NDIS, Aged Care Reform, AI Transformation & Cash Flow Mastery

I asked my finance team one question:

"What part of your job makes you miserable?"

Here's what they said:

AP person: "Creditor calls. They yell at me. I don't control payments. I just absorb abuse."

Accountant: "Reports no one reads. 8 hours of work. Opened for 3 minutes. I feel invisible."

Manager: "Explaining things I don't understand. I guess at answers. It's stressful."

Payroll officer: "We rush. Make errors. People get paid wrong. I feel terrible."

None about salary.

None about career progression.

All about dignity, purpose, and control.

What I changed:

Gave AP authority to communicate payment schedules
Exec now provides written feedback on reports
"I don't know; let me find out" became acceptable
Extended payroll timeline (quality over speed)
Weekly 10-min feedback (what went well)

6 months later:

Turnover: Zero (was one person/year)
Errors: Down 67%
Engagement: Up 40%
Month-end close: 8 days → 5 days
Happy people work better.

The action:

Ask your team, "What makes you miserable?"

Then listen. Don't defend.

Just fix what you can.

Most problems don't need a budget.

They need attention and empathy.

When did you last ask?

What your Board wants from your CFO report (vs. what they're getting):

What they're getting:

Page 1: Last month's P&L with variance to budget
Page 2: Balance sheet
Page 3: Cash flow statement
Page 4: Occupancy graph
Page 5: Aged debtors
Page 6: Capex tracking

All accurate. All on time. All ignored.

What they actually want:

One page that answers these questions:

1. Are we okay? (Red/amber/green)
2. What's changed since last month?
3. What should we be worried about?
4. What decision do you need from us?

That's it.

The disconnect:

Finance teams report what's easy to produce.

Boards want what's hard to produce.

Easy to produce: Historical data, system-generated reports, standardised formats

Hard to produce: Forward-looking insight, risk identification, strategic implications

Example from last week:

I sat in on a Board meeting.

The CFO presented 12 pages of financial statements.

Took 40 minutes.

The Board Chair asked one question:

"So, are we on track for the budget this year?"

CFO: "Well, it depends on several factors..."

That's when you've lost them.

The better approach:

Slide 1: The Headlines (30 seconds)

YTD EBITDA: $2.4M (Budget: $2.6M) - Amber
Cash position: $3.1M (Target: $2.8M) - Green
Occupancy: 89% (Budget: 92%) - Red
Key risk: Occupancy trending in the wrong direction

Slide 2: What Changed (1 minute)

3 unexpected departures in premium rooms (−$45K/month impact)
Wage increases absorbed without passing to residents (+$28K/month)
Maintenance capex deferred to Q4 (timing benefit, not saving)

Slide 3: Forward Look (1 minute)

The current enquiry rate suggests a 2-month recovery to 92%
Wage cost pressure will persist (need pricing strategy)
Cash adequate for operations, tight for growth plans

Slide 4: Decisions Needed (30 seconds)

Approve a 4% rate increase effective 1 March? (Required to maintain margins)
Proceed with West Wing refurbishment or delay 6 months?
Total time: 3 minutes.

The board has everything it needs.

Discussion focused on decisions, not data.

The rule:

If your Board report is over 3 pages, you're doing it wrong.

If you're presenting for more than 5 minutes, you've lost them.

If they're asking, "So what does this mean?" You've failed.

Your finance function exists to:

1. Provide clarity, not data
2. Highlight risks, not just results
3. Enable decisions, not just report history
Most CFOs are really good at the second part.
Very few are good at the first.

What does your Board actually want to know?

A finance manager made a small Excel error.

Cost: $890K.

Time to discover: 14 months.

Here's what happened:

The Setup:

Aged care provider. 120 beds. Using Excel for accrual calculations.

Specifically: Wage accruals for fortnightly staff at month-end.

The formula looked innocent:

=SUM(Hours_Worked * Hourly_Rate * 1.15)

The 1.15 was meant to capture super + payroll tax + on-costs.

