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With over 30 years of experience in finance and 15 years of dedicated service at Atlas McNeil Healthcare, Sarah Goode has played a key role in the company’s growth from a family-run business to a national leader in the healthcare supply sector. In this Q&A, Sarah shares insights into her professional journey, the evolving role of finance in the healthcare industry, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2025.

What is your career background that makes you so suited to being an Atlas McNeil healthcare specialist?
I am a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of experience. I commenced my professional career as a Graduate Accountant for Coopers and Lybrand (which then merged with Price Waterhouse) in the external audit team. After 5 years at PwC, I joined the Group Accounting team at Santos, a public-listed company in the Oil and Gas industry. I spent 10 years at Santos focusing on Audit Committee and Board reporting, Group Accounting Policies and was on the project team for the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In 2010 I made the move to Financial Controller at Atlas McNeil Healthcare (AMH). I have seen AMH evolve from a small family state-based company to a major national player in the healthcare industry.

Tell us about your role with Atlas McNeil Healthcare?
My role is Financial Controller and I’m responsible for all the financial and transactional reporting for AMH including the monthly reporting, budget preparation, GST, sales forecasts, and internal controls. I work closely with the Head Office Finance Team to supporting the Commercial Finance, Financial Accounting and Transactional Services teams. In addition to financial accounting, my other area of expertise is rebates.

What most do you like about your role and why?
Whilst my role is primarily financial reporting I am involved in the day-to-day operations of the company and in driving operational efficiencies within AMH. I work in close collaboration with the Management, Sales and Operations teams at AMH as well as my finance counterparts in Head Office. Like me our core team have been with AMH for over ten years and I enjoy the strong professional relationships I have developed across both the AMH and BANZ businesses. 

When you started with AMH what most surprised you?
When I commenced with AMH it was a small family-owned company. I found everyone in the business was welcoming and friendly. There was a real sense of pride in the core principles the company was founded on and belief in the value-adds the company offered compared to its competitors. I was pleasantly surprised to see many family members working across all aspects of the business and after all my corporate roles I enjoyed being part of a family owned and operated business.

What are some of the challenges the market is facing?
COVID was the most challenging period we have faced so far. I believe the healthcare industry is still re-setting from the impacts of those years, and we continue to see pressure on cost-control in our customer base since the significant spends that were necessary on PPE in recent years. We are also experiencing significant pressure on our operating costs including increases in freight costs from fuel levies, electricity and product costs. We will continue to work to minimise the impact of these price rises through operational efficiencies.

What are your main priorities for 2025?
In 2025 my overriding priority is for AMH attain or exceed 2025 budget and contribute to the overall BANZ results. We need to build on the sales momentum we finished the year with in 2024 and focus on operating cost control to achieve this. I will be prioritising improvements in gap-reporting and forecasting across the AMH business to assist in us achieving budget. 

What do you expect the big industry trends to be of 2025?
I expect the healthcare sector will continue to expand with the focus on keeping the elderly in their homes for longer. Our community business will continue to strengthen, and we are well positioned with our online platforms to provide a wide range of products to support residents in both aged-care and in their homes.

What’s the biggest challenge facing the customers in the industry?
The cost of living is the biggest challenge facing our customers. The significant spends the aged-care section made during COVID continue to be felt and our customers continue to look for ways to reduce their costs. Despite the cost focus of our customers AMH provides a total offering to customers which include an experienced sales team, training, impress counting and online ordering platforms that are all still valued by our customers and make us stand-out from our competitors.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the past 12-18 months?
In the past 12 months our reporting platforms have continued to improve giving us more visibility across the entire Bunzl business. Embracing this change and looking for further enhancements in reporting will allow us to continue to improve our market share. I have embraced opportunities to assist the wider finance business at Bunzl and believe that shared learnings across the business benefits us all to strive for continuous improvement.

Is there a message you’d like to share with your customers?
At AMH we truly care about our customers. Many of our customers have been with us for many years due to the dedication of our sales team and their detailed understanding of individual product needs. We strive to work with our customers to drive efficiencies for both their benefit and ours. We always believe there is room for improvement in processes and we will continue to seek better ways to do business and adapt to changing market conditions.