An FP&A manager owns budgeting, rolling forecasts, variance analysis and board reporting, usually with one or two analysts underneath. Most Australian roles carrying the title are hybrids with management reporting attached, and a genuinely pure FP&A seat only appears once the close is owned elsewhere.
What an FP&A manager owns
The planning cycle, end to end. Annual budget, rolling forecast, scenario work, variance analysis against plan, and the board pack that carries all of it. Usually there are one or two analysts underneath, and the manager is the first person in the chain who has to have an opinion rather than an output. The statutory reporting the forecast is reconciled back to is prepared under the AASB accounting standards by the reporting side of the team.
The comparison that anchors the level is a site or divisional finance lead: management accounting, FP&A, budgets, working capital and business partnering, reporting to the general manager with a dotted line back into group finance.[1] That mix is what an FP&A manager brief looks like in most Australian mid-size businesses, whatever the title says.
What belongs in the job description
Write it around the planning calendar, not a list of skills. If the description cannot say which month each deliverable lands in and who receives it, the role has not been defined yet, and the person you hire will discover the job by absorbing whatever is unowned.
| How the ad usually reads | What it needs to say | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget cycle | Lead the annual budgeting process | Name the months, the inputs required from each function, and who signs off. A budget with no owner per line is a wish list. |
| Rolling forecast | Maintain rolling forecasts | State the cadence and the horizon, and whether the forecast is rebuilt or rolled. Those are different jobs and different hires. |
| Variance analysis | Perform variance analysis | Say who reads the commentary. Writing for the CFO and writing for a sales director are not the same skill. |
| Team | Mentor junior analysts | Confirm whether anyone actually reports in. Half the roles carrying "manager" in this market have no direct reports. |
Where the role reaches into the commercial teams it overlaps with the finance business partner remit, and the two briefs are worth separating before you post either.
Experience, qualifications and tools the market expects
Five or more years, a CA or CPA in most cases, and clear ownership of a full planning cycle rather than participation in one. Tooling expectations are advanced Excel first, then the company's ERP, then a BI or planning layer. SQL is a differentiator rather than a requirement at this level in Australia.
The scarcity worth understanding before you write the ad: of the roles available to candidates coming out of the Big Four, 60% to 70% are straight financial reporting, 20% to 30% are hybrid management reporting and FP&A, and only a small subset are pure FP&A.[2] A candidate advertising deep FP&A experience has usually built it inside a hybrid role, which is fine, but it means the screening question is what they owned, not what the title was.
What the adjacent roles pay in Australia
The FP&A manager title covers a wide band, so it is more useful to anchor against roles I actually run. A lead finance role with an FP&A focus at an early-stage, very high growth medical technology business was being discussed at $230k to $250k plus super with a significant long-term incentive component, which is common in that type of company.[3] That is the top of the range and it buys a leader, not a manager.
Below it, for first finance hire and Head of Finance roles, $220k is generally the higher end, with plenty landing at $180k or $200k. Once you reach $250k and beyond, candidates face the expectation of being across absolutely everything, including significant FP&A and commercial experience, and compete with people who have already held CFO or substantial Head of Finance roles.[4] One useful quirk of the market: salary expectations tend to be less of a sticking point on the FP&A route than on the traditional controllership route.[5]
For the full ladder from analyst to head of function, see FP&A salaries in Australia.
When a growing company actually needs one
Rarely as early as founders think. In a startup the first finance role has been getting broader, not narrower: control functions, reporting structures, R&D, the commercial side and FP&A modelling all sit in one seat.[6] Splitting a dedicated FP&A manager out of that too early gives you a planner with nothing to plan against and a close still being run by the founder's accountant.
The split becomes real when the close is genuinely owned by someone else and the forecast has become a full-time job on its own, which in the Australian scale-ups I work with tends to arrive somewhere after the first CFO. I keep my searches at CFO and Head of Finance level, dipping into financial controller, Head of FP&A and finance manager where the brief warrants it.[7] If you are choosing between an FP&A manager and a broader finance leader at this stage, the leader is almost always the better first move, because the leader can carry the planning work while the planner cannot carry the function.
Common questions
What does an FP&A manager do?
They own the planning cycle: the annual budget, the rolling forecast and its assumptions, scenario work, variance analysis against plan, and the board reporting that carries it. They usually sit above one or two analysts and below a Head of Finance or CFO. The close and statutory reporting sit on the other side of the function, which is what makes the role forward-looking rather than backward-looking.
What is the difference between an FP&A manager and a financial controller?
Direction of travel. A financial controller owns the close, the controls and the accuracy of what has already happened. An FP&A manager owns the plan and the explanation of what is about to happen. Small Australian finance teams put both jobs in one seat, where the close wins the calendar every time: it has a statutory deadline attached and the forecast does not.
Is there much pure FP&A work in the Australian market?
Less than the job titles suggest. Of the roles available to candidates coming out of the Big Four, around 60% to 70% are straight financial reporting and 20% to 30% are hybrid management reporting and FP&A, leaving only a small subset that is pure FP&A. So when you screen, ask what the candidate actually owned in the planning cycle rather than reading the title on the CV.
Should a scale-up hire an FP&A manager or a Head of Finance first?
The Head of Finance, in almost every case. In a growing company the first finance role has been getting broader rather than narrower, taking in control functions, reporting structures, R&D, the commercial side and FP&A modelling together. Hire the planner first and you get someone with nothing to plan against, and a second search inside a year.
References
- From a brief Tom Hunter ran: a senior site finance role typically focuses on management accounting, FP&A, budgets, working capital and business partnering, reporting directly to the dealer principal and GM while holding a dotted line to the group financial controller in head office.
- What I say when this comes up: 60% to 70% of the roles available are straight financial reporting, 20% to 30% are hybrid management reporting and FP&A, and only a small subset are pure FP&A roles.
- From a live search: a lead finance role with an FP&A focus at an early-stage, very high growth medical technology business was being discussed at $230k to $250k plus super, with a significant LTI piece, which is common for companies at that stage.
- From a placement I worked on: $220k is generally on the higher end, with some at $180k or $200k. At $250k and beyond, candidates face the expectation of being across absolutely everything, including significant FP&A and commercial experience, and compete with those who have previously held CFO or significant Head of Finance roles.
- An observation from Tom Hunter's placements: salary expectations are sometimes less problematic for roles following the FP&A route than for traditional controllership positions.
- What I believe about this: it is becoming 'a lot more broad', encompassing crucial control functions, reporting structures, R&D, commercial aspects and FP&A modelling.
- From a recent search: CFO and Head of Finance, then intermittently financial controller, Head of FP&A and finance manager level, keeping it as senior as possible because that is the market Tom Hunter deals with most of the time. That specialism is the subject of an interview with him on the Honest Wealth Builders podcast.