Fractional CFO and finance function · owner-led businesses
The finance function you need, without the hire: books you can trust, a monthly report you actually understand, and a CFO to help you make the calls.
Stop paying for bookkeeping. Why pay someone for routine work AI can do? We automate yours, free with any plan.
A read-only look at your Xero: a score out of 100, your top three fixes and what each is costing you. Free, in five business days. Or book a 20-minute call.
$0 bookkeeping, with any plan.
AI does the routine and a person handles the rest, so it costs us little and you nothing. Bookkeepers typically charge a small business $600 to $1,200 a month. You pay for Xero; we don't charge for the bookkeeping.
Your first month: worth it, or it's free.
Not worth its fee after your first pack and call? Tell us within 7 days and you don't pay for it.
Jared Magee, before and alongside LedgerLift
8 → 84
clinics: built the finance function for a general practice group through that growth
AU + UK
head of finance for a two-sided marketplace across two countries and three entities
15+ years
across an accounting firm, a global manufacturer, PE-backed and founder-led businesses
M&A
experience across acquisitions and exits
We do the work, you get your first pack and a call to walk through it. If you don't think it earned its fee, tell us within 7 days and you don't pay for that month. No argument.
Once, on any plan (the first quarter on a quarterly plan), when your books and inputs arrived on time.
Most finance functions don't break loudly. They drift, and the cost shows up in slow decisions, surprises at year end and cash that's tighter than it should be.
You see last month's numbers six weeks late
By the time the P&L lands, the decision it should have informed has already been made.
The fix: The month closed and the pack on your desk by working day 10, every month, in plain language.
Your accountant helps at year end, and that's it
The books get done and the tax gets lodged. Nobody owns the numbers month to month, or tells you what they mean for next quarter.
The fix: A named lead owns your numbers every month and tells you what they mean. Your accountant keeps the tax and gets a locked file.
Every new site makes it harder to see what's working
One Xero file, five locations, and no clear view of which ones actually make money.
The fix: A P&L per site, job or service line every month, so you can see what earns its keep and whether the next site will.
Big calls are made on gut feel
Can you afford two more hires? Is payroll tax coming? What can you take out this quarter? You're guessing.
The fix: A 13-week cash forecast, payroll tax and leave accrued monthly, and the numbers behind each option before you commit.
The alternatives are to keep going, or to hire a finance manager at $130,000 to $170,000 plus on-costs who still needs someone above them. LedgerLift is the finance function in between.
What not knowing costs
None of it is a surprise to the books. Only to the owner. Here is what it cost two businesses we reviewed in 2026.
Idle cash
Surplus cash was earning almost nothing, because nobody had set a working-capital buffer, so nobody knew how much was genuinely spare.
The fix: the quarterly Owner Review sets the buffer and shows what's free beyond the buffer. Free guide.
A profit reported as a loss
Long service leave had never been accrued. Years of it landed in one year's P&L, and a profitable year was reported as a loss to the board.
The fix: leave and payroll tax accrued at every month-end close, so no year carries another year's costs.
Growth that wasn't real
Reported revenue growth was several points higher than the like-for-like figure, because discounts had moved between lines without anyone flagging it.
The fix: a pack that walks gross revenue to net every month, on the same basis every year.
The old way, and the new way
Keep going as you are
$0 a month
Paid later, in costs like the ones above: decisions on numbers that aren't real, liabilities that arrive as bills, cash that sits idle.
Hire a finance manager
About $13,000 a month
A finance manager's typical base salary in Australia, before super, leave and payroll tax, a recruiter, and the notice period. And they still need someone above them for the CFO calls.
LedgerLift
From $167 a month
Start with a quarterly check-in from $167 a month ($500 a quarter), a report on your books from $500 a month, or the full close and pack from $2,500, reviewed before it reaches you. Step up when you're ready.
Client details withheld. Salary is the typical finance manager base across the states, about $130,000 to $170,000 a year (Robert Walters and Employment Hero, 2026), shown monthly at the midpoint.
