Head of Finance

Reports to: Managing Director. Dotted line to the Chief Executive of the membership business for its priorities
Works with: Finance Lead, Operations. Finance Assistant via the Finance Lead. Operations leads on budgets
Hours: Full time, 40 hours per week
Engagement Independent contractor, Philippines based, remote, Australian business hours overlap

About the group
A privately owned Australian group of four operating businesses, with a finance team based in the Philippines working to Australian business hours. One of the businesses is a membership organisation funded by supplier rebate income, which is about to take on two new activities: holding and paying supplier accounts on behalf of its members, and offering a paid service tier on top of free membership. The finance function is being strengthened to support that growth.

Purpose
Lead the finance function across the group. Bring the four entities into one clean financial picture with each standing on its own numbers, own budgets and forecasts for all of them, set credit control policy, and be the finance owner of the membership business’s new commercial programs: consolidated supplier accounts, the paid service tier and the rebate P&L. Build the models that say whether things work, the operations that make them run and the controls that stop them going wrong, then hand the running to operations with a documented process while staying accountable for the numbers.

Responsibilities (accountable)
Group consolidation and reporting standards
•Monthly consolidated reporting across the four entities, each on its own numbers; intercompany reconciled, no unexplained balances.
•One set of reporting standards, controls and a month-end calendar for all entities.
•Audit, tax and statutory compliance across entities, including ATO obligations (BAS, IAS, STP, payroll finalisation). Accountant, auditor and bank relationships.
Budgets and forecasting, all entities
•Annual budget and quarterly reforecast for every entity and the group view, built from definitions not rolled forward, including capital equipment replacement allowances.
•The Finance Lead builds the entity detail with operations; this role is accountable for the output.
Australian payroll compliance and Philippines contractor payments
•Accountable for Australian payroll compliance (ATO, STP, superannuation, payroll tax where applicable) and for the Philippines contractor payment framework: agreements on file, agreed hours and rates, any withholding or documentation the contracts require. Approves each payroll run and contractor payment run before it is paid.

Credit control policy
•Credit terms by customer type, credit limits, stop-supply rules, the point at which an account goes to formal recovery.
•One aged debtors report for all entities to the Managing Director every month.
Membership business finance
•Monthly P&L, cash and variance, presented to the Managing Director and Chief Executive and explained.
•Rebate income by supplier, reconciled to supplier statements and member purchasing data. Breakeven and the membership growth needed to reach it.
•Cost and return on member programs so the Chief Executive can see what each costs per member and what it brings in.
Consolidated supplier accounts (design and pilot)
•Design the finance operations before anything is built: invoice intake and matching, member statement cycle, collections and direct debit mandates, supplier payment runs, rebate netting, reconciliations, month-end close.
•Credit limits per member, exposure model (average monthly supplier spend times members on the platform), bad debt watch, suspension path.
•Specify what the platform must produce for finance and test it before go-live. Run the pilot, document, hand to the Finance Lead.
Paid service tier and supplier economics
•Business case and pricing model: fee on managed spend not revenue, a net-ahead test for every member, cash flow timing so the business never funds the gap between collecting and paying. Say plainly if the fee exceeds the benefit for a member type.
•What consolidated prompt payment is worth to a supplier and what additional discount it should buy, additive to the existing rebate.
•The numbers behind every supplier negotiation and renewal; financial pages for the board and partners.
Backup responsibilities (Finance Lead’s areas)
•Able to run month-end close for every entity, collections operations, transaction processing and the live consolidated accounts function. Covers in full during the Finance Lead’s leave.

What this role is not
•Not the commercial designer of the new programs; those decisions sit with the Managing Director and Chief Executive. This role builds and stress tests the numbers and the operations underneath them.
•Not a technology role. It specifies what finance needs from the platform and tests what is delivered.
•Not an advocate for any one entity inside another. Where one group business supplies another, it is treated as any other supplier in every model.

Measures
•Group consolidation delivered monthly; no unexplained intercompany balances within three quarters.
•Membership business reported on its own numbers by the agreed day; rebate P&L closed and maintained.
•Budgets and reforecasts delivered to the calendar for every entity.
•Consolidated accounts process documented, tested and running through pilot, reconciled monthly.
•Paid tier business case and pricing model delivered on real inputs and defensible with the board.
•Debtor days and overdue balances (60 and 90 days) by entity against targets; bad debt written off.
•Owner and backup list in place; leave covered without a gap.

Experience
•Multi-entity finance management, consolidation and intercompany reconciliation. Full set of accounts through to audit, with Australian compliance (ATO, BAS, STP).
•Credit control and collections at scale. Xero essential; NetSuite and MYOB useful. Advanced Excel modelling.
•Leading a finance team across locations; presenting to directors and boards. Membership, rebate or multi-site retail experience useful, not required.