My Local Buy Story - Shave & Brett

Published on 07 October 2025

At Shave & Brett, we are proud to be specialists in local government. Founded with the vision of helping councils navigate their financial and operational challenges, we combine technical expertise with lived experience - every member of our team has significant experience working within local government. This means we don’t just advise; we understand the realities of council life, how councils work, and we deliver practical solutions.

We partner with councils of all sizes and locations, from large urban councils to remote Indigenous councils, offering a tailored, practical approach to local government support. Our work includes:

Financial support: including financial statement preparation, asset and management accounting support, annual budgeting, rates modelling, grant acquittals, procurement strategy, and policy and procedure review and development.
Business strategy: covering business cases, whole-of-life cost analysis, service planning, operational plan development, corporate plans, long-term financial sustainability strategies, systems improvement, and advocacy planning.
Risk and internal support: such as audit and risk advice, corporate policy reviews, implementing internal and external audit recommendations, developing and reviewing risk frameworks, and audit committee support.
Mentoring and education: from Councillor and executive training, CFO/finance manager mentoring, finance team development, to assisting as independent advisors on recruitment panels.

What sets us apart is our hands-on approach. We work alongside finance teams, executives, and Councillors to build capability, provide clarity, and deliver feasible outcomes. Whether it’s preparing financial statements, guiding Councillors through budget workshops, or assisting a finance team with day-to-day reporting, our focus is always on practical solutions that make a measurable difference.

We joined Local Buy to simplify the engagement process for councils. Procurement can be complex, and we wanted to ensure councils could access our services quickly, easily, and with confidence that compliance is met. Local Buy provides an efficient pathway for engagement, allowing us to focus on delivering outcomes while councils avoid unnecessary red tape.

Shave & Brett is appointed to the following Local Buy Arrangements:

LB309 Business Management and Consulting Services
LB310 Financial Management and Consulting Services

Councils of any size may engage our services through VendorPanel or RFQ processes, with procurement requirements already addressed.

Earlier this year, Shave & Brett was engaged by Logan City Council under a Local Buy Arrangement to support its service review program.

The program, which began in 2023, set out to build a comprehensive service catalogue for each of Council’s 26 branches, including service levels, KPIs and costs to serve, while also looking for opportunities to improve efficiency and strengthen financial sustainability.

Our role was to provide an independent peer review of the work completed to date across 12 branches. Over four months, we:

Reviewed branch services, assessed efficiency opportunities, and identified refinements to deliver increased value.
Undertook benchmarking against peer councils and utilised this information to identify additional opportunities for service level modification and revenue generation.
Identified organisational trends across branches and provided analysis and recommendations for elevation of these issues to senior executive.
Worked with the Enterprise Management Portfolio Office service review team to craft reporting and recommendations for Branch Managers, Senior Executive and council.

For council, the process provided a robust check on progress to date, added rigour to the identification of efficiency opportunities, and supported its efficiency savings targets. Importantly, it also helped shape recommendations aimed at improving both service performance and organisational effectiveness, ensuring the program delivers long-term benefits to the community.

Learn more at www.shaveandbrett.com or email us at admin@shaveandbrett.com to see how we can assist your team.