What you get
One retainer, a scope you choose, a named lead who answers for it. Bookkeeping is included free, or your bookkeeper keeps it if you'd rather. Your accountant keeps tax and BAS and gets our locked file every month.
Automated · free with every plan
Nobody wants to do bookkeeping, and most of it is the same transactions coded the same way every month. So we automate it. AI captures your bills and receipts, codes them and matches your accounts in your Xero, every week, and a person handles anything it can't. It costs us little, so it costs you nothing. You pay only for the work that takes judgement: the close, the numbers and the decisions.
Bookkeepers typically charge a small business $600 to $1,200 a month
$0
with any plan, from the $167 Check‑in. You pay for Xero; we don't charge for the bookkeeping.
Get your free Health CheckMarket range for small businesses with 50 to 200 transactions a month, from Xero's and Digit's 2026 bookkeeping cost guides. GST settings are agreed with your registered BAS or tax agent before anything goes live; BAS stays with them and payroll with your payroll provider. Payment runs, debtor chasing and supplier queries are Finance admin, quoted on your volume.
Guarantee one
Your first month is on us if it doesn't earn its fee.
After your first pack and call, tell us within 7 days it wasn't worth it, and you don't pay for that month. No argument.
Once, on any plan (the first quarter on a quarterly plan), when your books and inputs arrived on time.
Guarantee two
On time or half price.
Your pack by working day 10 every month, or that month's fee is halved.
When your books and inputs arrive by the agreed dates.
From $2,500 + GST / month
From $4,000 + GST / month
From $5,500 + GST / month
Not ready for a monthly close? Start with a quarterly check-in from $167 + GST a month ($500 a quarter, no lock-in), a quarterly report from $500 a month, or a monthly report on your existing books from $1,000, and step up when you're ready. See the starter packages.
See the full inclusions and prices · or book a 20-minute call
Young, fast-growing businesses, tech-led or not: SaaS, e-commerce, marketplaces, agencies and tech-enabled services, typically 5 to 60 staff.
GP, physio and allied health, dental, psychology and NDIS providers, from a single clinic to a group of fifteen.
Consultancies, field services, trades, manufacturing, logistics, childcare, gyms, franchise groups, wholesale with stock.
Services business · LedgerLift client
The business had books and a monthly report, but not numbers its leadership could act on. Month-end moved onto our method, the pack was rebuilt around the owners' questions, revenue walked gross to net so discounts were visible, and a driver-based budget with quarterly reforecasts followed. The owners now decide off the pack, not around it.
HR consultancy · LedgerLift client
A consultancy that sold its people's time had no reliable view of how that time was used or billed. We built utilisation reporting from the time-tracking system into a weekly deck for the CEO, drove the monthly billing run from the same data into draft Xero invoices, and rebuilt the budget on utilisation targets per person. The plan and the weekly numbers now describe the same business.
Multi-state employer · LedgerLift project
Payroll tax lodged in one state while staff worked across several. The total was roughly right; the state was wrong. We rebuilt the liability by state and year from the payroll data, tested the contractor arrangements, reconciled every return, and left a monthly accrual so it can't drift again. Lodgements and rulings stayed with the client's tax agent.
Running a clinic group? The healthcare page speaks your language. Not sure where you stand? Ten signs your finance function hasn't kept up. Client names withheld. Two earlier stories from Jared's career, a general practice group scaled from 8 to 84 clinics and a two-country marketplace, are on the about section.
A person, a team and a method
I'm chartered accountant trained, and I've spent 15 years in finance across chartered practice, a global manufacturer, a private-equity backed general practice group and a two-country marketplace. I built the finance function for the GP group as it grew from 8 to 84 clinics, and I lead finance for a marketplace group across Australia and the UK.
LedgerLift runs the same written method for every client: a preparer does the month, a named lead reviews it, and every number carries the date it was pulled and the proof it ties. You get my judgement on the decisions, and a function that doesn't depend on any one person's week.
