Financial Controller

The Company

A privately owned, family led business that has spent the past twenty five years building one of the most respected transport and heavy vehicle operations on Brisbane's northside. What began small has grown into a substantial fleet business, doubling in size since 2020 on the back of reputation, reliability and word of mouth rather than hard selling. The owners are hands on, straight talking and genuinely invested in their people. This is a place where everyone rolls their sleeves up, and where the culture is family first without ever being soft on getting the work done.

The business is at an inflection point. Revenue is climbing, the fleet is growing and the next stage of scale is squarely in view. To get there, the owners have decided it is time to bring finance in house properly for the first time. That is where you come in, as their new Financial Controller.

The Role

The Financial Controller reports directly to the owners, you will be the first CA/CPA hire the business has ever made. Today finance is supported by an external accounting firm and is held together by capable people doing their best around everything else on their plate. There is no month end process, no reporting rhythm and no formal controls. Your job is to build all of it, then run it.

This is not a role for someone who wants a clean, finished finance environment to maintain. It is a build. You will lay the foundations, put the processes in place, and turn raw numbers into insight the owners can actually make decisions with.

Duties will include, but not be limited to:

• Establishing the day to day finance function, including the processes, procedures and internal controls the business has outgrown doing informally

• Building and owning the month end close, including journals, accruals and reconciliations, delivered to a consistent timetable

• Producing timely management reporting and moving the business from raw numbers to genuine insight on performance, margin and profitability

• Tying financial data back to the operating model, understanding the cost to run each asset and making sure nothing is missed across jobs, subcontractors and the maintenance side of the business

• Leading the annual budget and maintaining rolling forecasts alongside the operational leaders

• Owning cashflow forecasting and working capital, giving the owners visibility and early warning on cash position

• Overseeing accounts payable, accounts receivable, debtor collections and credit control

• Providing payroll oversight and ensuring the accuracy of pay and related compliance

• Managing BAS, GST, PAYG and the broader compliance calendar across multiple entities

• Acting as the key internal contact for the external accountant, providing clean reconciled figures for year end and statutory work rather than duplicating it

• Taking ownership of the finance systems and driving better data flow and automation, including an operating system currently being rebuilt

• Building and growing a small finance team underneath you as volumes increase

About You

The Financial Controller is a hands on finance leader who is happiest building something rather than maintaining it. You are commercial, process minded and comfortable getting out of your chair, walking the floor and understanding how the business actually makes money. You are not precious about the work, and you know that in a business like this the person who ties every number back to reality earns trust fast. You can hold your own with owners, you can challenge and influence when it matters, and you thrive in a practical environment where getting it done counts for more than how it looks on a slide.

Skills & Experience

To be effective in this role, you will likely bring:

• Proven experience as a Financial Controller, Finance Manager or senior finance lead, ideally including a first in house finance build or a business that scaled through a similar stage

• Strong technical grounding across month end, reporting, reconciliations, budgeting, forecasting and cashflow

• Commercial instinct and the ability to turn numbers into insight and recommendations, not just reports

• Confidence owning compliance obligations and partnering with an external accountant rather than duplicating them

• A genuine appetite for process and systems improvement, including cleaning up and automating how data flows

• CA or CPA qualification is well regarded, though a strong track record and the right hands on temperament matter more

Sector experience across transport, logistics, construction services, fleet, equipment hire, manufacturing or trade services will be well regarded, though not essential.

What's On Offer

• The rare chance to build a finance function from a blank page and own it end to end, with your fingerprints on everything

• A clear runway to grow into a CFO seat as the business scales and hits its next milestones

• Real autonomy and the backing to build a team beneath you

• A flexible, family first culture on Brisbane's northside, with no city commute and a competitive package aligned to your experience

Apply Now

If you want a build rather than a maintain, and a business where finance is about to matter more than it ever has, apply today.

Click Apply Now to submit your application or contact Matthew Taylor at P&C Partners for a confidential discussion.