AI Strategy & Budget Diagnostic
Most business owners are exceptional at what they do. The numbers are harder to read — until something forces the conversation. Compass diagnoses where your business actually stands in 25 minutes, for $99.
$2,000–5,000
Typical cost of a strategic planning session with an accounting firm
96%
Of business owners use spreadsheets as their primary planning tool
< 40%
Of Australian SMEs have any formal written strategy
You know your business. You know your customers, your team, your craft. But the financial picture — where the margin actually lives, what your growth target really requires, where the next bottleneck will appear — that's the part most owners don't get a clear view of until something breaks.
Your accountant tells you what already happened. Your bank manager asks about the future. Most owners are caught in the middle, doing strategy in their head, on the back of envelopes, or not at all.
Compass closes that gap. Not with another spreadsheet, and not with $4,000/month in advisory fees. Just a clear, honest diagnostic of where your business actually stands and where the conversations worth having are sitting.
Simple by design
No spreadsheets. No accounting degree. Just guided questions about your business and a professional diagnostic at the end.
Answer guided questions about your revenue, team, costs, goals and constraints. Approximate figures are fine — materially correct is enough.
The AI analyses your inputs against your industry, structure and stated goals. It runs the maths most owners never get around to. No jargon, no templates.
A complete, professional report — eight sections covering your financial picture, your priorities and the conversations worth having next. Download as PDF. Use it however you like.
Everything you need
Eight sections built from your inputs — not generic templates.
A senior-level read of your business: where you are, what stands out, and the single most important thing to sit with.
Where you are, where you're going, how you'll get there, and what could stop you. The plan on one page.
Month-by-month revenue, costs and profit projection — built honestly from your actual numbers and the structure you're planning, not the structure you wish you had.
The revenue you need to cover costs, the margin sensitivity that changes the picture, and what each lever is actually worth in dollars.
The pattern behind your cash flow, the months to watch, and what's worth doing about the timing of cash in versus cash out.
The three things to focus on first — with the questions worth sitting with for each one. Practical, specific, prioritised.
Three metrics calibrated to your business, with realistic targets and what each one actually tells you about whether the plan is working.
An honest read of where the diagnostic ends and where deeper human work would help. Because not everything an AI can see is everything that matters.
See it in action
Below is an excerpt from a real Compass diagnostic — the opening read of a $1.5M psychology practice. This is what genuine analysis at $99 reads like.
“I can see a psychology practice that has grown meaningfully — from $1,000,000 to an expected $1,490,000 this year — and is now sitting at a genuinely interesting inflection point. You're profitable, you're above break-even, and you've built a team of seven clinicians producing real revenue. That's not nothing. But the shape of what you've described — a thin pipeline, a 4/5 owner dependency score, and a $3,500,000 target sitting on the horizon — tells me the next chapter of this business requires something structurally different from what got you here.
Your $3,500,000 target works out to roughly $291,667 per month. Your planned 8-person structure at strong utilisation produces around $204,000 per month. That's a gap of roughly $87,667 per month — or approximately $1,050,000 over the year. To close that gap at your current fee of $250 and 85% utilisation, you would need approximately 3 to 4 additional clinicians beyond the one already planned…”
— Excerpt from a sample Compass diagnostic
The honest math
Compass isn't trying to replace a real advisor. It's giving you 90% of the diagnostic — at roughly 15% of the cost.
| What you need | Done by humans | Compass |
|---|---|---|
| Business strategy session | $2,000–5,000 | |
| 12-month budget model | $1,500–3,000 | |
| Break-even analysis | $500–1,500 | |
| Cash flow forecast | $800–2,000 | |
| KPI framework | $500–1,500 | |
| Risk and priority review | $500–1,500 | |
| TOTAL | $5,800–14,500 | $99 |
Compass doesn't replace your accountant. It means you walk into every conversation already knowing your numbers, and the right questions ready to ask.
Pricing
Start with the Sprint. Upgrade only if it makes sense.
A complete diagnostic of your business in 25 minutes. Yours to keep, no strings.
For owners who've done the Sprint and want a real partner to act on what it surfaced. Strategic conversations, structured planning, ongoing support.
Most owners start with the Sprint. The diagnostic itself is designed to tell you whether you need Advisory or not — and either answer is the right one.
Calibrated to your industry
Compass currently supports three industries at depth. Your report uses the right benchmarks, the right unit economics, and the right diagnostic for your kind of business.
Trades & Construction
Quoting, delivering, managing the crew. Compass reads your business the way it actually is — job pipeline, working capital, real margin per job — and tells you honestly where the next constraint is sitting before it bites.
Health & Wellness
Appointments, fee earners, capacity, utilisation. Compass pulls them into a clear diagnostic — what your goal actually requires in clinicians and fees, where the unfilled capacity is hiding, and what's between you and a business that runs without you.
Professional Services
Compass builds the diagnostic your firm doesn't have time to build itself. Billable hours, client mix, recovery rates, owner dependency. The questions a senior consultant would ask if you were paying them by the hour to look.
We're working on dedicated versions for retail, e-commerce and other sectors. Sign up to be notified when they're ready.
FAQ
“I'm not a finance person.”
That's exactly who Compass is built for. No spreadsheets, no jargon. You answer questions about your business in plain language. Compass handles the financial translation.
“My numbers aren't perfect.”
Approximate is fine. Compass is building a diagnostic, not an audit. Materially correct is enough to produce genuinely useful output — and the questions you couldn't answer get flagged honestly in the report.
“I already have an accountant.”
Compass doesn't replace them — it makes your relationship with them more valuable. You arrive knowing your numbers, with the strategic picture already mapped and the right questions ready to ask.
“What if I don't like what it shows me?”
The diagnostic isn't designed to flatter. It's designed to surface what's actually going on. Most owners read theirs and find at least one or two things they hadn't connected — some of which are uncomfortable. That's the point.
“Is this advice?”
No. Compass is an AI-generated diagnostic — it shows you patterns in your business, flags what's worth attention, and points to where deeper work would help. It's not financial advice and shouldn't be used as the sole basis for material decisions. That's what advisors are for.
Built by a Chartered Accountant. Not a startup.
Compass exists because I spent years watching SME owners make expensive decisions without the right financial picture in front of them. Most owners can't justify $4,000/month in advisory fees, but they need more than what a quarterly BAS conversation gives them.
Compass is the tool I wished existed for those clients — a complete strategic diagnostic, built from real practice work, accessible at a price every SME can afford. The methodology behind it isn't theoretical. It's the same financial framing that drives real advisory engagements, translated into something AI can deliver consistently, honestly, and at scale.
Simon [SURNAME] — Founder, Compass
Chartered Accountant · CA ANZ Member
25 minutes. $99 one-time. A complete diagnostic of your business — built by AI, designed by Australian accountants.
Get my diagnostic — $99