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Finance + Investor Relations Support Team

Finance + Investor Relations Support Team

does your finance team struggle with…

…needing specialist skills in the finance team, without needing an expensive full-time hire?

Does your finance team lack ASX or capital markets experience? Maybe there are specific audit and tax workstreams where help is needed? Or maybe the team doesn’t quite have the commercial and analytical experience for complex financial modelling or performance reporting?  cdFirst can be brought into your finance team on an ongoing basis to plug these gaps.

…wanting the capacity to flex up and down during peak / quiet periods?

Is the annual budget or audit processes crushing your team? Is the team burning the midnight oil to close the books and report to the board for the first week of every month? Are those quarterly Appendix 4C and business updates causing sleepless nights? cdFirst can supercharge the team with extra expertise or resources during those periods of stress.

…trying to manage a transaction or capital raise in addition to business-as-usual workstreams?

Wondering how you’re supposed to manage all the finance, accounting and tax workstreams for this M&A transaction, while also maintaining your day job? Or maybe a capital raise too? cdFirst has extensive experience managing these workstreams, and cdFirst advisors have led numerous M&A transactions and capital raises as the CFO. We can alleviate the pressure on the CFO by supporting your CFO, Board, Brokers and Investment Bankers.

…investor relations taking too much time, or not delivering results?

Feeling that you’re endlessly managing your investor communications? PR/IR/Media not hitting the mark for you? Are investors questioning the company’s finances or strategy? External communications agencies are not embedded in your business and need help, usually from the finance team, to understand and craft the financial, capital, and strategic messages. cdFirst can support your internal team and any existing external agency with IR strategy and workstreams. By integrating your finance and IR objectives with cdFirst, you’ll deliver investors with a comprehensive understanding of the company’s financial health and growth potential.

…having no in-house chief financial officer?

Want the CFO skillset without the full-time headcount and cost? cdFirst can be appointed on a Fractional CFO basis to do all the things an experienced CFO would deliver, but on a part time or project basis. This can include setting up the finance function, mentoring any existing finance people, helping the CEO manage the board, and much more.

 

our services

We support CEOs, CFOs and investor relations teams with:

commercial finance + operations

  • CFO / CEO finance + operations support

  • Board reporting and performance management

  • Strategic reviews and planning

  • Development of commercial business cases and scenario models

  • Budgets and forecasts

  • Building finance teams and systems - Xero and Fathom certified plus experience with NetSuite and other reporting tools

 

transactions + capital markets

  • M&A transactional due diligence and workstream management

  • Managing capital raising workstreams

  • Financial modelling and scenario analysis

  • Board and market presentations

  • Roadshow and stakeholder management

  • Capital management strategy

 

corporate accounting + tax

  • Year-end financial statements / Appendix 4C/4D/4E

  • Month end close assistance

  • Audit workstreams

  • Finance and accounting policy preparation

  • Managing tax compliance and R&D grant workstreams

  • Employee Incentive Plans

 

Investor Relations

  • Manage IR and market announcements

  • Manage quarterly business updates and investor presentations

  • Assist with Annual Report preparation and messaging

  • Manage company corporate communication calendar

  • Support all inbound and outbound investor communications

  • Support broker and market analyst communications

About Us

cdFirst is a specialist CFO support business that supercharges your finance and executive team through the delivery of quality finance, accounting, and investor relations support.

The CFO portfolio is evolving rapidly and becoming increasingly broad. Yet, it is often infeasible for a finance team to retain seasoned professionals with the expertise to effectively support the CFO in navigating the fluctuating work streams.

Additionally, the expectations of investors have amplified, demanding a more comprehensive understanding of a company’s financial health and growth potential.

Fortunately, the solution lies with cdFirst, a team of CA and AICD qualified professionals with extensive experience in CFO, senior finance, and investor relations roles who can seamlessly integrate with your executive team to support the delivery of regular finance or investor relations workstreams or ad hoc projects. Fractional CFO services can also be provided if required.

For a seamless experience, cdFirst's services are best delivered in conjunction with a cdPlus company secretarial engagement to minimise time spent giving instructions and getting up-to-speed and optimise the timeframes and effectiveness of the finance and investor relations services to be provided.

 Frequently asked questions

  • cdFirst supercharges your finance and investor relations team when you need it.

    We have extensive experience in CFO, senior finance, and investor relations roles. We seamlessly integrate with your finance and investor relations teams and advisors to support the delivery of regular workstreams or ad hoc deliverables.

