Finance Manager

This is a multi-site group owned by large corporate shareholders, grown steadily from a handful of sites to several times that number. The finance team is largely ex Big Four and the audit sits with one of them. The function runs on Xero, with a daily report that flags anything unprocessed so the team works by exception rather than by chasing. The mandate is stewardship rather than transformation. Most of what exists works, the team knows it, and the business wants someone who will protect that while owning the numbers with authority. The one piece of build work on the table is a payroll system implementation, which may land inside the year. If you would rather run a clean function well rather than rebuild one, this will suit you.

You report to the CEO and carry the finance function on your own authority. Three direct reports sit under you: a Financial Accountant, a Management Accountant and an Assistant Accountant, with a larger administration and accounts payable team operating alongside. The role exists to produce three things: a clean monthly and annual close, a budget and forecast the Board can rely on, and a cash position managed forward rather than reported backward. The team is remote first and has been for some time. Finance is in the office one day a week and the administration team runs off that daily exception report. Cash carries the most weight of anything in the job, particularly across the end of year shutdown, so you will need to hold a firm forward view and raise things early. It suits someone who leads comfortably at a distance and who would rather understand how the function runs before changing it.

The role splits across financial control and reporting, the annual planning cycle, and cash, with the weighting shifting through the year.

• Own the monthly, half yearly and annual close, including general ledger and balance sheet integrity
• Prepare reporting and variance analysis for the CEO, leadership team and Board
• Lead cash flow forecasting and liquidity management, including debtor and creditor positions
• Run the annual budget and forecast cycle through to Board presentation
• Coordinate the annual audit and manage external audit and tax advisory relationships
• Maintain banking and payment processes and controls
• Lead finance system work, including a possible payroll implementation
• Manage three direct reports and support an established wider administration team

Judgement and temperament matter most here. You will be trusted to make decisions without escalation and to lead an experienced team lightly, on exception rather than by oversight. Underneath that sits a full technical foundation, because the close, the audit and the Board reporting all rest on you.

• Comfortable owning decisions rather than passing them upward
• High emotional intelligence, collaborative, confident leading an autonomous remote first team
• Willing to improve what needs improving and leave the rest alone
• Proven experience at Finance Manager or Financial Controller level
• Strong financial reporting under Australian Accounting Standards, statutory compliance and audit coordination
• Demonstrated budgeting, forecasting and analysis, including presenting to a Board
• Hands on cash flow forecasting and liquidity management in a lean cash environment
• Experience leading and developing a small finance team
• CA or CPA qualified with a relevant tertiary qualification, not negotiable for this role
• Xero experience advantageous
• Exposure to a payroll system implementation advantageous

The offer is $150,000 to $170,000 plus super, three days working from home, flexible start times, free parking on a 12 month fixed term contract. A completion bonus is under discussion.