Finance professionals moving to Australia regularly lose roles they are qualified for because they lack local experience. The realistic ways in are an internal transfer, a contract role, a company that covers several regions, or a role one step below your last title. For founders, demanding local experience narrows the pool at exactly the point a scaling startup needs people who have worked in bigger markets.
Why Australian employers ask for local experience
When a hiring manager asks for local experience, they usually mean one of three things: knowledge of Australian accounting standards, tax and superannuation; familiarity with local regulators and systems; or simply a CV that looks familiar. The first two are real but learnable. The third is a bias.
It is a topic I have strong opinions on. On the Brewed Abroad podcast I talked about a head of finance or deputy CFO who came from London, from a multi-billion revenue media production business. He interviewed for a role at an Australian production business and didn't get it because he didn't have local experience. His old company was ten times the size and complexity. As I put it then, “he could have done that role when he's asleep, but they still didn't hire him, which I thought was ridiculous.” My LinkedIn post on Australia's local-experience problem got around 400 likes and 50,000 impressions, which tells me plenty of people have lived some version of it.
It is not only new arrivals. A senior NAB executive I interviewed for my own podcast spent two years on secondment in New York City, came home, and found his overseas experience barely counted. He was passed over for promotions and had to rebuild local credibility inside the same bank. Australians returning from overseas roles run into the same wall, often without seeing it coming.
What transfers and what you need to learn
Australia reports under standards set by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB), which are based on IFRS. If you have worked under IFRS, the core reporting is familiar. If you come from US GAAP or a local standard, the gap is bigger but well documented. Tax, GST, superannuation and payroll obligations are genuinely local, and many startups lean on an external tax adviser for them.
AASB is relatively similar to IFRS, and I've been told it is easy to pick up. Australia is a small market, and accounting standards are standardised for a reason. The hurdle is the hiring manager's view, not the technical gap. In my experience it is also becoming less about deep technical knowledge across the board: commercial mindset and communication are in the top two of almost every search I run.
| What the hiring manager worries about | What actually happens | |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting standards | Australian reporting is different and complex | AASB is based on IFRS; an IFRS background carries straight across |
| Tax, GST and super | They will not know local compliance | Genuinely local, but learnable, and many startups use an external tax adviser |
| Scale and complexity | Overseas experience may not apply here | Many arrive from markets bigger and more complex than Australia's |
| Network and stakeholders | They do not know our market | Real at first, but it builds quickly; offshore networks help a startup expanding overseas |
| Commitment | They might not stay | Moving countries to build a life is already a large commitment |
Credentials: CPA Australia and CA ANZ
Overseas qualifications are not automatically recognised, but most major accounting bodies have pathways. CPA Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) both assess overseas qualifications, and CPA Australia's migration services also cover skills assessments for some visa applications. Check which body recognises your existing qualification before you move, and put the Australian equivalent on your CV.
For the roles I recruit, the qualification is rarely what decides it. Being qualified gets you through the screen. What gets you the job is showing that you can translate your experience into what an Australian founder or board needs next.
The finance career path in Australia, level by level.
The realistic ways in
Sponsorship and work rights are set by the Department of Home Affairs and change often, so check the current options on the Home Affairs working in Australia page and talk to a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer. For a permanent role, most employers will expect you to already have the right to work here.
I get asked "can you help me get sponsored?" a lot, and the honest answer is usually no. Sponsorship still happens, but it's becoming less common upfront. As of mid-2026 it is harder still at a senior level: there have been a lot of cuts, so there are plenty of good local candidates, and you are competing with them while also carrying the cost and admin of a sponsorship. Here is where I would start instead.
An internal transfer is by far the easiest if your employer has an Australian office. There is less messing around with visas and setup, they already know you, and moving across the world is enough change without starting at a new company as well.
A contract role is the most practical route I see for people on temporary work rights. It is try before you buy for both sides: the business sees your skills and fit first hand, and you get a sense of the company, the role and life here. If it works out, that is when the sponsorship conversations tend to happen.
