Financial performance

The problem

• Budgets are rolled forward from last year rather than built from current spending and activity, so variances are explained after the fact.
• Savings targets are set at the top, but nobody checks whether they reach the ledger.
• Across thousands of cost centres and account codes, savings and lost revenue sit in places day-to-day reports never reach.
• Cost-centre managers get reports they can't use, so they can't own their numbers.
• Special-purpose funds and smaller accounts drift without regular reconciliation or reporting.
• A senior finance role falls vacant in the middle of a budget round, a system change or a restructure.

Four ways in

Boost Simple: a welcome boost to your bottom line

Boost Simple is Nova's financial diagnostic. It brings a fresh set of eyes to your finances, using Nova's own data analysis tools and AI, developed through decades of hands-on finance work, to reach areas of the organisation that day-to-day reporting rarely does. The result is a clear list of opportunities to maximise revenue and reduce costs.

It works with any finance system and any size of organisation. Organisations the Boost Simple team has boosted range from a business with a $32 million cost base to one with more than 12,000 cost centres: over 3 million account code combinations.

1. Boost the dataYour finance data is loaded into Nova's analysis tools, including in-house AI, and analysed at every level, from the whole organisation down to each account code.
2. Identify the opportunitiesRevenue that could be maximised and costs that could be reduced, each with an estimated value and the evidence behind it.
3. Present the findingsEvery opportunity is reviewed with you and ranked by value and effort, so you decide what to pursue.
4. Bank the BoostNova helps put the changes in place and tracks them, so the savings and revenue reach your bottom line.

All Nova needs from you

• Data from your finance system: cost centres, account coding, analysis codes, profit and loss, and budgets.
• A short scoping conversation. Nova then sends a detailed data request template, so the extract is simple to produce.

The analysis runs on Nova's in-house AI models, and your data is handled in line with Australian and New Zealand privacy law.

Budgets, forecasting and savings programmes

• Run-rate reviews that give a clear, evidence-based view of current spending and feed straight into forecasts and budgets.
• Bottom-up budgets built with cost-centre managers, so the budget reflects how the organisation actually operates.
• Savings and sustainability programmes designed, reported and delivered, with each benefit tracked through to the ledger.
• Financial and scenario modelling for major decisions, from a new organisational design to operating and capital affordability.
• Targeted reviews of high-cost areas, such as agency staffing, medical staffing arrangements and special-purpose funds.
• Reporting managers and boards can use, including project reporting and board dashboards. See Data and insights.

Independent reviews

• Balance sheet review: provisions, accruals, reserves and liabilities tested independently.
• Budget and in-year performance review, giving the board and executive a clear view of risk.
• Business cases prepared, or someone else's reviewed independently, with the benefits checked after delivery.
• Annual financial statements prepared or reviewed, including moves to new reporting standards and group consolidation.
• Special-purpose funds brought back to sound accounting and regular reporting, so their stakeholders get transparent, reliable information.

Interim finance leadership

When a senior finance role falls vacant at the wrong moment, Nova can step in at general manager (GM) finance level, part-time or full-time, and keep critical work on track.

• Board and finance committee reporting, with attendance at meetings.
• Day-to-day leadership of the finance team through periods of change.
• Finance team structure reviews, recruitment and onboarding into vacant roles.
• Selection, design and implementation of finance and payroll systems, with staff training.
• Policy reviews, insurance reviews and year-end reporting.

Work Nova has done

Case studies are anonymised and published with each client's agreement.

Frequently asked questions