Hiring your first Financial Controller: what to check before you advertise

For many growing businesses, the first Financial Controller is a big step. It's often the first senior finance hire, the first person who isn't just keeping the books, and the first time the owner hands over real control of the numbers.

That makes it a hire worth getting right. A mis-hire at this level costs more than a salary. It costs months of time, unreliable figures while things settle, and the disruption of starting again. The good news is that most of the risk can be removed before the advert goes live.

Here's what to check first.

Are you sure you need a Financial Controller?

"Financial Controller" is one of the most stretched job titles in finance. In one business it means a hands-on accountant who runs the month end. In another it means the person who manages a team, owns the controls and sits close to the board.

Before you settle on the title, write down the work you need done. Split it into three lists:

• Daily and weekly: invoicing, payments, bank reconciliations, credit control, expenses.
• Monthly: management accounts, payroll checks, VAT returns, reporting to the owner.
• Yearly and strategic: year-end and audit, budgets, forecasts, cash planning, systems, funding conversations.

If most of the work sits in the first list, you may need a strong bookkeeper or an assistant accountant rather than a controller. Our guide to choosing between a bookkeeper and a Financial Controller goes into this in more detail. If most of it sits in the third, you may be closer to needing a part-time Finance Director. A controller usually makes sense when the monthly list is heavy and you want someone to own it end to end.

What will they own on day one?

A first controller often walks into gaps: books a few months behind, a year end that's late, or systems nobody fully understands. That's fine, as long as you're honest about it.

Be clear about:

• what state the books are in today;
• which tasks move to them straight away, and which stay with your accountant or bookkeeper;
• what "finished" looks like for the first 90 days.

Strong candidates will ask about all three. If you can't answer, they'll either walk away or arrive with the wrong expectations.

What should be different in 12 months?

This is the question that separates a useful role from a vague one. Pick three to five outcomes. For example:

• monthly management accounts delivered by a set working day;
• a rolling cash-flow forecast the owner actually uses;
• year end completed without last-minute surprises;
• clear approval controls on payments.

These outcomes become the backbone of your job description, your interview questions and the way you judge performance after they start.

Is the level right for the business?

The title, the responsibilities and the pay need to agree with each other. Problems start when they don't. A controller title with bookkeeper pay attracts the wrong people. A controller job with FD-level expectations leads to frustration on both sides.

Check that:

• the level of experience you're asking for matches the work you described;
• the pay you have in mind fits that level in your area;
• you're not asking for every qualification and system you can think of.

Separate your must-haves from your nice-to-haves. A long list of must-haves narrows the pool and often screens out people who would do the job well. See must-have versus nice-to-have finance skills for a simple way to test each one.

Who do they report to, and who reports to them?

In a smaller business, a first controller usually reports to the owner or MD. That relationship matters more than almost anything else in the role.

Think about:

• how much of the finance decision-making you're ready to hand over;
• how often you'll meet, and what you'll expect to see;
• whether they'll manage anyone now, or later;
• how they'll work with your external accountant.

If you'd still want to approve every decision yourself, say so. The right candidate can work with that, but only if they know before they accept.

Is now the right time?

Sometimes the honest answer is "not yet". If the business is about to change its systems, raise funding, restructure or lose a key person, it can make sense to sort that out first, or to bring in short-term help while you plan the permanent role.

Hiring before the role is stable makes it harder to describe, harder to sell and harder to succeed in. Pausing for a few weeks is cheaper than a mis-hire.

How will you choose between candidates?

Decide how you'll assess people before you meet them. A simple scorecard, built from the outcomes and must-haves above, keeps interviews focused and fair. It also makes it easier to compare candidates you met on different days, and to explain your decision to anyone else involved. Our guide on how to structure a finance interview sets out a two-stage approach.

Plan your stages, who's involved in each, and how quickly you'll give feedback. Good finance candidates often have more than one option, and a slow process can lose you the best one.

Pre-advert checklist

Before you post the advert, check you can tick every box:

• I've listed the daily, monthly and yearly finance work, and the controller title fits it.
• I know the current state of the books and what moves to the new hire on day one.
• I've written three to five outcomes for the first 12 months.
• The title, responsibilities and pay all match the same level.
• I've split must-haves from nice-to-haves, and kept the must-haves short.
• The reporting line and decision-making authority are clear.
• I've agreed how they'll work with our external accountant.
• Now is the right time, with no major change about to land.
• I have a scorecard and a planned interview process.
• My job description and advert describe the same role.

If a few boxes are still empty, that's useful to know. It's much easier to fix the role now than after the advert has been live for a month. For a step-by-step approach, read how to scope a finance role before you advertise.

Want a second opinion first?

Finance Hiring Lab stress-tests your finance role before you advertise. You tell us about the role and the business, and we give you a clear verdict (hire, reshape or pause) along with a job description, an advert and an interview scorecard, by 5pm the next working day.

Every report is checked before release by a finance recruitment specialist with ten years' experience as owner-director of a boutique finance recruitment consultancy.

Stress-test your role