Working Capital Controller, Sydney

About the role

The Working Capital Controller is a senior finance role with end‑to‑end accountability for the Australia office's working capital performance across work in progress (WIP), billing, collections, debt, and trust account administration. The role leads a team of working capital professionals and acts as a trusted commercial partner to Partners and senior lawyers, supporting compliant, profitable, and timely delivery of client matters. Working closely with Partners, Lawyers, and specialist teams (including Business Development, Legal Practice Management, Tax, and Commercial), the role balances strong commercial judgement with rigorous control and policy compliance across local, regional, and global requirements. This role plays a critical part in protecting cash flow, profitability, and financial discipline, while enabling Partners and lawyers to deliver successful client outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Business Partnering & Stakeholder Management
• Build strong, credible relationships with Partners, lawyers, practice support colleagues, and clients; act as a trusted commercial adviser to influence decision‑making.
• Proactively follow up with Partners and practice support colleagues on agreed actions to resolve matter, billing, and collection issues.
• Respond to financial and commercial enquiries from clients, Partners, and lawyers relating to client matters.
• Commercial Support & Matter Economics
• Partner with Business Development teams at matter inception to ensure new matters are structured in line with firm policies, with optimal profitability and minimal tax risk.
• Review and support rate setting for Australian matters, including promoting use of the APAC rate card for Australian support on overseas‑led matters and maintaining awareness of local, regional, and global client rate agreements.
• Perform in‑progress reviews of matters and proactively escalate commercial, recovery, and profitability risks to Management, Tax, and Commercial teams.
• Champion use of in-house commercial tools and reporting (including MRPT and Power BI dashboards), guiding Partners and lawyers on ongoing profitability analysis.
• Support delivery of commercial awareness training to Partners and lawyers in collaboration with the Commercial team.
• Working Capital Management
• Lead regular financial review meetings with Partners and Senior Lawyers covering fees, profitability, billing status, WIP, and debt.
• Perform monthly WIP provision assessments in compliance with IFRS 15, including forecasting and reporting the revenue impact of significant provision movements.
• Assess and recommend WIP and doubtful debt provisions in line with firm policy.
• Closely monitor matter progress and recovery, anticipating WIP write‑offs and uncollectable debts, and escalating risks early to enable timely intervention.
• Drive collections performance by focusing on long‑outstanding debts and partnering with Partners to achieve timely recovery.
• Set and monitor monthly billing and collection targets based on WIP and debt profiles.
• Controls, Governance & Team Leadership
• Provide strong leadership, coaching, and direction to the Working Capital team to deliver high‑quality billing and working capital support.
• Ensure working capital operations comply with firm policies, accounting standards, and local regulatory requirements through training and a robust controls framework.
• Act as an approver for billing and working capital controls within Control Manager.
• Collaborate with Working Capital Controllers across the global network on cross‑border matters, billing issues, and best‑practice sharing; contribute to regional and global finance initiatives.
• Your Experience
• Professionally qualified accountant (e.g. CA, CPA, ACA or equivalent).
• Significant post‑qualification experience in working capital, billing, or commercial finance roles, ideally within a professional services or partnership environment.
• Demonstrated experience managing WIP, billing, collections, and debt provisioning, including application of IFRS 15.
• Proven people management experience, including leading and developing high‑performing teams.
• Technical & Commercial Skills
• Strong understanding of matter economics, pricing, profitability, and recovery in a project‑ or matter‑based environment.
• Experience working with billing systems, financial controls frameworks, and commercial reporting tools (e.g. Power BI or equivalent).
• Sound knowledge of accounting standards, internal controls, and policy‑driven environments.
• Stakeholder & Leadership Capabilities
• Confident and credible communicator, able to influence senior Partners and stakeholders with commercial insight.
• Strong judgement and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to balance commercial outcomes and risk management.
• Highly organised, resilient, and comfortable operating in a fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environment.
• Collaborative leadership style with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Equal Opportunities
• At Clifford Chance, we understand that

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