Payroll and
Finance Consultant – Cole School Experts
Use your school payroll and finance experience
in a specialist consulting role
Flexible working | National clients | Growing team
Cole School Experts is the leading provider of payroll, accounting and
consultancy services to Independent Schools across Australia and New Zealand.
As we continue to grow, we’re looking for an experienced Payroll and Finance
Consultant to join our specialist team.
If you love the education sector, are
passionate about improving payroll and finance operations, and want to use your
expertise across multiple schools and systems, this role offers variety,
challenge and the opportunity to make a genuine impact. You’ll work with
schools to strengthen compliance, governance, financial controls, reporting,
and operational efficiency while delivering meaningful outcomes for clients.
About the
Role
As a Payroll and Finance Consultant, you will provide specialist
payroll and finance consulting services to school clients across Australia. The
role combines Payroll and Finance Health Checks, compliance reviews, business
process reviews, system implementations, client advisory services, and
project-based consulting work.
You’ll work closely with our Head of Software and Consultancy, other
consultants, Payroll team, Finance Team, clients and service providers to
deliver high-quality support and strategic solutions.
Primary
Purpose
In this role, you will:
- Conduct
Payroll Health Checks for schools, including process, system configuration
and compliance reviews.
- Conduct
Finance Health Checks, assessing financial controls, reporting and
operational efficiency
- Provide
specialist payroll and finance consulting across a range of client
projects
- Assist
clients with payroll compliance, complex calculations, reconciliations and
remediation activities
- Support
clients to improve finance processes, month-end procedures, budgeting,
forecasting and financial reporting
- Deliver
training to clients and colleagues
- Develop
and implement payroll and finance policies, controls and best-practice
processes.
- Provide
strategic payroll and finance advice to clients.
- Maintain
professional accreditation and technical knowledge.
Responsibilities
You will be responsible for:
- Interpreting
multiple Awards/Enterprise Agreements and current statutory legislation.
- Investigating
and reporting on client payroll processes, system setup and compliance.
- Review
finance operations including financial reporting, reconciliations,
internal controls, delegations, budgeting, forecasting and governance
practices.
- Assessing
finance and payroll system configuration, utilisation and business
practices.
- Preparing
detailed Health Check reports and practical recommendations.
- Supporting
clients with remediation and implementation of recommendations.
- Delivering
project work, including implementation of outsourced finance, payroll and
HR systems.
- Working
with vendors to ensure quality, compliance, system testing and
implementation outcomes.
- Collaborating
with leadership to plan client engagements, project objectives and deliverables.
Objectives
of the Role
As an important part of the Cole team, you will:
- Build
strong relationships with colleagues and leadership to support business
operations.
- Demonstrate
professionalism with clients — be attentive, reliable and committed to
understanding their needs.
- Expand
your knowledge, contribute to team discussions and support a
collaborative, inclusive culture.
- Bring
innovation, ideas and continuous improvement to your work.
- Embody
what makes Cole distinctive: our people are our specialists.
“Together we are awesome.”
What You’ll
Bring
- Strong
experience in school payroll, school finance, or both (essential).
- Sound
understanding of payroll compliance, Award/EBA interpretation and
employment legislation.
- Experience
reviewing finance operations including financial reporting,
reconciliations, month-end processes, budgeting, internal controls and
governance.
- Experience
conducting reviews, audits, Health Checks or business process improvement
initiatives
- Strong
analytical skills with the ability to identify risks, investigate issues
and develop practical recommendations
- Excellent
report-writing skills with the ability to present findings clearly to
clients
- High-level
organisational skills and ability to manage multiple projects
simultaneously
- Excellent
communication and relationship-building skills.
- A
collaborative mindset and willingness to support others.
- Experience
with school finance, payroll and HR systems will be highly regarded
Other
Requirements
You may be required to visit schools onsite. Applicants must be able to
obtain:
- National
Police Check
- Working
With Children Check
Why Join
Cole?
- Work
with a highly skilled team of specialists
- Flexible
and supportive environment
- Professional
development encouraged
- Diverse
work across multiple schools and systems
- A
workplace that genuinely values people
How to
Apply
If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.
Please submit your resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the
role.
