Strategy, finance, operations, data, business analytics and reporting – these are all concepts that aren’t unique to one single industry. But each sector, of course, has its own distinctive pain points and opportunities for improvement. 

Take aged care. Based on sheer demand, the business of being a service provider should be one that’s booming – yet, as reported by the Aged Care Taskforce in March, close to 70 per cent of aged care facilities are currently operating at a loss, up from more than 50 per cent just 12 months prior.  

Navigating the implementation of the new Aged Care Act and recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety – including the increased care minutes responsibility and ACCIS Standards – during an extreme staff shortage presents further challenges. 

That’s where Rohling’s Senior Commercial Finance Consultant Kal Playford comes in. 

Formerly Business Performance Manager and Financial Consultant at Uniting Care Queensland and Group Financial Controller and Group Strategy and Planning at PresCare, Kal understands these pain points intimately. 

“It’s all about putting things in context when you’re working through a lot of industry reform and changes,” Kal says.  

“What is the impact end-to-end from a finance and operations perspective? How will each required change and decision impact your back-end systems and processes, the way you deliver care, and your balance sheet? How can you get the best outcome for all stakeholders in all three areas?” 

Crucial experience amid aged care reforms

Kal has led these changes on the provider side, navigating through five years of reform from before the findings from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety were handed down.

Immersed in the reporting side with PresCare, Kal has had hands-on exposure at each stage of each reform, starting with information gathering and responding to queries at the start of the royal commission.

Get in touch to speak to us about your organisation’s specific needs.

He then led charge with implementing AN-ACC and all the front-end and back-end process upheavals that came with it, plus care minutes and governance changes, all while navigating the bureaucratic and compliance challenges that naturally arise. 

“You can be an operator but unless you are sitting between finance and operations, you don’t understand both sides, what each one needs and how to optimise them working together,” Kal says. 

Kal not only has specialist knowledge and experience working within the aged care industry, his decades-strong resumé is also stacked with roles working within the community services, mining, agriculture and insurance sectors, which gives him a diverse background to draw creative solutions from. 

READ MORE: Crucial experience needed by staff facing aged care reforms

SPECIAL REPORT: How providers can meet required aged care innovation change

GET IN TOUCH: How Rohling’s experts can help you

“Each of them was their own unique project, and gave me insight into asset financing, growth, expansion strategies, strategic and alternative financing means, acquisition and transactional due diligence” Kal says, noting how as aged care starts to move into seeking alternative finances, his experience in the area has become crucial. 

“Managing financial performance, budgeting, planning, forecasting, working with operations staff, in theory, should be the same in each industry, and often is,” Kal says. 

“But each one also has its own big picture, which is integral to know like the back of your hand before implementing the necessary people, processes and systems change.”

Get in touch to speak to us about your organisation’s specific needs.