"I didn't set out to build a compliance platform. I set out to answer one question — what would have needed to be true for these businesses to survive?"
— Stephen Fairbairn · Founder, BusinessSolvency
Module Summary
BusinessSolvency Journey — the essence of it, in two minutes.
Stephen Fairbairn isn't an accountant, a lawyer, or a career governance professional. He's an independent researcher who experienced business closure firsthand — multiple times — before spending ten years developing the framework that became the Sustainable Cashflow Formula, and ultimately two platforms: BoardSolvency for company boards, and BusinessSolvency for the broader SME sector.
2016 — Initial research documented; $11.25B in annual Australian losses from preventable cashflow crises estimated
2016–2024 — Eight years building and testing the Excel prototype against real ASIC and insolvency data
Dec 2024 — ASIC updates RG 217 for incorporated companies — the regulatory environment catches up to what the research had argued for years, though direct personal exposure for sole traders and partners was always the plainer case
2025 — Development begins on the BoardSolvency web platform
2026 — BoardSolvency in alpha testing; BusinessSolvency established as a second platform, extending the same research to companies, sole traders, and partnerships across the wider SME sector
Independent research (10 yrs)
Corporate governance & Corporations Act
Platform development (Flask/SQLite)
Financial analysis of insolvency data
This is a working paper — weightings, thresholds, and methodology will be refined through application and peer review. Contributions from business owners, practitioners, academics, and regulators are genuinely welcomed. See The Research Behind BusinessSolvency for the full account.
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The Founder's Story
Built from personal experience — not theory.
Stephen Fairbairn is not an accountant, a lawyer, or a career governance professional. He is an independent researcher who experienced the consequences of inadequate solvency monitoring firsthand — multiple times — before spending ten years developing the framework that became the Sustainable Cashflow Formula and ultimately BusinessSolvency.
The journey began with difficulty. Business closures during economic downturns — including the loss of a promising startup when rising interest rates and insufficient cash reserves made it impossible to continue trading. In each case, the problem was not a lack of revenue or ambition. It was the same thing every time: insufficient cash coming in above all obligations, with no buffer for the unexpected.
That personal experience became a research question. What would a business owner need to know, at every review, to ensure this never happened — whether they answered to a board or only to themselves? What framework would translate a complex legal and financial reality into a practical, repeatable test that any owner, regardless of their financial background, could apply?
Ten years of research, an Excel workbook prototype, and hundreds of hours of analysis of Australian business insolvency data produced the answer — the Sustainable Cashflow Formula. BusinessSolvency is the platform that brings it to the whole SME sector; its sibling platform, BoardSolvency, applies the same formula specifically to company boards.
Read the full research behind BusinessSolvency →
The Research Journey
Ten years from question to two platforms.
The initial research documented
Following personal business closures during economic downturns, Stephen documents his initial research findings — estimating $11.25B in annual losses from Australian business closure attributable to preventable cash flow crises. The research question is formalised: what would a practical, owner-level solvency monitoring framework need to look like, whatever the business's legal structure?
The Excel prototype
Eight years of development culminate in a working Excel workbook implementing the Sustainable Cashflow Formula across eight structured solvency components — tested against real Australian business financial data drawn from ASIC enforcement records, insolvency statistics, and the governance literature.
The regulatory moment
ASIC updates Regulatory Guide 217 — significantly raising the bar on solvency monitoring obligations for incorporated companies. The regulatory environment catches up to what the research had identified years earlier as the critical gap between obligation and available tools — a gap that sole traders and partnerships had been carrying just as directly all along, without any regulator's attention at all, since incorporation (not business size) is what decides whether that regulatory framework even applies (see BusinessSolvency Chapter 2, Section 2.1).
BoardSolvency begins
Development of the BoardSolvency web platform begins — translating the Excel prototype into a purpose-built Flask/SQLite application with full three-statement financial analysis, solvency scoring, and forecast modelling. The first of what would become two platforms sharing the same underlying engine.
Alpha testing and commercialisation
BoardSolvency enters alpha testing with demonstration company data. ABN 54 510 691 643 registered. Domain boardsolvency.com.au secured. The website is live for private review.
