Financial Controller

Verandah Brands is hiring a Financial Controller to own our operational finance engine: a repeatable month-end close, a balance sheet that stands up to scrutiny, and the compliance and cash controls that protect our margin as we scale.

The Financial Controller is responsible for the group’s month-end close, balance sheet integrity, Australian statutory and tax compliance, and the controls that protect cash and margin across five brand entities.

The mission: build a finance function that runs to the calendar without the CFO in it.

We trade through five brand entities plus shared services, across eight Xero organisations, on a Shopify, Cin7 and Xero stack. This is a build role, not a maintain role: processes work but aren’t fully documented or automated, some balance sheet areas need rebuilding rather than rolling forward, and FY27 is our first audited year. You’ll report to the CFO, manage our two Philippines based finance roles, and have the autonomy to decide how that team is structured once you’ve seen it from the inside.

You’ll have real scope to build your own finance function and sort out legacy issues nobody has had time to fix. If you’re hands-on, comfortable with a few loose ends, and want the autonomy to build rather than just maintain, this role is for you.

About you

• You’re CA or CPA qualified and still hands-on: you get into the ledger yourself, not just review what someone else has done.
• You’ve been through a first time audit or a significant audit remediation, so you know what an auditor will ask for before they ask for it.
• You’ve fixed a challenging close, not just run a good one. You can point to reconciliations you’ve rebuilt, root causes you’ve found, and a close timeline you’ve shortened.
• You’re comfortable with multi-entity accounting and consolidation, including intercompany, where costs sit in one entity, revenue in another, and journals do the reconciling.
• You’ve managed remote or offshore direct reports, ideally including someone senior or CPA qualified. You know how to set a standard, review work you didn’t watch being done, and have the hard conversations when it isn’t working.
• You’ve prepared and owned Australian statutory and tax compliance, BAS, IAS, GST grouping, PAYG, superannuation, payroll tax and FBT, not just reviewed it, and you’re ready to hold ATO portal access.
• You use AI in your finance work today, with real validation discipline. You can tell us what you use it for, what you don’t trust it with, and how you check its output before it reaches a ledger or a board pack.
• You write the SOP as you build the process, not six months later, and you raise problems early, in plain language, including with people more senior than you.

What you’ll own

Close and balance sheet

• Own the end to end close calendar across all group entities: task allocation, review, sign off and post close review.
• Deliver a group close at working day 3 and signed balance sheet reconciliations at working day 5.
• Own the key schedules: accruals, prepayments, payroll and superannuation, gateways, intercompany, inventory timing and unearned revenue.
• Lead variance explanation: what changed, why, and what it means.

Compliance, audit and controls

• Own Australian statutory and tax compliance across the group, working with our external tax agent.
• Hold ATO portal access and be the accountable owner for lodgement accuracy and timing.
• Own the relationship with our external auditor, and the audit readiness plan and workpaper file.
• Establish practical, commercial controls that prevent leakage without creating bureaucracy.

Treasury and cash

• Own daily cash visibility across all group bank accounts and facilities.
• Manage funding, transfers and foreign currency top ups, and act as second approver on payment runs.

Leading the offshore team

• Manage, coach and lift the capability of both Philippines-based finance roles.
• Build the documentation, templates and checklists that make remote work reviewable.
• Decide how the offshore team should be structured, and make the call once you’ve seen it from the inside.

Process, systems and AI

• Identify the top drivers of close friction and remove them at source.
• Own the finance SOP library, templates and standard journals.
• Use AI, and work with Tech, to build tools that speed up reconciliation review, anomaly detection and exception reporting, with a human checking every output before it reaches a ledger or board pack.

What Success Looks Like

• The close runs to the calendar without the CFO in it.
• The balance sheet is trusted: every material balance has support you’d hand an auditor without editing.
• Compliance is invisible because nothing is ever late.
• Recurring issues reduce month on month, because you’ve fixed the cause.
• The offshore team delivers more, more reliably, and needs less rework.

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for someone with several years’ experience as a Financial Controller, Finance Manager or Group Accountant, ideally in an ecommerce or retail business with inventory.

You will likely bring:

• CA or CPA qualification, and recent hands-on ledger experience
• Experience through a first time audit or significant audit remediation
• Multi-entity accounting and consolidation experience, including intercompany
• Experience managing remote or offshore direct reports
• Hands-on Australian statutory and tax compliance experience: BAS, IAS, GST grouping, PAYG, superannuation, payroll tax and FBT
• Payment gateway and clearing account reconciliation experience (Shopify, PayPal, Afterpay, Zip or similar)
• Genuine, validated use of AI in your finance work today
• Strong documentation discipline, and direct, proactive communication

Experience with Shopify, Xero and Cin7 Core is strongly preferred, along with treasury and multi bank account management, Employment Hero or a comparable payroll and HRIS platform, and experience in a private equity backed, founder-led or investor reporting environment.

We are equally open to a permanent full-time hire, or a fixed-term contract. Let us know which structure suits you best, and we’ll make it work.

About Verandah Brands

• We are a house of renovation brands building toward $100M+ in profitable scale. We run five brands across two sides of the business: TileCloud (tiles), Yabby (tapware), Dawn (lighting) and Verandah Retail (complete rooms) selling direct to renovators, and Verandah Trade, our B2B platform supplying builders and trade professionals. Trade is the single biggest growth opportunity in the group.
• Our mission is simple: renovating can be overwhelming, and we exist to make it easier. We are scaling the brands, systems, team and operating rhythms required to support a much larger business.
• Four values hold our house together: Simplify Everything, Understand First. Momentum Matters and Always Learning. In practice that means fewer hoops and smarter tools, asking questions before jumping to solutions, and starting before things are perfect. Progress beats perfection every time.

How to apply

We know few people read a list like this and tick every line. If you tick most of the boxes, we’d still love to hear from you.

Apply with a CV and a cover letter covering two things: a close or balance sheet you’ve personally fixed and how you did it, and how you use AI in your finance work today, including where you don’t trust it. 

Let us know your availability, and whether you’re looking for permanent, contract or temp to perm; none of the three counts against you.

We read every application ourselves.