National Financial Controller

- 493161

- Melbourne

- Finance

- Full time

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 Current 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.

To apply contact Shannon Garrett on [email protected] for a confidential discussion.

For more information, see our website

📌 National Financial Controller (Melbourne)
🏢 Corrs Chambers Westgarth
📍 Melbourne