Ask most CFOs what they're looking for when they hire a Finance Controller and they'll give you the job ad answer. Technical skills. CA/CPA qualification. Strong reporting background. Team leadership experience. All true. None of it's what actually makes the difference.

The FC hire is one of the most important a mid-market business makes. Get it right and you have a finance function that's a genuine business asset. Get it wrong and you're managing underperformance, operational risk and the disruption of doing it all again twelve months later.

So it's worth understanding what the best CFOs — the ones who consistently hire well — are actually looking for when they sit across the table.

The role has changed more than most people realise

The Finance Controller role that existed ten years ago was primarily an accounting role. Month-end, reporting, compliance, managing the team through the close cycle. Technically demanding. Operationally important. Relatively well-defined in scope.

That job still exists in some businesses. But the FC role that most growth-stage and mid-market businesses want to fill in 2025 is meaningfully different.

Automation of routine accounting tasks — reconciliations, transaction processing, parts of reporting — has shifted time and attention upward. CFOs increasingly need their FC to be a genuine business partner, not just an excellent technical operator. The World Economic Forum's 2025 Future of Jobs Report found that 39% of accountants' core skills are expected to change by 2030, with analytical thinking and commercial advisory capability among the fastest-growing requirements.

What CFOs say they want vs what they actually hire for

We've had this conversation with a lot of CFOs across Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. In practice, a handful of things consistently separate the candidates who get offers from the ones who don't. They're not always the obvious ones.

Commercial awareness above technical perfection

Almost every candidate at FC level is technically strong. CA qualified, solid reporting background, can run a month-end close with their eyes shut. What's far rarer — and what CFOs consistently say they're struggling to find — is someone who genuinely understands the commercial drivers of the business and can translate between the numbers and the operating reality.

CFOs aren't looking for someone to just report the numbers. They want someone who can tell the story behind them. Anticipate the questions the board or CEO is about to ask. Push back on decisions that don't stack up financially.

That's a fundamentally different capability set to technical accounting. And it's the one that's hardest to teach. CPA Australia's 2024 CFO survey found that 64% of Australian CFOs rated "commercial judgment and business partnering" as the capability they found hardest to assess and hardest to find in FC candidates.

Leadership maturity — not just team management experience

Most FC candidates have managed people. That's the baseline.

What CFOs are probing for is something different — whether you can develop a team, navigate underperformance, make difficult people decisions without escalating everything upward, and create a culture in your function that actually retains good operators.

Finance teams are notoriously hard to keep. The good people have options. According to Robert Half's 2025 Salary Guide, finance professionals in Australia's mid-market cited poor management and lack of development as the top two reasons for leaving a role — ahead of salary. The FC who can build something people want to stay in is enormously valuable. And it's not the same as someone who has technically had direct reports.

Systems and process thinking

The FC role is increasingly expected to own the systems environment of the finance function. Not necessarily from a technical IT perspective, but from a process design and continuous improvement perspective.

CFOs want someone who naturally asks "why do we do it this way?" — and has a track record of making things run better, not just running them.

This matters more in businesses that are growing. The processes that worked at $20m revenue don't work at $80m. IBISWorld's 2025 Australian Business Services report found that mid-market businesses growing above 15% annually consistently cited "finance function scalability" as a top operational risk. An FC who can build processes, systems and team capability ahead of the curve is one of the most valuable hires a growth-stage CFO can make.

Emotional intelligence and board presence

At FC level, you're regularly in front of senior stakeholders — board members, investors, the CEO, business unit leaders.

CFOs are looking for someone who can hold the room. Deliver difficult financial news without creating panic. Build credibility with non-finance people without dumbing things down.

This is harder to assess in an interview than technical skills, which is exactly why the best hiring processes include more than one touchpoint and give candidates different kinds of environments to operate in. CA ANZ's 2024 employer survey found that 58% of CFOs who made a poor FC hire cited "inadequate assessment of stakeholder and communication skills" as a primary contributing factor.

The questions that actually reveal fit

If you're a candidate preparing for an FC interview, the questions worth genuinely thinking through — the ones the best CFOs will probe — cluster around a few themes:

• Tell me about a time you pushed back on a business decision with financial implications. What happened?
• Walk me through how you've improved a finance process in your current or previous role — what drove the change and how did you measure the outcome?
• What does "good" look like in a finance team — and what have you done to build it?
• What's the most complex stakeholder relationship you've managed and what made it work?
• What would you want to understand about this business in your first 90 days, and why?

These aren't trick questions. They separate candidates who have thought clearly about what the role actually demands from those who've prepared a polished version of their CV.

The checklist CFOs use — the one they don't always say out loud

A note on the employer side of this

The FC hire is one of the most important a CFO makes. It's also one of the most commonly under-invested.

A job ad, a couple of interviews and a reference check is not a hiring process that reliably finds the right person at this level. The cost of getting it wrong is significant. Robert Half's 2025 data estimates the total cost of a failed mid-management hire in Australia — including lost productivity, recruitment fees and onboarding — at between $75,000 and $120,000 for a role at FC level.

