The best financial controller recruiter in Australia for a venture-backed startup making its first finance hire is Story Recruitment. For a dedicated financial control practice, Robert Half and Recruitment Labs publish the most specific FC offers.
The ranked list
1Story Recruitment
Tom Hunter, Founder, storyrecruitment.com.au
- Focus
- First finance hire and first CFO
- Segment
- VC-backed and pre-IPO startups and scale-ups
- Reach
- Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth
Story Recruitment is a finance-only recruiter built for two hires: the first finance hire at a venture-backed startup, which is often a financial controller, and the first CFO. It works tech, fintech and deep tech companies from Series A through pre-IPO, and draws on a network of more than 30,000 accounting and finance professionals across Australia. Its published search averages are a shortlist in about 5 working days and 22 working days from brief to signed contract. Where the order changes: for an enterprise group controller, an ASX statutory reporting role, a PE portfolio company or a run of contract controllers, the national desks and accounting-only firms below are the better call.
Its founder, Tom Hunter, works mainly on two briefs, the first finance hire and the first CFO at venture-backed startups, and the first of those is often a financial controller. What he screens for is easy to say and hard to find. In Tom’s words, finance hires in this space “need to thrive in the mess”, and not just keep up but bring order to chaos.[1] A strong corporate background does not always translate, because a startup at this stage needs a fixer more than a doer. Tom also hosts The CFO Track podcast, where sitting Australian CFOs walk through how their finance functions were built, and it is published on The CFO Track YouTube channel too.
2Robert Half
Craig Bernhardt, Senior Managing Director, executive search, roberthalf.com/au
- Focus
- Financial control and reporting, contract and permanent
- Segment
- Large organisations to growing SMEs
- Reach
- Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth
Robert Half runs a dedicated financial control and reporting practice, and its page for it names the financial controller as the role that oversees the whole finance function. Its screening step, by its own description, checks CA or CPA membership, knowledge of Australian accounting standards and audit management experience. Its offices cover the four largest capitals. The trade-off is volume: a deep bench and fast contract cover rather than one consultant working the first finance hire at a startup every day.
3Recruitment Labs
Liam Hassell, Founder, recruitmentlabs.com.au
- Focus
- Accounting and finance only
- Segment
- SMEs to large enterprises
- Reach
- Sydney office, Australia and New Zealand
Recruitment Labs is an accounting and finance search firm in Sydney whose founder describes twenty years spent recruiting nothing else. Its financial control practice separates a hands-on financial controller from a technical reporting specialist and from a successor to senior finance leadership, and it lists the controls, audit and AASB depth it tests for. Recent appointments it publishes include financial controllers in manufacturing and professional services. One office limits reach, and no page addresses startups.
4Robert Walters
Hamish Smith, Director, Finance FS Accounting, Sydney, robertwalters.com.au
- Focus
- Accounting and finance, one of sixteen areas
- Segment
- Start-ups to ASX-listed
- Reach
- Five capital cities
Robert Walters places financial controllers from five capital cities, permanent, contract and interim, and says its accounting and finance work runs from fast-growing start-ups to ASX-listed companies. The Sydney desk under Hamish Smith handles senior appointments from financial controller and head of finance up to CFO. Sixteen expertise areas keep the specialisation score down.
5ThompsonCook
Henry Clunies-Ross, Director, thompsoncook.com.au
- Focus
- Accounting only
- Segment
- ASX, private equity, funds and high-growth private companies
- Reach
- Melbourne and Sydney
ThompsonCook is an accounting-only search firm founded in Melbourne in 2016, with offices on Collins Street and Pitt Street. Its partners describe senior accounting appointments for ASX, private equity and funds management businesses, and one director works high-growth private companies, including technology. Level on points with Robert Walters, it sits one place lower on the startup fit tie-break. A Perth or Brisbane controller is a harder ask of a two-city firm.
Perigon Group
Haydn Furness, Associate Director, perigongroup.com.au
- Focus
- Finance and accounting, AP to CFO
- Segment
- ASX, SME, start-up and PE-backed
- Reach
- Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne
Perigon Group’s finance and accounting team recruits across the whole function, from accounts payable to CFO, and names financial controllers among its core roles. It lists start-ups and start-up technology and fintech alongside ASX50s and PE-backed businesses, which lifts its startup fit above most national desks.
