Your bank balance tells you what already happened. Your budget should tell you what's about to.
Your bank balance is telling you what has already happened. Your budget is meant to tell you what is about to happen. When those two numbers drift …
Articles by Lisa Callaghan
Will AI Replace Accountants? Stephen Moir's Take
Will AI replace accountants? It’s the question finance and accounting people are asking most right now. AI can draft the report, code the …
Controls do not slow a business down. Unclear rules do.
Most business leaders have lived the same loop. The team is moving fast. Spending is decentralised. People are booking travel, buying tools, paying …
Budgets don't fail because Finance is weak. They fail because accountability is parked too far from the decision.
Most SMEs treat budgets as a Finance artefact. Finance builds them. Finance tracks them. Finance reports the variance. Then everyone is surprised when …
The invoice you can't predict: what you need to know before rolling out AI
AI spend is catching finance teams off guard for one simple reason. It behaves nothing like the software cost lines most budgets are built on. Seat …
Building an AI spend control loop before the bill surprises you
AI costs are becoming the new small spend leak, except the unit economics are harder to see and the variance is larger. FinOps teams are signalling …
The First 60 Minutes After Suspected Fraud on a Budgetly Card
When a finance team spots an unfamiliar card charge, the next hour usually decides whether you can recover funds and prevent more damage. Disputes …
Shared Cards Are a Fraud Magnet
Card fraud on Australian-issued cards hit $854 million in FY25, with card-not-present transactions still accounting for the overwhelming majority. But …
How Much Working Capital Should You Have in the Bank?
First, a clarification, because the question hides a trap. Working capital is a balance sheet measure: current assets minus current liabilities. What …
The Warning Signs Your Working Capital Is Becoming Strained
Working capital strain shows up in the timing of money long before it shows up in your P&L. By the time the profit line dips, cash has usually …
How to Have the Cash Flow "Talk" With Your Leadership Team Without Causing Panic
The cash flow talk usually fails in one of two ways. You soften it so heavily that nobody acts, or you drop the raw number on the table and the room …
Fraud Is Getting Quieter and More Expensive
Australia’s scam losses hit $2.18 billion in 2025, up 7.8% on the prior year. The number of reports fell. The cost per incident rose. Payment …
What to Do When You're Expecting an Increase in Cash Flow Pressure
Cash flow pressure rarely arrives without warning. A big quarterly bill, a slow season, an EOFY run of ATO obligations, Payday Super landing on every …
The 13 Week Rolling Forecast: Cash Flow Control When Revenue Isn't Steady
Your P&L looks profitable. Your bank balance tells a different story. NAB’s SME survey puts cash flow as the number one concern for 43% of …
Will Payday Super Force the ATO to Become the Unofficial Lender to Australian SMEs?
For years, unpaid super was the working capital line nobody put on a term sheet. Up to three and a half months could pass between the day it accrued …