Companies that cover several regions are where your background is an advantage rather than a gap. I regularly recruit for roles that want ANZ plus UK, US or European experience, and I would target those first.
A step down is the part not many people tell you. Your first role here might not reflect your true experience, and it might be below what you are capable of. It does not have to be forever. It just needs to be the role that gets you started, so you can prove your value and build local experience.
How people actually become a CFO in Australia.
Make yourself findable
A lot of recruiters find people by searching LinkedIn. Put the detail from your CV on your LinkedIn profile, not just job titles. Think of it like SEO: the richer the data on your profile, the more often you come up when someone searches for a person like you. I wrote more on this in getting hired through your CV and LinkedIn.
On the CV itself, do the translation for the reader. Give the size of your last business in Australian dollar terms, name the standards you reported under, and say which parts of the job were the same as what an Australian finance lead does. A hiring manager who has to guess will usually guess against you. If you are going for a senior seat, my guide to a finance director CV that gets interviews walks through the structure.
For founders: local experience shrinks your talent pool
If you are hiring a first finance hire or a first CFO, a hard local-experience requirement cuts out some of the best people available to you. Insisting on it lessens the talent pool, and you miss out on people who are adaptable, good problem solvers and simply good people.
The startup case is even stronger. Most Australian startups need overseas revenue from the US, Europe or the UK to scale, so bringing in finance people who already have that experience should be an easy win. As I wrote on LinkedIn, someone who moves to another country to build a life has already proven something: adaptability and resilience, the kind of motivation high-growth businesses say they want and struggle to find. Australia is also not the forefront of global finance we sometimes think it is.
What I tell founders is this. “You can teach someone reporting standards.” Hire for problem solving, adaptability, curiosity and ambition, because in a permanent role you are hiring for the return on investment 12, 18, 24 months down the line, not the first six months. The same goes for "must have industry experience" on senior finance roles: the highest performers I have met adapt their experience to any industry.
The requirements worth deleting from a finance manager job specification.
I run two searches only: the first finance hire and the first CFO, for venture-backed tech, fintech and deep tech companies in Australia. When a candidate from overseas is the strongest person for the seat, I will make that case to the founder, and the interview questions for a finance director are where you test capability directly instead of using a postcode as a proxy.
Common questions
Can I get a finance job in Australia without Australian experience?
Yes, but rarely by applying for a permanent role at your last level and waiting. The realistic routes are an internal transfer with your current employer, a contract role that lets both sides try before committing, a company that covers several regions and values overseas experience, or a role one step below your last title that gets you local experience quickly.
Why do Australian employers ask for local experience?
Mostly because hiring managers assume Australian accounting, tax and regulation are harder than elsewhere. Australian standards are based on IFRS, and the genuinely local parts such as tax, GST and superannuation can be learned. In practice the requirement is often a bias towards familiar CVs rather than a real capability gap.
Will an Australian employer sponsor my visa for a finance role?
Sponsorship still happens but is less common upfront, especially for senior finance roles where there are plenty of local candidates. A common path is joining on a contract with existing work rights, after which sponsorship can be discussed if it works for both sides. Visa conditions change, so check the current options on the Department of Home Affairs website and get advice from a registered migration agent.
Do I need to become a CPA or CA in Australia?
Not always, but it helps a CV pass the first screen. CPA Australia and CA ANZ both assess overseas qualifications, so check which body recognises yours and show the Australian equivalent on your CV. For senior roles, how you translate your experience usually matters more than the letters.
Should startups require local experience for a finance hire?
Usually not. A hard local-experience requirement shrinks the talent pool and screens out adaptable people who have often worked in bigger, more complex markets. Startups that plan to sell into the US, UK or Europe benefit from finance people who have already worked there. Hire for problem solving, adaptability and curiosity, and test capability in the interview.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we work with. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.