The Error:

In February 2023, someone updated the formula to:

=SUM(Hours_Worked * Hourly_Rate * 11.5%)

See it?

They changed 1.15 to 11.5%

Excel interpreted this as 0.115 (not 1.15)

The Impact:

Wage accruals went from $245K per month to $22K per month.

P&L suddenly looked amazing.

EBITDA jumped from 11% to 19%.

Board: "Fantastic! What are we doing differently?"

CEO: "Operational efficiency improvements!"

Reality: Completely wrong numbers.

How it went unnoticed:

The balance sheet still balanced (cash was actually going out)
P&L variance looked like "good news" (no one questioned it)
No one reconciled accrual calculations to payroll actuals
Excel didn't show an error (the formula was technically valid)
Month-end close was rushed (no time for sense-checks)
For 14 months, they were:

Under-accruing wages by ~$220K per month
Overstating profit by $220K per month
Making decisions based on fake profitability

The Discovery:

A new finance manager started.

First task: Reconcile the balance sheet.

Accrued wages: $22K

Should be: $245K

"That can't be right..."

A deep dive revealed the error.

Correcting entry: Dr P&L $890K (14 months × ~$220K)

One Excel formula. $890K impact.

The Lesson:

Excel is powerful.

Excel is also terrifying.

The 5 rules for financial Excel:

Rule 1: Lock your formulas

Protect cells containing formulas.

Force people to unlock to change (creates a pause to think).

Rule 2: Separate inputs from calculations

Inputs in blue cells (unlocked).

Calculations in black cells (locked).

Never mix them.

Rule 3: Reconcile to the source

Every Excel calc should tie back to system data.

Monthly. Without fail.

Rule 4: Sense-check everything

If numbers change significantly, investigate immediately.

Good news needs explanation just like bad news.

Rule 5: Document assumptions

Every formula needs a comment explaining what it does and why.

Your future self (or replacement) will thank you.

The Better Solution:

Move critical calculations out of Excel entirely.

Wage accruals? That's your payroll system's job.

Revenue recognition? That should be in your ERP.

Excel is for analysis. Not for source-of-truth calculations.

If an Excel error could materially misstate your financials, you're using Excel wrong.

How many critical calculations live in your spreadsheets?

How a $12M NDIS provider saved $380K without cutting a single staff member.  

This was 18 months ago. The CEO called me: "We're profitable on paper, but cash is always tight." 

I looked at their financials. Everything seemed fine.  

But when I dug into operations, I found the real problem: 

The Rostering Chaos:
 
Support workers were rostered 40 hours per week. 
But only 32 hours were billable to participants. 
The other 8 hours? "Admin time," "training," "travel."  
Cost: $380K annually across 35 support workers.  
Nobody had questioned it. "That's just how it works."  

The Fix: 

They didn't cut staff.  They redesigned the rostering approach: 

Change #1: Cluster Geographic Scheduling  

Previously: Workers drove 30-40 minutes between participants. 
New approach: Maximum 15 min between participants.  
Result: Reduced travel time from 8 hours to 3 hours per week per worker.  

Change #2: Centralise Non-Billable Work  

Previously, each worker did their own admin, notes, and training. 
New approach: 3 dedicated admin staff handling documentation.  
Result: Support workers focus on billable hours only.  

Change #3: Optimise Shift Length  

Previously: Lots of 2-hour shifts (inefficient). 
New approach: Minimum 4-hour shifts where possible.  
Result: Better capacity utilisation, fewer travel segments.  

The Results: 

Before: 32 billable hours / 40 rostered hours = 80% utilisation. 
After: 37 billable hours / 40 rostered hours = 92.5% utilisation  
Financial Impact:  35 workers × 5 additional billable hours × 48 weeks = 8,400 additional billable hours × $45 average hourly rate = $378K additional revenue with zero additional wage cost 

The Real Lesson: 

Financial problems in NDIS often aren't financial problems.  
They're operational problems showing up in your P&L.  

