Financial Controller jobs

Primary function
As a financial controller, you may find yourself wearing several different hats. The role effectively bridges the gap between accounting, organisational leadership, and financial strategy. Doing it well requires keen attention to detail and an ability to focus on the bigger picture while treading the line between increasing efficiency and improving accuracy.

Expected job role tasks
Simply put, as a financial controller, you are your organisation’s lead accountant. As such, you will have responsibility for all accounting-related activities, from billing and accounts payable, to general ledger and cost accounting. At the same time, you will also inform the future direction of the accounting function through setting controls around spending and drawing up new internal policies. Depending on the size of your organisation and the activities with which it is involved, you may find yourself working closely with, or coordinating, external tax accountants, as well as liaising with auditors. Furthermore, you may need to set up bank accounts and track whether or not payments have been received from customers. All financial transactions require a paper trail and it will be your job to ensure they are correctly recorded, filed, and reported. Most commonly in larger organisations, your role may involve some level of people and project management. Meanwhile, in smaller organisations, you may need to balance actions related to controlling finances with tasks such as building reports, creating budgets, and planning future spending. Your role may include assisting the CFO in creating and presenting reports for business leaders and other stakeholders, or in some circumstances, the financial controller may also take on the role of CFO or head of finance themselves.  

Primary function
Your role as a financial controller is primarily about ensuring the effective and efficient operation of financial reporting and planning, along with managing your organisation’s budget and debt financing. You will be a senior leader with the finance team, tying your department to the executive team and board members, while ensuring people across the entire organisation follow the necessary procedures and rules.

Necessary hard/soft skills
Clearly, as a financial controller, you need to be good with numbers. With ultimate responsibility for all accounting activities, plus a duty to ensure compliance across the rest of the organisation, this is simply non-negotiable. You need to be analytical, have superb problem-solving skills, and be comfortable managing a substantial workload and meeting tight deadlines. Importantly, as well as excelling in the financial minutiae of the role, you must be an excellent leader. Strong interpersonal skills are essential, along with an ability to communicate and inspire people across the organisation. This requires not just the ability to resonate with your financial peers, but also to get buy-in from people in other departments, many of whom will lack the technical understanding of why certain controls or regulations exist. In this way, the financial controller is much more than just a ‘numbers perso’; they must be a charismatic leader with the ability to foster support from stakeholders across the organisation. Strong business knowledge is required to deliver outcomes that have an impact far beyond the finance function.

Qualifications required
To secure a job as a financial controller, you will typically need an advanced degree in accounting, plus certification as a CMA or CPA. Beyond these qualifications, you will almost certainly need proven experience as a financial controller, or as a senior member of a finance or accounting team. You will need to possess deep knowledge of accounting principles and be familiar with using key accounting tools.