Financial Controller

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Our client is a family-owned Angus beef and dairy group, built over 30 years into one of the largest privately owned Angus producers in the country. Four business units operate as profit centres across Victoria and Tasmania, with around 50 staff plus seasonal labour. The role suits someone who wants close proximity to leadership, with no layers between finance and the people who act on the numbers. 

The business wants more from finance than reporting. It wants a commercial partner who understands agriculture and puts the right financials and models behind the decisions made on the ground. You would shape how the function works across the group rather than inherit a system already fixed in place.

A major capital program is already underway, running over roughly three years to full production, with further opportunities to follow. The directors expect an acquisition phase as the program matures, and the finance function plays a key role in the analysis behind each step.

The Role

Reporting to and working closely with the Managing Director, you will own the finance function across the four business units, hands-on and end-to-end. The in-house accountant is your one direct report, carrying the transactional load, and you work alongside the other directors.

The monthly close and the annual budget cycle sit with you, alongside a rolling cash flow forecast by business unit and consolidated. Those numbers have to mean something to the people running the properties, so you will turn the financials into farm-relevant measures, for example, cost of production per kilogram, positioned against industry benchmarks.

Beyond the monthly cycle, the season brings a run of commercial calls: holding or selling stock, supplementary feeding, input timing, trading and responses to market movements. You build the analysis and the business case behind each one, so the call rests on the evidence, not instinct alone. Credibility with the farm teams matters. You can hold a practical, grounded conversation with a farm manager and present with the same authority to the board.

The capital program is yours to model: capital deployment tracking, staging analysis, business cases, opportunity cost and return. Delivery sits with the directors and farm managers, while you provide the financial framework, with the occasional visit to the properties to stay close to the operations behind the figures. This is a role built to grow. For the person who makes it their own, it broadens into a CFO remit in time.

Key Responsibilities

• Own group reporting. Deliver the monthly close and management reporting across four business units and multiple entities.
• Run cash flow and forecasting. Build and maintain a rolling monthly cash flow forecast, by business unit and consolidated.
• Lead the budget cycle. Own the annual budget process and reforecasts through the year.
• Connect finance to the farm. Develop production-linked KPIs and benchmarking that tie the financials to on-farm performance.
• Back commercial decisions. Provide the analysis and business cases behind stock, input timing, and trading calls through the season.
• Put numbers around development. Provide capital deployment tracking, staging analysis and return assessment for the multi-year capital development program, and model new opportunities as they arise.
• Oversee payroll and compliance. Hold oversight of payroll, superannuation and Pastoral Award compliance, statutory lodgements and the year-end handover to external accountants.
• Lead the accountant. Set clear expectations, develop their capability and lift the output of the finance function over time.
• External Stakeholder Management. Bank relationship and reporting, plus external accountant. 

What You Bring

Essential:

• A tertiary qualification in finance, accounting or business, or the equivalent experience. A CA or CPA is not required but highly regarded. 
• Commercial capability that goes beyond reporting into analysis, forecasting and decision support.
• The ability to translate financial data into farm-relevant metrics and hold a credible conversation with a farm manager.
• A hands-on, self-directed working style, suited to a small, collaborative team rather than a large corporate structure.
• Sound systems and modelling aptitude, building clear, well-structured, traceable analysis.
• A strong interest in agriculture and the direction of the sector.
• Melbourne-based and able to work from the inner-Melbourne office.

Desirable:

• Experience in agriculture or another asset-intensive, primary-industry business.
• Exposure to multi-entity, multi-site finance.
• Capability across capital and development project finance, business cases and return analysis.
• Exposure to livestock production economics.
• Experience with Xero and Figured.

You do not need to come from agriculture; an asset-intensive operating background with the right commercial instincts transfers well. Candidates looking to step up are also encouraged to apply. 
  
What You'll Gain

• Package: $160k - $200k + Super
• Incentive: A KPI-linked sliding scale of 5 to 20% of base, effective after probation.
• Development: The business is open to supporting further professional development, such as a CA, with funding considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Location: A modern, well-appointed inner-Melbourne office with good public transport access. A parking space will also be provided. 

How to Step Forward
  
For more information or a confidential chat, please contact Nick Marchant, Director, on 0466 333 066 or Lemuel Cruz, Talent Specialist, on 0468 093 444.

Who Are March
  
March offers permanent recruitment and workforce planning services tailored exclusively to Australian agribusinesses. We're about connecting top talent with great businesses - plain and simple.