You don't need to cut costs.  
You need to eliminate waste.  

This provider didn't fire anyone.  
They just stopped paying people to sit in cars.  

What operational inefficiency is hiding in your financials?

I sat in a 6-hour budget meeting.

Cost: $40K (fully loaded cost of 12 people × 6 hours)

Output: Nothing decided.

The agenda:

"Review and approve FY26 budget."

What actually happened:

Hour 1: Finance presents 40-slide deck
Hour 2: Arguing about one supplier's quote
Hour 3: Debating whether to replace the vehicle or not
Hour 4: Discussing catering budget line-by-line
Hour 5: "Let's take a break and come back to this."
Hour 6: Scheduling follow-up meeting

The problem:

Wrong people. Wrong questions. Wrong format.

How I run budget meetings:

Pre-meeting (Finance does this):

Board approves strategic priorities
Finance builds a budget to prioritise
Circulate 1-page summary (not 40 slides)
Flag only contentious items (not everything)

The meeting (90 minutes max):

5 min: Recap priorities
10 min: Present total numbers (revenue, EBITDA, cash, capex)
30 min: Discuss 3-5 contentious items only
30 min: Decisions made
15 min: Document and close

Total: 90 minutes. Cost: $10K. Output: Approved budget.

The rule:

Budget meetings aren't for reviewing.

They're for deciding.

Send details in advance.

The meeting is for discussion and approval only.

If you're reading slides aloud in the meeting, you're wasting time.

How long was your last budget meeting?

It's Friday afternoon. Your finance team is probably closing out the week. 

Here's what I want you to think about over the weekend:  

Is your finance function designed for where you're going?  Or where have you been?  

Most NDIS and aged care providers I meet have finance functions that were perfect for their size 5 years ago.  

Back when they had:  
• 20 participants (now 200) 
• 2 locations (now 8) 
• $2M revenue (now $15M) 
• Simple funding model (now NDIS + CHSP + private + DVA) 

But they never upgraded their financial capability.  
Same systems. Same team structure. Same reporting. 
Same processes.  Just... more volume.  And now they're drowning.  

The finance team is buried in transactions.  

The CEO can't get answers to simple questions.  
The board is asking for insight that doesn't exist.  

Here's the truth:  

Your finance function is either an asset or a liability.  

If it's giving you:  

• Timely, accurate information 
• Early warning of problems 
• Insight into what's driving performance 
• Confidence to make big decisions 

It's an asset.  

If it's giving you:  

• Month-end reports 3 weeks late 
• Unexplained variances 
• Errors that require corrections 
• Anxiety about your financial position 

It's a liability.  And you can't scale with a liability.  

This weekend, ask yourself:  "Is my finance function ready for the next 3 years of growth?"  If the answer is no, Monday is a good day to start fixing it.  

I share practical CFO frameworks weekly at cfoinsights.blog.  Have a great weekend.

I watched a $45M NDIS provider lose $2.3M because their finance manager "had it under control."

Here's what actually happened:

The finance manager had been there 8 years.

Knew the business inside out.

CEO trusted him completely.

"He's got everything covered," the CEO told me.

Then the finance manager resigned. Two weeks' notice.

What they discovered during handover:

No one else knew:

1. How the payroll system actually worked
2. Where the NDIS reconciliations were kept
3. The process for monthly accruals
4. Which Excel files had the real numbers
5. How to extract data from their ERP
6. The bank reconciliation methodology
7. Everything lived in one person's head.

Or on their laptop.

The 6-month aftermath:

Month 1: Scrambling to close books (18 days late)
Month 2: Payroll errors hit 12% (normally 2%)
Month 3: Discovered $380K in unbilled NDIS services
Month 4: Found $520K in duplicate payments to suppliers
Month 5: Identified $890K in incorrectly accrued expenses
Month 6: Bank reconciliation revealed $510K unexplained variance

Total financial impact: $2.3M

Some recoverable. Most not.

