Finance Lead

Our client is a Melbourne-based print-on-demand and bulk-apparel business selling licensed and original products across Australia, the US, the UK and Europe. They are hiring a Finance Lead to take over from their outgoing finance lead. The role covers day-to-day bookkeeping, month-end close, financial reporting and finance administration.

This is a hands-on role that needs strong Xero skills, close attention to detail, and the ability to run recurring processes independently. You will work closely with the Melbourne-based Operations Manager, external accountants, international tax advisers, 3PL partners, suppliers and licensors.

You will prepare and reconcile financial information. The Melbourne team keeps final authority for approving payments, releasing funds, posting payroll, filing STP, and lodging tax or regulatory submissions.

• Maintain a forward-looking daily cash-flow forecast, including scheduled supplier invoices and upcoming payments

• Manage AP and AR records and monitor outstanding supplier and customer balances

• Collect supplier invoices and forward them to Dext for coding by the external accountants

• Prepare two payment runs in Airwallex for onshore approval: the weekly Thursday supplier run, and the fortnightly run for Philippines team invoices from Toggl

• Flag when Airwallex or PayPal balances need topping up from the main bank account

• Investigate missing, duplicate or inconsistent invoices, and reconcile payments against invoices

• Escalate cash-flow concerns, overdue balances and material discrepancies promptly

• Prepare the weekly Xero Payroll draft, reviewing timesheets, leave, new starters and terminations

• Compare each draft pay run against prior periods and flag unusual variances

• Prepare the weekly super file and upload it to QuickSuper for onshore approval

• Help answer payroll questions with the Customer Experience and Operations teams

• Escalate questions on awards, leave, PAYG withholding, STP or super when you need guidance

• Have payroll ready for review by the agreed weekly cut-off. You will not post pay runs, file STP or release payroll funds.

• Collect and file month-end statements from payment platforms, marketplaces and BNPL providers, along with the bank statements the Melbourne team supplies

• Prepare reconciliations, adjustments and accruals in Xero, including expected royalties, gift cards, duties, petty cash and stock in transit

• Complete the monthly stock reconciliation and balance-sheet stock value using Shopify

• Complete monthly intercompany recharges

• Review the P&L for discrepancies, and investigate unreconciled balances

• Support closing month-end within 10 days, subject to receiving supplier and stock information

• Check 3PL invoices against Shopify orders on a weekly and monthly schedule

• Verify order counts, rates, shipping, duties and replacements, and flag incorrect or duplicate charges

• Compile replacement data for credit claims, and follow up with Customer Experience on replacement submissions

• Track discrepancies and credits through to resolution

• Update the shipping income versus cost file, and monitor average shipping rates, fulfillment costs and duties

• Raise material cost changes with the Operations Manager

• Raise monthly B2B invoices for partners and wholesale customers, using Shopify and Starshipit data

• Prepare the annual EU sales-agency intercompany invoice

• Check quantities, rates and shipping before issuing, and reconcile payments received

• Escalate disputed or overdue balances to the Operations Manager

• Prepare the monthly Operations Report from Xero and Shopify

• Support monthly financial reporting, forecast updates and P&L discrepancy reviews

• Help prepare the annual financial figures for the investor deck

• Run ad hoc gross-margin analysis for B2B collaborations

• Support cost reviews covering subscriptions, utilities, suppliers and fulfillment

• Prepare quarterly royalty reports from sales and forecast data for major entertainment and brand licensors

• Confirm that licensed-product sales are categorized correctly, and reconcile royalty calculations to sales records

• Track reporting deadlines, and support expected-royalty accruals at month-end

• Support dividend payments for about 2,450 shareholders, including collecting bank details through approved forms

• Prepare payment files for onshore approval

• Prepare, upload and distribute dividend statements through Cake Equity

• Protect confidential shareholder and banking information

• Provide reports, reconciliations and workpapers to the external accountants and the AU, EU, UK and US tax advisers, who handle tax preparation and lodgement

• Prepare supporting data for compliance reviews, audits and financial-statement reconciliations

• Keep records of payout transfers from PayPal to Airwallex EU to Airwallex AU, and provide EU company financials for income-tax lodgement

• Prepare the annual German packaging reporting through LUCID and Bellandvision

• Prepare WorkCover remuneration forecasts and actuals by their deadlines

• Gather information for insurance renewals with management and brokers

• Prepare employment contracts and onboarding or offboarding paperwork

• Set up new employees in Xero Payroll once authorized

• Maintain the equipment register and organized payroll and employee records

• Keep preparation and approval clearly separate

• Make sure no payment, pay run, transfer or filing goes ahead without onshore approval

• Collect and record new or changed payee details, with the Melbourne team verifying them before any change

• Flag suspicious payment requests, unusual bank-detail changes or missing approvals immediately

• Support a structured handover from the outgoing finance lead

• At least 3 years of bookkeeping, accounting or finance-operations experience

• Strong hands-on Xero experience

• Experience with month-end close, reconciliations, adjustments and accruals

• Experience managing AP and AR, preparing payment runs, and maintaining cash-flow forecasts

• Experience reconciling bank, payment-platform, supplier or ecommerce transactions

• Advanced spreadsheet skills, including lookups, pivot tables and large data exports

• High attention to detail, with the ability to reconcile invoices line by line against order data

• Strong organization across daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual deadlines

• Clear written and spoken English

• High integrity and discretion with confidential information

• Proactive communication and consistent follow-through

• Available full-time during Melbourne business hours, with reliable internet and a suitable remote setup

• 5+ years of bookkeeping, accounting, or finance-operations experience, ideally at a senior bookkeeper or finance-lead level

• Experience supporting Australian businesses or accounting clients

• Working knowledge of Australian payroll (awards, leave, super, PAYG withholding and STP), ideally in Xero Payroll

• Ecommerce, apparel or product-based business experience

• Shopify finance experience (payouts, gift cards, inventory valuation)

• Inventory accounting, stock in transit or 3PL reconciliation experience

• Multi-currency or multi-entity accounting experience

• Royalty or licensing reporting experience

• Experience supporting tax advisers with workpapers and reconciliations

• Experience with management reporting, forecasts or investor reporting

• Shareholder or dividend administration experience

• Experience with Dext, QuickSuper, Airwallex, PayPal, Amazon, Faire or Starshipit

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or finance, or Xero certification