Your COO is handling accounts payable because the finance function was never built to support growth.
I was reviewing operations with Actor Pharmaceuticals, a provider of pharmaceuticals, biosimilars and OTC products to healthcare professionals and consumers.
Their COO was handling everything.
Bookkeeping.
Supplier payments.
Bank reconciliations.
Customer receipts.
Intercompany balances.
It worked when the business was smaller.
But growth exposed the problem.
The AP process in NetSuite relied on manual steps. EFT and batch payments weren’t fully utilised. There was no structured weekly payables report showing what was due and when. Intercompany transactions lacked formal working papers.
Cash flow visibility was reactive.
Month-end relied on one person.
Operational risk was increasing.
This isn’t a capability issue. It’s a structure issue.
When leadership owns transactions, strategy suffers.
So we stepped in and rebuilt the finance engine.
We centralised the accounts inbox so every supplier invoice and query sat within one controlled workflow.
We standardised bill coding and AP processing inside NetSuite.
We introduced a weekly payables report highlighting invoices due within a defined window, giving clear forward visibility over cash outflows.
We created a structured bank reconciliation file per entity, updated weekly, ensuring reconciliations were clean and review-ready.
We formalised intercompany processes with supporting working papers so balances reconciled across entities.
Once the system was stable, we extended support to their NZ entity seamlessly.
Today, the COO isn’t processing payments.
They’re focused on growth.
Cash outflows are visible.
Month-end is controlled.
Intercompany balances are audit-ready.
Risk is reduced through proper segregation of duties.
Growth doesn’t break businesses.
Unstructured finance does.
If your leadership team is still running pay runs and reconciling bank accounts, the issue isn’t workload.
It’s architecture.
Don't just take our word for it
Dexterous provided exactly what was required for this project with the tool provided and made their month-end consolidation task considerably easier. We are happy with the tool provided – We did meet the overall timing and objectives…Thanks for your help on this project - overall it’s made the month end consolidation task considerably easier.
EVAN WILLIAMS, Financial Controller, Skylife
Dexterous Group offers really competitive and high quality packages that add great value to our business. Outsourcing our payroll and accounting functions has allowed us to concentrate on growing out business. I will happily continue to recommend Dexterous group to our clients.
BELINDA ROETS, Quality Connex
I have worked with a lot of accounting service providers, and I can confidently say Dexterous are the best I have worked with. Your team are very responsive, and always have the client top of mind.
MARGARITA CLARINGBOLD, Virtual CFO
Since Nick and the amazing team at Dexterous came on board, Harmony Build has gone from strength to strength. This is in no small way due to the additional time I have each day to concentrate on the business.
DOMINIC WILLIAMS, Harmony Build
Dexterous Group has given us reliable, responsive and seamless accounting and bookkeeping services. The data and reporting that Dexterous Group provides has allowed us to be more customer focused as we have peace of mind that our bookkeeping and accounting function is in safe hands.
KRIS BUILD, CFO, SprintQuip
Dexterous Group provides an efficient and transparent bookkeeping service. Their expertise in delivering accurate and focused monthly management reports has really identified ways to secure new business while keeping our resources lean and productive.
MIKE ROSENBAUM, CEO, Spacer
We engaged Dexterous to provide our bookkeeping services and transition to cloud-based accounting software. Dexterous enabled us to transition to the cloud within a short time frame and in a very professional manner.
MARIVIN VAN STRALENDORFF, Carbon Reduction Institute
As a start-up, it's extremely important for us to ensure we're getting the most value possible and we are in full control of our business costs.
MILLIE ZINNER, Motherhood App
Dexterous Group’s expertise in compiling and presenting accurate and focused business insight reports has really helped WhiteSky Labs to identify ways to secure new business while keeping our own resources lean and productive.
STEVE WILSON, CEO, Whitesky Labs
Dexterous has helped us have greater visibility over our team’s projects and overall business performance. Now we are able to make better business decisions efficiently and effectively.
ANDREW SABATINO, Donor Republic
It genuinely has been of great help to me post-acquisition to have Dexterous’ support. Nick, you have a valuable cost effective solution for companies our size. Thank you.
MATTHEW JOHNSON, Sentral Head of Finance
I do appreciate all the hard work and commitment of the Dexterous team and Kate is a pleasure to work with.
John Byrne, Neutral Bay Creative Activities Group
Dexterous Group is by your side. Our expert outsourced finance team provides the full spectrum of skills and resources you require to run an efficient and effective business. With a series of fixed-price packages on offer, you can easily scale up your support as you need.
Talk to us today about your business on 1300 996 928 or hello@dexterousgroup.com.au.
Let’s discuss how we can provide you with a complete finance department to support your business today, tomorrow and into the future.
Book a free consult