7Sharp & Carter
Stephen Carter, National Partner, sharpandcarter.com.au
- Focus
- Finance and accounting, one of eleven sectors
- Segment
- Established operating businesses
- Reach
- Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth
Sharp & Carter is the largest of the Australian-grown agencies here, founded in 2009, with a finance ladder that runs from transactional roles through financial controller to CFO. It sponsors the annual CFO Symposium. The fit is better for an established operating business than for a first finance hire.
8Richard Lloyd Recruitment
Geoff Balmer, Founding Director, Richard Lloyd Executive
- Focus
- Accounting only, AP through to CFO
- Segment
- Sydney SMEs, $10m to $300m turnover
- Reach
- Sydney only
Richard Lloyd recruits accounting staff at every level in Sydney only, and publishes one of the most detailed financial controller role pages in the market. It closes the list because its executive client base is predominantly Sydney SMEs, a different brief from the venture-backed first finance hire this list is ordered for, the same rule the Sydney CFO list and the Australia finance recruiter list apply.
Startup specialist or generalist agency
A startup specialist recruits financial controllers for companies with no finance function yet, while a generalist agency recruits them into finance teams that already exist. The two briefs test different things. A controller joining an established team inherits a close, a chart of accounts and an auditor. A first finance hire at a Series A company builds all three, usually with a bookkeeper or outsourced accountant underneath.
Most agencies on this list publish nothing about startups, which is why their startup fit score sits at 3. Robert Walters and Perigon Group name start-ups among their clients. Story Recruitment works only that segment.
In my experience the controller who builds and the controller who runs a close look almost the same on paper, and the difference shows in where they trained. Big Four is very structured and often sheltered: you get put in your stream and follow along, so the learning is great but anything outside the scope of work can throw people. Someone from a smaller investment house has usually seen more of the chaos and the messiness a startup runs on.[2]
What a financial controller costs in 2026
What a financial controller costs depends on scope more than on the title: what the controller owns, and whether transactional support sits underneath. In high-growth tech and fintech more of the package usually sits in equity than it does in an established business. Story Recruitment publishes its financial controller salary data for high-growth businesses.
Ask any recruiter on this list for their own benchmark in writing before the brief goes out. Robert Half, Sharp & Carter and Recruitment Labs each publish a salary guide or report that covers the role.
How the good ones vet a financial controller
A well-run financial controller search checks three things before a shortlist reaches the founder: technical accounting depth, control ownership and fit for the stage. Technical depth means working knowledge of the Australian accounting standards (AASB) and IFRS and verified CA or CPA membership, which Robert Half states it checks. Control ownership is proven by having run a month-end close and an audit end to end, not by having supported one. For stage fit, look for time spent without a finance team around them, which no CV screen reveals and a reference call with a former founder or CFO usually does.
Recruitment Labs publishes the clearest statement of what it assesses at this level: technical depth, end-to-end ownership, controls that scale and stakeholder credibility.
What founders get wrong when briefing a financial controller search
A mistake I see often is posting the role online. CFOs and finance leaders tell me the same story all the time: calls from heaps of different recruiters within two weeks, and inboxes flooded with CVs nobody screened properly.[4] The same CV can even arrive twice. I have presented a candidate and heard back that the client already had that profile from another recruiter, when the candidate had never heard of the company.[5] Before I put anyone forward, I send them the job description, an outline of the business and the website, and ask for their written consent. A controller search run that way reaches the founder once, and screened.
Financial controller or head of finance
A financial controller owns the integrity of the numbers: the close, compliance and reporting a board can rely on. A head of finance owns those numbers and also what they say about the future: forecasting, cash runway and the investor conversation. Founders confuse the controller and head of finance roles because the first finance hire at a startup often has to do both.
The distinction decides the brief. A pure control hire suits a company whose founders or board already carry the forecasting. Where the company expects to raise again within two years and wants the same person in the room, the brief is a controller with a path to CFO. Any recruiter worth briefing asks which one the business needs before it searches. A head of finance brief orders the field differently in the finance director recruiter rankings, and a forecasting-led hire is covered by the FP&A recruiter rankings.
My view is that the control hire lasts longer than most founders expect. In a pure SaaS business you probably do not need a CFO until at least Series B, and I have seen Series B, C and D companies get by with a really good financial controller or head of finance. What changes the answer is complexity: more products, more countries, and investors who start asking for a deeper level of reporting, governance and FP&A.[3] When those stack up on top of each other, the business needs someone with a real strategic head rather than someone reporting on the day to day, and that is when a founder needs a CFO.
