August 5, 2025
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Industry: Real Estate
Role: Financial Controller
Location: Australia
Use Case: Multi-entity consolidation, board reporting, non-financial metrics, scenario analysis
"Don’t wait for a breaking point. If you’re dealing with Excel errors, static data, or unclear reporting, it’s time to level up. Fathom grows with you."
When Jesse Chapman joined Harris Real Estate in 2021 as Financial Controller, the company was already expanding rapidly. At that time, Harris had around 150 employees, and like many businesses at that stage, its board reporting was still built in Excel.
"The number of times I saw a #REF error in Excel... I just knew there had to be a better way," Jesse says.
It didn’t take long for that assumption to be tested. Within a year, Harris Real Estate had completed five mergers and acquisitions. What was once a two-entity operation was quickly evolving into a complex, multi-entity business. Today, Harris oversees nine legal entities, manages more than 5,500 properties, and is on track to reach 10,000.
With each acquisition came a new layer of complexity: new directors, new ownership structures, and new reporting requirements.
"We used to consolidate two entities manually. But once we hit seven, and then nine, Excel just wasn’t fit for purpose anymore," Jesse explains.
At the same time, real estate in Australia was becoming more competitive and more complex. Agents were producing millions in commissions. Property management revenues were growing. And executives needed better visibility into both.
"We realised we needed to grow up as a finance function. We couldn’t keep making do with broken formulas and static data sets."
Harris Real Estate selected Fathom as the first step in modernising their finance stack.
"Fathom was the first product we brought in to rethink board reporting. It was about more than just replacing Excel, it was about building something we could scale with."
Fathom now plays a central role in how Jesse’s team runs their monthly and quarterly reporting:
"We use Fathom for debt and funding analysis. It’s helped us present cleaner, more confident numbers to banks and shareholders alike," Jesse says.
Fathom also helps Jesse’s growing finance team, now 19 strong, run more efficiently.
"We’ve moved from generalist roles to specialised teams: trust accounting, AP, payroll, and financial reporting. Fathom gives our reporting team a shared language and structure to work from."
Since implementing Fathom, Harris Real Estate has:
"I’m a really visual person. Fathom lets us combine commentary, KPIs, and storytelling into one clean, easy-to-share report," Jesse says.
In an industry where most competitors operate as franchises, Harris stands out as a large, independently owned firm. That distinction brings opportunity, but also responsibility to run lean, transparent, and strategic. Fathom helps them do just that.
"If we hadn’t gone with Fathom, we’d have needed to switch to a full ERP. But that would have meant huge costs, implementation pain, and loss of agility. Fathom keeps us connected and in control."
With board and shareholder reporting humming, Jesse is now looking to expand into forecasting.
"We’ve just wrapped up budgeting, and forecasting is next on my radar. With acquisitions behind us, it’s time to look forward."
He’s also building out more non-financial KPIs and plans to open Fathom up to other departments for executive commentary.
"I want our executive team to start contributing their summaries directly into Fathom. It’ll give our board an even clearer view of performance across the business."
Is it time to Fathom your numbers?
Simplify the numbers for stakeholders and take them through the insights that matter.
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.
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