The SME Board Compact
Twelve weeks. Four artefacts. One postponed question you finally put on paper.
Modules
Week 0 — Intake. We collect two years of whatever management accounts exist, plus a list of decisions the owner made last month without telling anyone.
Weeks 1–3 — Cash map. Thirteen-week cash view, debtor habits, and the jobs that look profitable until wages are honest.
Weeks 4–6 — Mix and rate card. Contribution ranking and a written discount policy with a named signer.
Weeks 7–9 — Decision rights. Who may hire, pause work, or speak to the bank. The org chart that actually operates.
Weeks 10–12 — Succession sketch. Not a sale process. A one-page note on what would break if the owner were away for six weeks.
Learning outcomes
You will leave able to run a 70-minute monthly operating meeting that does not collapse into anecdotes. You will have a rate card you can defend to a long-standing customer. You will know which three numbers you will actually look at on a Friday.
You will not leave as a chartered accountant, a valuer, or a workplace investigator. Those are adjacent professions; we name them when they are required.
Informational fee
From AUD 6,800 plus GST for a single-entity firm under 40 people. Groups, franchisees, and multi-site operators are scoped after the first call. No payment is taken on this site.
Instructor
Maren Quill designed the Compact after fifteen years sitting with Tablelands and coastal Queensland firms that had outgrown informal control. She is not a licensed financial adviser. She writes the operating notes; statutory advice stays with your accountant and lawyer.
Reviews of this programme
The discount log from weeks 4–6 is taped inside our job folder. Supervisors still ignore it when a cousin rings. That is on us. At least the log exists.
First name only · Townsville · electrical contractor
4.2 ★★★★☆ — “Compact was tighter than I wanted. I kept asking for a market scan; Maren kept sending me back to last year’s mix. Annoying. Correct.”
Platform-style note · clinic owner
Questions we would rather you asked early
Can this replace my accountant?
No. If your lodgements are late, fix that first. We will work with your accountant for one session if they agree to attend.
What is a real limitation of the Compact?
It does not travel well into firms already in a lender covenant breach or an active Fair Work dispute. In those cases the legal and cash clocks dominate, and a twelve-week artefact programme becomes a distraction. We will decline rather than “adapt the modules.”
Do you refund if I dislike the tone?
Tone is not a refund ground. Missed sessions and scope changes are covered on the refund page.