April 10, 2026
Nexist is a Melbourne-based fractional CFO practice supporting small and medium businesses across Australia and internationally. Co-founded in 2022 by Neha Malhotra, a CPA with a background in financial strategy, Nexist operates as a one-stop team for businesses that need more than advice. Clients get fractional CFO support, bookkeepers, tax specialists, and operational help — all under one roof, at a price that works for a small business.
There's a question Neha hears from almost every client who walks through the door. It's not about growth strategy or tax planning. It's simpler than that, and more urgent.
“Where is my money?”
Small business owners are some of the most motivated people on the planet. They're sourcing the right products, making sales, watching revenue tick up and still, somehow, there's nothing in the bank at the end of the month. They feel like they're doing everything right. The cash position tells a different story.
"They think buying at $20 and selling at $40 makes them profitable," Neha says. "I tell them: if there's no money in the bank, you're not profitable. There's a hole somewhere."
Finding that hole is job one. But there's a catch. Most of Neha's clients come to her with books that are months, sometimes a full year, behind. Their accountant is still working on last year's numbers. Their bookkeeper is playing catch-up. Real-time cash visibility? Non-existent. Without accurate, up-to-date data, it's impossible to see where the money is going, let alone stop it from disappearing.
And even when Neha had the data, presenting it was its own problem. A cash flow statement full of red numbers doesn't inspire a stressed business owner to act. It freezes them.
"Seeing those negative numbers is really disheartening," she says. "I was spending hours building graphs by hand just to tell the story in a way that would actually motivate people, not just scare them."
Nexist's approach starts before Fathom even enters the picture. Step one is always the same: get the books right.
Neha's team works with every new client to bring Xero up to date, make sure transactions are coded correctly, and close any gaps in the data. Only then does Fathom come in, because a cash flow report is only as good as the numbers behind it.
"If Xero doesn't have correct, timely, properly recorded data, any report you run in Fathom is going to tell you something's wrong," she explains. "So we fix the data first. Then we put it into the magic machine and see what it spits out."
And what it produces, is clarity. Cash flow is always Neha's starting point with every client: direct and indirect statements, payment terms, supplier obligations, loan commitments. Fathom pulls it together fast, so instead of spending weeks chasing figures, Neha can walk into a client meeting already knowing where the holes are.
From there, the picture gets richer. Three-way forecasting shows clients where their cash position is heading, not just where it's been. Custom KPIs track the specific numbers that actually move the dial for each business, whether that's debtor days, gross margin by product line, or cash runway against a hiring decision. And AI commentary helps translate all of it into plain language that makes sense to a founder who didn't go to business school.
"Half of my clients don't know how to read a P&L," Neha says. "Fathom helps me show them, and they get it."
The result is a conversation that used to take hours of preparation, and sometimes a plane ticket, now happening in real time, with the client fully in the room.
"I used to make those charts myself to try and make a bad story look not as bad. I stopped doing that. So... thank you."
For Neha, the real power of Fathom isn't any single feature. It's what happens when clients can finally see their cash position clearly, often for the first time.
Business owners who've been anxious about money for years suddenly understand why their bank balance drops every quarter. They see the payment terms that are working against them. They see the loan repayments eating into what looks like a healthy margin. They see, clearly, what needs to change, and they believe it, because the data is right there in front of them.
"We break the emotion and give them the figures," Neha says. "Yes, you may be making money. But look at your loans. Stop buying new cars because you think you're doing well. Let's pay those loans back."
That shift, from feeling stressed about cash to actually understanding it, is where real change begins. Neha uses Fathom's visuals to show the positive trends alongside the challenges, so clients leave every meeting with momentum rather than dread. She uses AI Commentary Writer to train her own team to interpret cash data before they bring it to clients. And she configures every report around where each business actually is right now, because a cost-focused business and a growth-stage business need to see completely different things.
"You can't send everyone the same report," she says. "Fathom lets us show clients exactly what they need to see, not overwhelm them with everything at once."
Since launching in 2022, Nexist hasn't lost a single client. Every business that comes through the door, stays.
Fathom sits at the center of how Neha makes that happen, giving her the speed to work across a growing portfolio nationally and internationally, the flexibility to tailor cash flow reporting to each client's stage, and the visuals to turn numbers that used to cause panic into conversations that drive action.
Ask Neha to describe Fathom in one word, and she doesn't hesitate.
"Intelligent. Make sure the data you put in is correct. Once you do, it gives you exactly what you want. It's better than going to ChatGPT for your answers. Get a good software that talks to your accounting system, learn to use it well, and it's intelligent."
Across every industry, every business stage, every kind of founder, it always comes back to the same thing.
Where is my money, and am I going to be okay?
"We think we are growing, but we can't feel it. We think we are profitable, but we can't feel it," Neha says.
That gap, between what the numbers say and what the business owner actually believes, is a cash flow problem. And it's exactly what Fathom helps close. Not just by producing reports, but by giving every person in the room a clear, honest picture of where the cash is, where it's going, and what to do about it.
Your clients are asking the same questions. Try Fathom free and give them answers, not just reports.
Ellie is a campaign marketing manager at Fathom, with a degree in branding and marketing. With a background in campaign strategy and creation, Ellie is passionate about showcasing how Fathom can make a real difference to finance professionals and businesses.