All because of "single person dependency".

The warning signs they missed:

• Only one person could close month-end
• Documentation existed in that person's head
• Processes weren't written down
• No cross-training between team members
• "Just ask ... " was the standard answer
• Systems access wasn't segregated
• No one reviewed their work independently
• Here's what kills NDIS providers:

Not external competition.

Not regulatory changes.

Not even funding cuts.

It's operational fragility.

One person leaves. Everything breaks.

The fix isn't complicated:

Every critical process needs:

1. Written procedure (step-by-step)
2. Two people trained to execute it
3. Independent review requirement
4. Documented in shared location (not someone's laptop)
5. Tested quarterly by someone else

Your 3 highest-risk processes:

1. Payroll end-to-end
2. Month-end close
3. NDIS portal reconciliation and billing

If only one person can do these, you have a $2M+ problem waiting to happen.

Action for this week:

Pick your riskiest process.

Book 2 hours.

Document it.

Train someone else.

Don't wait until someone resigns to discover what you don't know.

How many critical processes in your business depend on one person?

The 3 Excel formulas every aged care finance person should know.  (But most don't)  

I train finance teams across aged care and NDIS.  

These 3 formulas solve 80% of reporting problems.  

Yet I see people doing manual calculations instead.  

Formula #1: SUMIFS  

What it does: Sums data based on multiple criteria.  
Example: Total revenue for the North region, aged care services only.  
Formula: =SUMIFS(Revenue_Range, Region_Range, "North", Service_Range, "Aged Care")  

Why it matters: 

• No more manual filtering 
• Dynamic updates when data changes 
• Eliminates copy-paste errors 

Use it for: 

• Revenue by service type 
• Costs by department 
• Hours by location 

Formula #2: XLOOKUP (or VLOOKUP if you have older Excel)  

What it does: Finds and returns data from another table.  
Example: Pull employee hourly rate from staff database.  
Formula: =XLOOKUP(Employee_ID, Staff_ID_Range, Hourly_Rate_Range)  

Why it matters: 

• Connects different data sources 
• Eliminates manual data entry 
• Updates automatically 

Use it for: 

• Matching costs to cost centres 
• Looking up pricing rates 
• Connecting participant IDs to service details 

Formula #3: IF with AND/OR  

What it does: Tests multiple conditions and returns results.  
Example: Flag high-risk aged care residents (90+ years old AND multiple falls). 
Formula: =IF(AND(Age>90, Falls>1), "High Risk", "Standard")  

Why it matters: 

• Automates risk identification 
• Enables exception reporting 
• Creates traffic light dashboards 

Use it for: 

• Cash flow alerts (Amber if

Everyone's preparing for Aged Care Reform 2025.

They're focused on the wrong thing.

What everyone's doing:

Reviewing new care minute requirements
Training staff on documentation
Updating policies
Preparing for audits
All important.

All are missing the real issue.

What no one's preparing for:

The financial model change.

Old model: Fill beds, revenue follows. New model: Deliver quality, then get paid

The shift:

Currently, You get paid based on occupancy
Reform: You get paid based on care delivery and outcomes

What this means:

Your revenue becomes variable based on:

Care minutes actually delivered (not just planned)
Quality indicators met
Compliance with new standards
Outcome measurements

Example:

Current: 100 beds at 92% occupancy = predictable $2.8M/month

Post-reform: Same occupancy, but:

5% revenue at risk for care minutes shortfall
3% at risk for quality indicators
2% at risk for documentation compliance

A potential 10% revenue variance = $280K/month swing.

The finance teams that will survive:

Real-time care delivery tracking
Quality indicator dashboards
Predictive revenue models
Scenario planning frameworks

The action:

Stop focusing only on compliance.

Start modelling revenue volatility.

Build your finance function for variable revenue, not fixed.

Most providers are preparing operations.

No one's preparing finance.

Is your finance team ready for variable revenue?

Most NDIS providers don't know their true cost per hour.

They know the wage rate.