    Our model is focused on becoming an extension of your in-house team, and not merely an advisory function, and we are also equipped to provide Fractional CFO services where no in-house CFO exists.

  • The CFO portfolio is evolving rapidly and becoming increasingly broad. These demands are often outside of a team’s expertise and/or its available capacity.

    cdFirst provides specialist experience and support to the finance team to help manage and navigate these fluctuating and challenging work streams.

    cdFirst can be engaged on a recurring or ad hoc basis to deliver CFO support in specialist areas where a full-time headcount is not required, or to support at peak periods, or on project specific work streams.

  • Some smaller businesses may not be ready for a full-time CFO, but the need for CFO expertise remains.

    For example, you may need someone with senior finance experience to advise on a project, prepare for an investment or set up or improve finance systems.

    In these cases, cdFirst can be engaged to fill those gaps, as and when required.

  • We are an embedded resource within your finance team that can support your business in managing tax work streams and advisors. Also, cdFirst’s sister company Coghlan Duffy Lawyers provides specialist tax structuring and advice in a variety of areas, including Employee Incentive Plans.

    Through a partner firm we can prepare BAS and IAS statements, along with bookkeeping and payroll services. We do not provide tax agent services for annual income tax lodgements, but make dealing with your external tax accountant more efficient.

  • No. cdFirst is not a PR/Communications agency. cdFirst supports your internal team and any external PR/Communications agency with investor communication strategies and work streams.

    A busy finance team can often struggle to connect with the external PR/Communications firms within the requisite timeframes. That means firms often struggle with being fully informed to accurately communicate the right messages.

    cdFirst integrates your finance and investor relations objectives to ensure investor communications deliver a comprehensive understanding of the company’s financial health and growth potential.

  • Yes! cdFirst’s sister company, cdPlus, has been delivering premium company secretarial and governance services for over 10 years. Engaging cdPlus’ company secretarial services in tandem with cdFirst allows us to leverage the unique insights gained via the company secretarial engagement to optimise the efficiency and effectiveness of our finance and investor relations support.

    We can either work in tandem with a cdPlus company secretary, or your cdFirst advisor can also represent cdPlus as your company secretary.

  • Yes! In addition to our sister company, cdPlus, providing company secretarial and governance services, our clients can also access the corporate, tax and commercial legal services of our other related business, Coghlan Duffy Lawyers.

    Where we are engaged in tandem with Coghlan Duffy Lawyers, we can work efficiently together to resolve any legal questions (for example, tax legal issues) that may arise in the course of our finance services.

key people

 

BEN MALONE

Executive Director, EMBA, CA, GAICD

Ben has extensive experience in CFO and senior finance leadership positions within Australia and internationally.

He has diverse industry experience and significant ASX listed experience, with a particular focus on technology companies.

Ben has expertise in building and leading high performing teams in organisations of all sizes and partnering with boards, executives, and other key stakeholders to drive decision making and business strategy.

He has significant experience in all areas of commercial, corporate and operational finance and strategy, including leading a number of significant transactions.

Ben is a Chartered Accountant and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ben’s LinkedIn profile can be accessed here.

 

Finance + Investor Relations Support plus more…

cdFirst was born from two existing complementary service offerings that have been servicing entrepreneurial public and private clients for over 10 years:

  • cdPlus Corporate Services: Our company secretarial business, cdPlus, offers premium outsourced company secretarial and corporate governance services. Engaging cdPlus’ company secretarial services in tandem with cdFirst allows us to leverage the unique insights gained via the company secretarial engagement to optimise the efficiency and effectiveness of our finance and investor relations services.

  • Coghlan Duffy Lawyers: As a boutique law firm specialising in mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings, corporate and commercial law, tax advisory, and equity capital markets, Coghlan Duffy Lawyers brings the legal expertise that our clients need to succeed. Coghlan Duffy Lawyers’ commitment to providing practical, commercial legal solutions complements the comprehensive support offered by cdFirst.

cdPlus and Coghlan Duffy Lawyers identified a need among their ASX-listed and private clients for more hands-on, specialist finance and investor relations support, to both improve or support regular finance and investor relations work streams, and to allow the client to scale up their internal resources for intensive transactions or projects.

The addition of cdFirst’s Finance & Investor Relations Support Team supercharges the group’s holistic suite of corporate services and operational efficiencies to help our clients exceed their goals.

Contact Us

Office Phone: 03 9614 2444

Please feel free to call us or make an enquiry using the form below

 

Our Office

Level 42
Rialto South Tower
525 Collins Street
Melbourne, VIC, 3000

 
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