Virtual CFO and Accounting Services for Search Funds in Australia

Buy the business. We make sure the numbers hold up before you sign, and keep holding up after.

SBO Financial is one of Australia's first accounting firms specialising in search funds. Whether you're a first-time searcher or an experienced operator, we provide the Virtual CFO, accounting, and bookkeeping support you need from due diligence through to post-acquisition reporting.

Book a Free Search Fund Consultation

Trusted by search fund operators from first search to close.

Don't know if the deal stacks up once you model it properly?
No CFO on the team yet, but investors expect CFO-level answers?
Books not deal-ready before close?
Unsure what your lender or investors will want to see?
Cash flow forecasting a guessing game post-acquisition?

How SBO supports Search Funds

From the moment you begin your search to the day you close the deal and beyond, we stay embedded in the numbers, not just the tax return.

Step 1: Get deal-ready

Before you sign anything, we review target financials, identify risks, and stress-test the numbers so you walk into the deal with full confidence in what you're buying.

We build the financial models your investors and lenders need to say yes, tailored to the specific business and the structure of your deal, not a generic template.

Step 2: Get the house in order

From day one of ownership, we consolidate the target's books into one system and get bookkeeping, BAS, and payroll running accurately and on time.

For most searchers doing this for the first time, this is the first look at the acquired business's full financial picture in one place.

Step 3: Run the business with investor-grade reporting

From here we provide CFO-level financial strategy without the full-time cost: scenario planning, cash flow forecasting, board reporting, and investor updates.

We track performance against the model you raised on and flag what's drifting before it becomes a problem your investors ask about first.

Why SBO, not a generalist accountant

Most accounting firms have never heard of a search fund, let alone supported one through acquisition due diligence, financial modelling, or post-acquisition reporting. We're not a generalist firm that occasionally works with search funds. We understand the acquisition journey, the investor expectations, and the operational reality of running a business you've just bought.

SBO Financial has been helping Australian businesses scale profitably since 2014. As one of Australia's first accounting firms to specialise in search funds, we bring the same depth of expertise to searchers that we bring to our clients in the eCommerce, digital, SaaS and tech startup spaces.

Deal-ready diligence

We stress-test target financials before you sign, not after.

Investor-grade modelling

Built for the specific deal and structure, not a generic template.

Day-one financial control

Books, BAS, and payroll running accurately from the day you take ownership.

Free tool

Want to pressure-test the deal first?

Use our Search Fund toolkit, eight calculators covering acquisition modelling, before you talk to us.

Download Toolkit →

"Carl and the SBO Team are the reason I can play with spreadsheets instead of building them. They're not employees - but you'd never know it. They think ahead, spot numbers before I ask, and give me total confidence in our numbers."

Paige Kohalmont, Founder & CEO | Austral Herbs

Case Study

"Acquisition finance and working capital raised, backed by investor-grade models and full visibility into cash."

Austral Herbs · Search Fund Acquisition, AU

Read case study →

Common questions from Search Fund Operators

Beyond the headline financials, we look at revenue quality, customer concentration, working capital swings, and any liabilities that won't show up until after close.

It needs to satisfy investors and lenders on both the acquisition structure and the ongoing operating plan, so the model has to hold up under scrutiny on debt covenants, not just growth assumptions.

Not from day one. A Virtual CFO gives you the same scenario planning, forecasting, and board reporting at a fraction of the cost, until the business is at a scale that justifies a full-time hire.

Most searchers see a clean, consolidated view of the acquired business within the first few weeks of close, once we've moved everything into one system.

We assess what's there first. Sometimes it's usable with cleanup, sometimes it's faster to rebuild in Xero from scratch. Either way, we don't assume the seller's setup is reliable.

We manage BAS, payroll, and tax obligations from day one of ownership, so nothing falls through the gap between the seller's old accountant and yours.

A generalist can lodge your tax return, but a search fund specialist catches deal structure issues, investor reporting expectations, and acquisition-specific risks before they become expensive mistakes after close.

Both. First-time searchers usually need more guidance on what investors expect to see; experienced operators tend to move faster once we're aligned on the model.

Talk to a Virtual CFO for Search Funds

Read our Search Fund guide, then stress test your numbers in the toolkit. Bring what you find to a free consultation, we'll help you make sense of it.