FourQuarters Recruitment is a leading Australian specialist recruitment firm, founded in Melbourne in 2011. Today, FourQuarters has more than 45 recruitment professionals operating across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, specialising in Finance & Accounting, Banking & Financial Services, Technology, Human Resources and Business Support recruitment. FourQuarters has built its reputation through deep market expertise, long-standing client and candidate relationships, and a highly collaborative culture.
Position Purpose
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a senior leadership role responsible for the financial management, commercial performance, governance and financial strategy of FourQuarters Recruitment. The CFO will provide the Directors and broader leadership team with clear, timely and commercially relevant financial information to support decision-making, while ensuring the business maintains strong financial controls, reporting disciplines and regulatory compliance.
A commercially focused CFO role rather than a purely accounting or reporting position. You will be expected to understand the operational drivers of a recruitment business and use financial and performance data to help improve revenue, productivity, profitability and cash generation.
Act as the principal financial interface between FourQuarters and MS-Japan, ensuring that local financial management and reporting requirements are appropriately aligned with Group expectations.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Leadership & Strategy
· Act as a key member of the FourQuarters senior leadership team.
· Provide financial and commercial advice to the Directors and other senior leaders.
· Contribute to business strategy, annual planning and longer-term growth initiatives.
· Translate financial information into practical commercial recommendations.
· Assess the financial implications of proposed investments, new hires, offices, teams, technology and other strategic initiatives.
· Identify opportunities to improve profitability, operating leverage and return on investment.
Budgeting, Forecasting & Performance
· Own the annual budgeting and periodic forecasting processes.
· Develop robust revenue, cost, headcount and cash-flow forecasts.
· Monitor actual performance against budget and forecast and explain material variances.
· Develop scenario modelling to support management decision-making.
· Maintain appropriate visibility over forward revenue, consultant productivity and the cost base.
· Work with business leaders to establish and monitor meaningful financial and operational KPIs.
Management Reporting & Commercial Analytics
· Produce concise monthly management reporting for the FourQuarters leadership team.
· Develop dashboards providing visibility across key business metrics including revenue and gross profit; productivity by consultant, team, division and office; permanent versus temporary/contract performance; headcount and employee costs; margins; debtor performance and cash conversion; operating expenses; and profitability.
· Move the business progressively away from overly manual spreadsheet-based reporting toward more automated and scalable reporting.
· Provide management with meaningful analysis and commercial insight rather than simply reporting historical results.
· Own the end-to-end consultant commission process, including the accurate calculation of commissions, preparation and production of commission sheets, distribution to consultants, resolution of queries or adjustments, and finalisation of each commission cycle.
· Review client contracts and commercial agreements against FourQuarters' internal commercial guidelines, insurance limitations and applicable legal frameworks, escalating material risks, exceptions or non-standard terms to the appropriate Director and/or external legal adviser where required.
Cash Flow, Working Capital & Treasury
· Maintain oversight of cash flow and liquidity.
· Manage working capital, with particular focus on debtor management and collections.
· Oversee banking arrangements, payment processes and appropriate cash controls.
· Forecast future cash requirements and distributions.
· Ensure appropriate controls exist around expenditure and financial commitments.
Financial Control, Compliance, Governance & External Audit
· Maintain an effective financial control environment.
· Oversee statutory accounts, tax compliance and other regulatory obligations.
· Lead and manage the annual external audit process, acting as the primary point of contact with FourQuarters' external auditors and coordinating all audit requirements across the business.
· Ensure audit information, supporting documentation and management responses are provided accurately and within required timeframes.
· Oversee the resolution of audit queries and the implementation of any agreed recommendations arising from the external audit process.
· Maintain relationships with external auditors and ensure the leadership team is appropriately informed of significant audit matters.
· Manage relationships with external advisers, banks and other relevant professional advisers.
· Ensure appropriate financial policies, delegations and approval processes are documented and followed.
· Maintain oversight of payroll-related financial controls and obligations.
MS-Japan Reporting & Integration
· Act as the primary finance contact between FourQuarters and MS-Japan.
· Coordinate financial reporting required by MS-Japan.
· Ensure Group reporting requirements are met accurately and within agreed timeframes.
· Work collaboratively with MS-Japan to identify functions that can appropriately be supported or undertaken at Group level.
· Assist with the progressive alignment of financial systems, controls, reporting and governance where this creates value without unnecessarily adding complexity to the Australian business.
· Provide MS-Japan with appropriate visibility over FourQuarters' financial performance
Systems, Technology & Process Improvement
· Review the current finance and reporting environment and identify opportunities for simplification and automation.
· Lead improvements to financial systems, reporting processes and data integrity.
· Work with technology providers and internal stakeholders to reduce manual administration and duplication.
· Support the business in making better use of technology, automation and AI within finance and reporting.
· Develop financial processes and systems that are scalable and appropriate for the future.
Leadership & Team
· Lead and develop the FourQuarters finance function.
· Establish clear responsibilities, controls and succession capability within the function.
· Build strong relationships with staff across the business.
· Promote commercial accountability throughout the organisation rather than treating financial performance as solely the responsibility of the finance team.
· Develop the financial and commercial capability of business leaders by providing them with meaningful information and helping them understand the financial implications of their decisions.
Experience & Capabilities
· CA/CPA or equivalent professional qualification.
· Senior finance leadership experience, ideally within recruitment, professional services, staffing or another people-based services business.
· Strong commercial and analytical capability.
· Experience with budgeting, forecasting, management reporting and financial modelling.
· Strong understanding of cash flow and working-capital management.
· Experience leading an external audit process and managing relationships with external auditors.
· Strong understanding of financial controls, statutory reporting, governance and compliance.
· Ability to interpret complex financial information and communicate it clearly to non-financial people.
· Experience improving financial systems, reporting and processes.
· Strong stakeholder-management skills.
· A pragmatic, hands-on approach appropriate to a mid-sized entrepreneurial business.
· Ability to operate strategically while remaining willing to become involved in detail when required.
What Success Looks Like
Within the first 12-18 months, the CFO should have:
· Established reliable, timely and substantially automated management reporting.
· Significantly reduced the business's reliance on manually maintained spreadsheets.
· Introduced a disciplined budgeting and rolling-forecasting process.
· Given management substantially better visibility over profitability by consultant, team, division and office.
· Improved forward-looking cash-flow and working-capital reporting.
· Established a clear financial-control and governance framework.
· Established an efficient and well-managed external audit process, with clear ownership internally and an effective working relationship with FourQuarters' external auditors.
· Created an efficient reporting relationship between FourQuarters and MS-Japan.
· Identified which finance activities should remain within FourQuarters and which can sensibly be supported by MSJapan.
· Developed a finance function that is appropriately structured and scalable for the future.
· Become a genuine commercial partner to the person leading FourQuarters and the wider leadership team, rather than simply the person responsible for producing the numbers.