The plan
Start by finding out where you stand. Give us read-only Xero access for 48 hours and you'll have your Financial Fitness Score, your top three priorities and what each is costing you within five business days. No fee, no obligation, and nothing in your file is touched.
How fast, and how much of your time: Your score in five business days. Your first pack within 30 days of starting. Your part: read-only access, your bookkeeper's usual work, and 45 minutes a month with us.
If you go on with us: on time or half price, your pack by working day 10 or that month's fee is halved, when your books and inputs arrive on time. A three-month minimum, then month to month on 30 days' notice. No set-up fee, and bookkeeping included free.
A read-only Xero user, set up in two minutes. Nothing can be changed.
Your score out of 100, your top three priorities, what each is costing you, and a straight answer on what to do next.
A quarterly check-in from $167 a month, a report on your books from $500 a month, or the full finance function from $2,500. On the full function, the top three priorities from your Health Check are fixed in your first three months at no extra cost. Step up any time, without starting again.
Your bookkeeper records transactions and your accountant handles tax and BAS. We own the numbers month to month: the close, the reconciliations, the report, the forecast, and the decisions they raise. We work alongside both, and your accountant gets our locked file every month.
A LedgerLift accountant prepares the month on our written method. A named lead reviews every balance and the pack, and runs your review call. Jared's CFO judgement is in the scope where it's marked. Nothing is issued by one person unchecked.
The Quick Diagnostic is free. The Deep Diagnostic is $1,750 + GST. The lightest start is a quarterly check-in at $500 + GST a quarter (about $167 a month): your Health Check rerun each quarter with a 20-minute call. Reporting on its own starts at $500 + GST a month (a quarterly report, billed quarterly) or $1,000 + GST a month (a monthly report on your existing books). The full finance function is a fixed monthly fee from $2,500 (Close and Report), $4,000 (Plan and Cash) or $5,500 (CFO) + GST, agreed up front. Bookkeeping is included free with any plan (bookkeepers typically charge a small business $600 to $1,200 a month). Finance admin, like payment runs and debtor chasing, is quoted on your volume, from $500 + GST a month. A budget on its own starts at $990 + GST. No timesheets, no surprise bills.
Yes, where it does rules-based work well: capturing receipts and coding routine transactions in your Xero. It works in your own file, on GST settings your BAS or tax agent has agreed, and anything it isn't sure of comes to a person. Your data isn't used to train any model. The work that takes judgement, the close, the numbers and the advice, is done and reviewed by people. That's why the bookkeeping is free and the fee is for the rest.
Your first month is on us if it doesn't earn its fee. After your first pack and call, tell us within 7 days that it wasn't worth it and you don't pay for that month (or that quarter, on a quarterly plan), as long as your books and inputs arrived on time. After that, it's a three-month minimum and then month to month, so you're never locked in for long.
Included in your first three months: we fix the top three priorities your Health Check found, at no extra cost. If one is a project in its own right, like rebuilding years of records, we quote it before we start. No set-up fee, and bookkeeping is included free with any plan.
Yes. Refer a business that becomes a client and you both get half a month's fee off. It's credited on your next invoice once they've paid their first month.
The quarterly check-in has no lock-in. The Quarterly Report has a two-quarter minimum. Monthly packages have a three-month minimum, then month to month with 30 days' notice either way. You own every model, workbook and report we build.
For the Quick Diagnostic you invite us as a read-only user for 48 hours, so nothing can be changed, and we ask you to remove the access when we're done. Everything is covered by a confidentiality letter signed first.
No. LedgerLift is not a registered tax or BAS agent and doesn't give tax or financial product advice. We prepare the ledger, the reconciliations and the schedules your agent works from, and we say so plainly whenever a question is theirs.
Free, read-only and no obligation. Worst case, you get a clear list of what to fix.
And if you go on with us: bookkeeping included free, and your first month worth it, or it's free.