BusinessSolvency established
The business name BusinessSolvency is registered with ASIC, and work begins on a second platform — carrying the same Sustainable Cashflow Formula and the same underlying engine to the much larger population of Australian companies, sole traders, and partnerships who carry this exposure without a board or a governance layer around them.
Background & Credentials
Independent. Experienced. Committed to the problem.
Stephen brings a rare combination — the lived experience of business closure, ten years of dedicated governance research, and the practical determination to build tools that every Australian business owner can use, whatever their legal structure.
Independent Research
Ten years of self-directed research into Australian business insolvency, solvency monitoring, and the gap between legal or financial exposure and the practical tools available to manage it.
Corporate Governance
Deep focus on Australian Corporations Act obligations, ASIC RG 217, director duty of care for incorporated companies, and the landmark Australian governance cases that shaped the regulatory landscape.
Platform Development
Founder and developer of BusinessSolvency and its sibling platform BoardSolvency — Flask/SQLite web applications implementing the Sustainable Cashflow Formula for companies, sole traders, and partnerships alike.
Financial Analysis
Ten years of analysis of Australian business insolvency data, cash flow crisis patterns, and the gap between accounting profit and cash flow survival metrics.
Investment Philosophy
Longstanding personal interest in investment philosophy, personal development, and the intersection of financial literacy and decision-making under uncertainty.
Tertiary Qualifications & Professional Accreditation
| 1967–68 | Farm Management Diploma, MOFAC, Geelong, Victoria |
| 1971–73 | Bachelor of Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria |
| 1974 | Master of Arts (preliminary), Adelaide University, South Australia |
| 1994 | Certificate, Queensland Entrepreneur Workshop |
| 1995–2000 | Management Consultant, Sunshine Coast, Queensland |
| 1995–98 | Member (General Registration), International Management Consultants |
| 1996–2000 | National Industry Extension Service Consultant, Qld. Dept. of Tourism, Small Business & Industry |
| 1997–2000 | Accredited AusIndustry Consultant |
| 2019 | Certificate IV in Small Business Management |
Broader Interests
The thinking behind the work.
BusinessSolvency reflects a broader set of convictions about the role of knowledge, accountability, and practical tools in improving how people and businesses make decisions under pressure.
Areas of active interest and research
Business governance reformThe gap between what Australian business owners are legally and financially exposed to — a sole trader's direct personal exposure, or a company director's statutory duty where the business is incorporated — and the tools available to manage it. And how that gap can be closed for everyone.
Investment philosophyThe psychology of money, long-term thinking, and the decision-making frameworks that separate successful investors from reactive ones.
Personal developmentA curated library of personal development content — from Atomic Habits to Shane Parrish — applied to the practical challenges of building something new later in life.
Business closure researchThe consistent patterns behind Australian business closures — and what business owners, founders, and advisors can do differently to recognise the warning signs earlier.
The Research Foundation
Open, honest, and available for scrutiny.
The Sustainable Cashflow Formula — Open Research, Proprietary Engine
The Sustainable Cashflow Formula: Theoretical Basis, Development, and Application
The Sustainable Cashflow Formula itself — revenue must equal or exceed all cash obligations, including business expenses, capital loan repayments, private loan repayments and net private costs, and the reserve required for operational protection — is set out in full in the User Manual, Chapter 3. It is not hidden, and it is not the proprietary part.
What BusinessSolvency actually implements — the calculation engine, weightings, thresholds, and scoring logic that turn this formula into a live, ongoing Solvency Report for a real business — is the platform itself, accessible only to registered clients. That is the part that remains proprietary, and the part still under active refinement.
The formula addresses a recognised gap: no structured framework exists that translates business owners' legal and financial obligations — direct personal exposure for sole traders and partners, or the company-director obligation under Section 588G and ASIC RG 217 where the business is incorporated — into a practical, repeatable test that a non-accounting owner can apply.
The calculation engine is a working system. Its weightings, thresholds, and scoring methodology will continue to be refined through application and peer review. Contributions and critique from business owners, practitioners, academics, and regulators are genuinely welcomed — and actively sought.
Read the full research summary — Why I Built BusinessSolvency →