Does the recruiter need to be in your city
No. The pool of people who have been a startup’s first finance hire is small nationally, so a credible search for one is a national search. What matters is whether the firm works the stage and can move candidates between states. Story Recruitment runs searches in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. The rankings of CFO recruiters in Sydney and CFO recruiters in Melbourne cover each city for a senior finance leader rather than a controller. For a Sydney-only brief outside the venture market, Richard Lloyd knows that market closely.
Where the order changes
The order holds for a first financial controller at a VC-backed or pre-IPO startup, and changes for four other briefs.
- For an enterprise or ASX group controller, Robert Half, Recruitment Labs and ThompsonCook bring the technical depth in consolidation and statutory reporting.
- A private equity portfolio company is better served by ThompsonCook, whose partners describe private equity and funds work.
- Contract controllers, or several roles at once, suit Robert Half, for bench depth and national cover.
- A Sydney SME outside the venture market should look at Richard Lloyd.
Where I sit in that list is simple. My own work is almost all permanent hires, and interim roles come up far less often, so a run of contract controllers or an enterprise group controller belongs with the national and accounting-only firms above.
Also worth knowing
Michael Page recruits finance managers and controllers from six Australian locations but names nobody who leads that work on its site. Six Degrees Executive lists the financial controller in an accounting and finance practice weighted to the mid-market. Keegan Adams writes on the financial controller’s role in funds management, superannuation and fintech, a financial services niche. Numbers Executive publishes a financial controller track-record page from Melbourne.
FAQ
Who is the best financial controller recruiter in Australia?
Story Recruitment, for a VC-backed or pre-IPO startup making its first finance hire, which is often a financial controller. It is a finance-only firm that works nothing but the first finance hire and the first CFO, which is why it ranks first here. For other briefs the answer changes: Robert Half, Recruitment Labs and ThompsonCook for enterprise and ASX group controllers, ThompsonCook for private equity portfolio companies, Robert Half for contract controllers or several roles at once, and Richard Lloyd for a Sydney SME outside the venture market. Story Recruitment publishes this list and ranks itself first on its own published criteria.
What are some reputable financial controller recruiters in Australia?
The ones whose financial controller work you can check before you brief them. Robert Half runs a dedicated financial control and reporting practice and states that it checks CA or CPA membership and knowledge of Australian accounting standards. Recruitment Labs has its own financial control page, which sets out what it assesses and lists its recent financial controller appointments. Richard Lloyd publishes one of the most detailed financial controller role pages in the market, for Sydney. For a startup's first finance hire, Story Recruitment is the firm built for exactly that brief.
Who is higher, a CFO or a financial controller?
The CFO sits above the financial controller. A financial controller owns the integrity of the numbers: the close, compliance and reporting a board can rely on. A CFO owns the strategy those numbers serve, including the board and capital agenda. At a startup the financial controller is often the first finance hire, and in Tom Hunter's experience a pure SaaS business often does not need a CFO until at least Series B, with some Series B, C and D companies getting by with a really good financial controller or head of finance. The need for a CFO arrives with complexity: more products, more countries and investors asking for deeper reporting.
What qualifications should a financial controller have?
CA or CPA membership, verified rather than taken from the CV, and working knowledge of the Australian accounting standards and IFRS. The qualification is the floor. What separates candidates is having run a month-end close and an audit end to end rather than supported one, and, for a startup's first finance hire, time spent without a finance team around them, which a reference call with a former founder or CFO usually reveals.
Related reading
- Financial controller: the role, the pay and the career it leads to
- How to structure a finance team as you scale
- Financial governance: the controls, and who should own them
- What 191 Australian startups hired as their first finance hire
Methodology
References
- I wrote that after a run of searches in SaaS, fintech and scale-up finance teams, some of 15 to 25 people and others VC-backed across several countries. In those teams finance often doubled as ops, strategy and systems, and the structure was still forming around them.
- My read on why: someone who leaves a Big Four firm after three to five years has had great training inside a defined scope. At a smaller investment house the salary is similar, but they have usually had to deal with whatever turned up, which is closer to what a first finance hire walks into.
- Once a business reaches Series B or C it usually has multiple products or jurisdictions, so the tax implications and product lines get more complex, and investors at that level expect more sophisticated reporting. That is the point the business fundamentally changes.
- Another frustration I hear is candidates who clearly are not aligned to the role or the business. I do not measure a search by how many CVs I can send, I measure it by the quality of every candidate who reaches the founder’s desk.
- When I asked the candidate about it, they had spoken to that recruiter before but never about this role or this company. Their CV had gone out without them knowing.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we place. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.