Mr Tew will meet Otago Rugby Football Union officials late today to discuss the union's financial plight and a possible course of action.
The NZRU appointed change manager Jeremy Curragh last month after concerns about the financial state of the ORFU.
Mr Curragh is reviewing the union's accounts, with the union set to post a loss of several hundred thousand dollars.
ORFU chairman Wayne Graham said last week the union was unsure whether it could continue and needed to draw up a plan to return to profit.
Mr Tew said it was too soon to talk of any major shake-ups at the union, and he wanted a clear picture of what had happened before any decisions were made.
Talk of the whole board being forced to resign was just speculation at this stage, he said.
"We will have a better feel for what is happening once we get down there. It is a bit early to talk about that [board standing down].
Mr Curragh said last week past decisions by the union, which may have appeared correct at the time, had come back to hurt the union financially.
Mr Tew said unions had to live within their means, and the NZRU had never bailed out any union.
"We bailed out the Highlanders but we could not see a better way ahead there, though now we believe they are on the right path.
"But we have never bailed out any union. They have all been loans which have had to be repaid. It will be the same with Otago, if it comes to that."
With many unions recording financial losses, Mr Tew admitted it was hard going in the provinces.
"But you've got to remember these are the toughest economic conditions we've had to face in the past 50 to 60 years and it is not making it easy. We are dealing with a professional sport in a very small country which is open to overseas markets.
"We have sensibly drawn down from our reserves over the past four or five years to help us out. But you can't keep drawing down on them forever."
