National Financial Controller

Corrs Chambers Westgarth; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 230,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working as standard

Bonus leave (5 weeks total)

Wellbeing program

Diversity and Inclusion

Learning and development opportunities

Job summary

Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm, seeks a National Financial Controller to drive financial accounting, taxation, and partner services across Australia and Papua New Guinea. Report to the Head of Accounting & Finance Operations, you will lead a seven-person team delivering timely monthly and annual reporting, robust controls, and expert advisory to senior stakeholders.

You will bring a CA/CPA (or equivalent), 10+ years in financial accounting/taxation, and proven

Qualifications

• CA/CPA designation strongly preferred.
• 10+ years in financial accounting and/or taxation, ideally in professional services.
• Strong technical expertise in accounting, taxation, audit, and statutory reporting.
• Knowledge of partnership taxation and partner accounting.
• Proven people leadership with coaching and mentoring.
• Strong commercial judgement and stakeholder management.
• Advanced Excel; experience with Jedox and SQL; exposure to large GL or practice management systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, detail-oriented, able to manage multiple priorities.

Responsibilities

• Lead monthly balance sheet, P&L, and statutory reporting with reconciliations.
• Oversee annual financial statements and external audit process.
• Maintain robust financial controls and GL integrity across the firm and subsidiaries.
• Manage cash flow, forecasting, and improvements in reporting and cash management.
• Provide financial modelling and business advice for forecasting and cost management.
• Oversee service trust entity, fixed assets, and banking compliance.
• Provide taxation guidance across Australia and foreign jurisdictions; manage partner profit allocations and distributions.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing finance team.

Skills

Financial accounting

Taxation

Audits

Financial controls

Partnership taxation

Leadership

Advanced Excel

Jedox

SQL

Aderant

Education

CA/CPA designation

Accounting/Commerce degree

Tools

Jedox

SQL

Aderant

Job description

Join Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia's leading independent law firm.

An exceptional opportunity has arisen for an accomplished finance leader to join our national Finance team as National Financial Controller.

Reporting to the Head of Accounting & Finance Operations, you will lead the firm’s Financial Accounting, Taxation and Partner Services functions nationally. This is a highly influential leadership position with responsibility for the integrity of our accounting operations, financial controls, statutory and management reporting, taxation obligations, cash flow management and partner accounting across our Australian and Papua New Guinea operations.

Leading a team of approximately seven finance professionals, you will work closely with the CFO, COO, partners, Boards and committees, providing trusted advice on complex financial accounting and taxation matters. You will combine deep technical expertise with strong commercial judgement, outstanding stakeholder skills and a genuine commitment to developing high-performing teams.

Key Responsibilities

In this influential role, you will:

• Lead the timely and accurate delivery of monthly balance sheet, profit and loss, management and statutory reporting, including overseeing reconciliations and investigating material variances.
• Lead the preparation of annual financial statements and manage the external audit process, including relationships with external auditors and reporting to the Board and Audit and Risk Management Committee.
• Maintain robust financial controls, policies and processes that ensure the integrity of the general ledger and financial records across the firm and its subsidiary operations.
• Manage cash flow, liquidity and funding requirements, including forecasting and driving improvements across financial reporting and cash management processes.
• Provide financial modelling, analysis and practical commercial advice to support forecasting, cost management and business decision-making.
• Oversee the firm’s service trust entity, fixed assets, banking compliance and other internal and external financial reporting requirements.
• Provide insights into factors impacting firm performance and drive continuous improvement across financial operations, controls and reporting.

Taxation and Partner Services

You will also:

• Manage the Corrs Group’s taxation and compliance obligations across Australia and relevant foreign jurisdictions, including income tax, PAYG, GST and FBT.
• Oversee partner and beneficiary profit allocations and distributions, including modelling to support budgeting and financial performance requirements.
• Manage partner taxation requirements, including tax add-backs, PAYG instalment information and annual taxation distribution statements.
• Maintain partner current and capital accounts, reconcile the Partner Services equity sub-ledger and administer the Partner Capital Funding facility.
• Provide practical taxation advice across the business, including employee salary packaging, international secondments, domestic transfers and relocations.
• Act as a trusted point of contact for partners and senior stakeholders on taxation and partner accounting matters, managing relationships with internal and external taxation advisers.

About You

We are looking for a technically accomplished, commercially minded finance leader who is equally comfortable advising senior stakeholders, presenting to Boards, interpreting partnership arrangements and developing a high-performing finance team.

You will bring:

• A tertiary qualification in accounting, finance or commerce, with a CA, CPA or equivalent professional designation strongly preferred.
• At least 10 years’ experience across financial accounting and/or taxation, ideally gained within a law firm or professional services environment.
• Strong technical expertise across financial accounting, taxation, audit, financial controls and statutory reporting, including experience managing an external audit from planning through to completion.
• Sound knowledge of partnership taxation and partner accounting, with the ability to interpret and apply partnership deeds.
• Proven people leadership capability, with experience developing, coaching and mentoring teams and future leaders.
• Strong commercial judgement, analytical capability and relationship-building skills, with the confidence to advise partners, senior management and Boards.
• Advanced Excel skills, experience with data extraction and reporting tools such as Jedox and SQL, and exposure to Aderant or a similar large-scale general ledger or practice management system.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, exceptional attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities and strict deadlines.

About us:

Corrs Chambers Westgarth is Australia’s leading independent law firm. We provide exceptional legal services across the full spectrum of matters, including major transactions, projects and significant disputes, offering strategic advice on our clients’ most challenging issues.

Why Corrs?

We pride ourselves on meeting our clients needs in a culture characterised by excellence, commitment, collaboration and respect. Our policies, practices and behaviours foster a safe and inclusive workplace, and we focus on creating opportunities and supporting a diverse workforce.

• Flexible working as standard – we’ve established flexibility as standard business practice and an option for all our people.
• Bonus leave - an additional week of leave each year (5 weeks annual leave in total).
• Wellbeing program –we support the wellbeing of our people across areas including resilience, mental health, mindfulness, personal development, physical health and self-care.
• Diversity and Inclusion – this is a key area of focus for the firm. We set meaningful goals to improve diversity and an inclusive culture in which all employees feel supported and valued.
• Responsible business approach – we are a member of the United Nations Global Compact, and are committed to promoting and respecting human rights, supporting the Compact’s Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
• Learning and development opportunities – including our Australian-first international study scholarship, our national training program and our mentoring program.

We provide exceptional legal services across the full spectrum of matters, including major transactions, projects and significant disputes, offering strategic advice on our clients’ most challenging issues.

With more than 175 years of history and a talented and diverse team of over 1000 people, we pride ourselves on our client-focused approach and commitment to excellence. Our fundamental ambition is the success of our clients, and this is reflected in everything we do.

We advise on the most significant global matters and connect with the best lawyers internationally to provide our clients with the right team for every engagement.