The CFOs who consistently hire well invest in the brief. They understand clearly what they actually need before going to market. They run a structured process that gives them multiple angles on a candidate before making an offer.

They also tend to involve a good recruiter — not to outsource the decision, but to do the groundwork properly. Present a genuinely filtered shortlist. Manage the process with enough rigour that the right candidate doesn't drop out because the experience felt poorly run.

Getting this hire right is worth the investment. Getting it wrong — the disruption, the cost, the twelve months of underperformance before you admit it's not working — is not.

Ask most CFOs what they're looking for when they hire a Finance Controller and they'll give you the job ad answer — technical skills, CA/CPA qualification, strong reporting background, team leadership experience. All true. None of it's what actually makes the difference.

The Finance Controller role is one of the most important hires a mid-market business makes. Get it right and you've got a finance function that's a genuine business asset. Get it wrong and you're managing underperformance, operational risk and the disruption of doing it all again twelve months later. So it's worth understanding what the best CFOs — the ones who consistently hire well — are actually looking for when they sit across the table.

The role has changed more than most people realise

The Finance Controller role that existed ten years ago was primarily an accounting role. Month-end, reporting, compliance, managing the team through the close cycle. Technically demanding, operationally important, but relatively well-defined in its scope.

That job still exists in some businesses. But the FC role that most growth-stage and mid-market businesses want to fill in 2025 is meaningfully different. The automation of routine accounting tasks — reconciliations, transaction processing, parts of reporting — has shifted time and attention upward. CFOs increasingly need their FC to be a genuine business partner, not just an excellent technical operator.

What CFOs say they want vs what they actually hire for

We've had this conversation with a lot of CFOs across Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. In practice, there are a handful of things that consistently separate the candidates who get offers from the ones who don't — and they're not always the obvious ones.

Commercial awareness above technical perfection

Almost every candidate at FC level is technically strong. CA qualified, solid reporting background, can run a month-end process with their eyes closed. What's far rarer — and what CFOs consistently tell us they're struggling to find — is someone who genuinely understands the commercial drivers of the business and can translate between the numbers and the operating reality.

CFOs aren't looking for someone to just report the numbers. They're looking for someone who can tell the story behind them, anticipate the questions the board or the CEO is going to ask, and push back on business decisions that don't stack up financially. That's a fundamentally different capability set to technical accounting, and it's the one that's hardest to teach.

Leadership maturity — not just team management experience

Most FC candidates have managed people. That's the baseline. What CFOs are probing for is something different — whether you can develop a team, navigate underperformance, make difficult people decisions without escalating everything upward, and create a culture in your function that actually retains good operators.

Finance teams are notoriously hard to keep. The good people have options. The FC who can build something people want to stay in is enormously valuable, and it's not the same as someone who has technically had direct reports.

Systems and process thinking

The FC role is increasingly expected to own the systems environment of the finance function — not necessarily from a technical IT perspective, but from a process design and continuous improvement perspective. CFOs want someone who naturally asks "why do we do it this way?" and has a track record of making things run better, not just running them.

This matters more in businesses that are growing, where the processes that worked at $20m revenue don't necessarily work at $80m. An FC who can scale with the business — building processes, systems and team capability ahead of the curve rather than behind it — is one of the most valuable hires a growth-stage CFO can make.

Emotional intelligence and board presence

At FC level, you're regularly in front of senior stakeholders — board members, investors, the CEO, business unit leaders. CFOs are looking for someone who can hold the room, deliver difficult financial news without creating panic and build credibility with non-finance people without dumbing things down.

This is harder to assess in an interview than technical skills, which is exactly why the best hiring processes include more than one touchpoint and give candidates different kinds of environments to operate in.

The questions that actually reveal fit

If you're a candidate preparing for an FC interview, the questions worth genuinely thinking through — the ones the best CFOs will probe — tend to cluster around a few themes:

• Tell me about a time you pushed back on a business decision with financial implications. What happened?
• Walk me through how you've improved a finance process in your current or previous role — what drove the change and how did you measure the outcome?
• What does "good" look like in a finance team — and what have you done to build it?
• What's the most complex stakeholder relationship you've managed and what made it work?
• What would you want to understand about this business in your first 90 days, and why?

These aren't trick questions. They're the questions that separate candidates who have thought clearly about what the role actually demands from those who've prepared a polished version of their CV.

The checklist CFOs use — the one they don't always say out loud

A note on the employer side of this

The FC hire is one of the most important a CFO makes, and it's also one of the most commonly under-invested. A job ad, a couple of interviews and a reference check is not a hiring process that reliably finds the right person at this level. The CFOs who consistently hire well invest in the brief — understanding clearly what they actually need before they go to market — and they run a structured process that gives them multiple angles on a candidate before they make an offer.

They also tend to involve a good recruiter — not to outsource the decision, but to do the groundwork properly, present a genuinely filtered shortlist and manage the process with enough rigour that the right candidate doesn't drop out because the experience felt poorly run.

Getting this hire right is worth the investment. Getting it wrong — the disruption, the cost, the twelve months of underperformance before you admit it's not working — is not.