Powering a Not-for-Profit’s Mission with an Outsourced Finance Function

Challenge

Thrive Refugee Enterprise is a not-for-profit dedicated to helping refugees establish businesses in Australia through small, unsecured business loans. Like every charity, it operates as leanly as possible, directing its resources towards its mission.

Despite its lean structure, Thrive needed a strong finance function. The board relied on accurate financial reporting to make informed strategic and governance decisions.

Maintaining a full in-house finance team was costly and impractical for a charity of this size. Thrive’s Financial Controller needed reliable operational support, while the board required clear, decision-focused reporting.

The priority was clear: a cost-effective finance function that strengthened financial oversight, supported accounting and compliance, and provided the insights needed to help the organisation achieve its mission.

Solution

• Provided the robust structure of a finance function to enable the board to make confident decisions.

• Supported Thrive’s Financial Controller with outsourced bookkeeping and senior accounting services.

• Tailored board reporting to deliver the precise information needed for effective decision-making.

• Introduced improved processes and methodologies over the course of the partnership.

• Maintained a robust back-office function that performs operational accounting and compliance effectively.

Client Benefits & Advantages

• A robust finance function structure supporting confident board decision making.

• Outsourced bookkeeping and senior accounting support for the Financial Controller.

• Board reporting focused on the forest, not the trees, communicating real progress against mission and strategy.

• Accounting processes that represent best practice.

• Operational accounting and compliance handled effectively by a robust back-office function.

• Value that has grown over time as improved processes and methodologies were introduced.