They're missing everything else.

Support worker gets $35/hour.

But your real cost:

Base wage: $35.00
Super (11%): $3.85
Payroll tax (4.85%): $1.70
Workers comp (3%): $1.05
Vehicle/travel (8%): $2.80
Coordination (15%): $5.25
Training/admin (10%): $3.50
Cancellations (5% avg): $1.75

Real cost: $54.90/hour

You bill $68/hour.

Margin: $13.10/hour (19%)

Not the $33/hour (49%) you thought.

Why this matters:

Without knowing the true cost, you can't:

1. Price accurately
2. Identify profitable services
3. Make growth decisions
4. Understand which participants make money

I've assessed 47 NDIS providers.

Only 3 knew their true cost per hour.

Those 3 are the only ones growing profitably.

Calculate yours this week.

Do you know your real cost per billable hour?

Your aged care occupancy is 93%.

Sounds healthy, right?

Let me show you why that number is almost meaningless.

Provider A: 93% occupancy

120 licensed beds
112 occupied
EBITDA: 14%
Thriving

Provider B: 93% occupancy

120 licensed beds
112 occupied
EBITDA: 3%
Struggling
Same occupancy. Completely different businesses.

What occupancy doesn't tell you:

Missing Factor #1: Room Mix

Provider A occupancy:

40 premium rooms @ $350/day: 95% occupied
50 standard rooms @ $280/day: 94% occupied
30 basic rooms @ $220/day: 88% occupied

Provider B occupancy:

40 premium rooms @ $350/day: 82% occupied (vacant rooms killing revenue)
50 standard rooms @ $280/day: 98% occupied
30 basic rooms @ $220/day: 100% occupied
Total occupancy is the same. Revenue per occupied bed:

Provider A: $285/day
Provider B: $258/day
Difference: $27/day × 112 beds × 365 days = $1.1M annually

Missing Factor #2: Length of Stay

Provider A: Average stay 18 months

Predictable revenue
Low turnover costs
Strong relationships
Efficient care planning

Provider B: Average stay 6 months

High turnover (2 admissions per bed per year)
Constant vacancy periods during transitions
Higher admin costs per bed
More one-off expenses (setting up rooms, assessments)
Turnover cost: ~$8K per transition

Provider B: 224 transitions/year × $8K = $1.8M in hidden costs

Provider A: 75 transitions/year × $8K = $600K

Difference: $1.2M

Missing Factor #3: Acuity Mix

Provider A:

60% high care (higher rates, better ratios)
40% low care

Provider B:

35% high care
65% low care (lower rates, same base costs)

Impact: Provider A gets better care supplement payments and can charge premium pricing.

Difference: ~$800K annually

Missing Factor #4: Payment Reliability

Provider A:

85% funded by government/RAD (reliable)
15% private/pensioner contribution

Provider B:

60% funded by government/RAD
40% private/pensioner contribution (collection issues)

Bad debt expense:

Provider A: 0.5% of revenue
Provider B: 3.2% of revenue
On $35M revenue: $945K difference

The Real Formula:

Effective Occupancy = Raw Occupancy × Room Mix Factor × Stay Stability × Acuity Premium × Collection Rate

Provider A: 93% × 1.08 × 1.15 × 1.12 × 0.995 = 126% effective

Provider B: 93% × 0.96 × 0.88 × 0.94 × 0.968 = 72% effective

Same raw occupancy. 54 percentage point difference in effective occupancy.

That's why one's thriving and one's struggling.

What to track instead:

1. Revenue per occupied bed day (not just occupancy %)
2. Average length of stay (stability indicator)
3. Premium room occupancy (where your margin lives)
4. Acuity-adjusted occupancy (care mix matters)
5. Collection-adjusted revenue (what you actually get paid)

The Action:

Calculate your effective occupancy this week.

You might have an occupancy problem you didn't know existed.

Or discover you're doing better than you thought.

Either way, you'll finally be measuring what matters.

What's your effective occupancy rate?

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