Financial Controller

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA / ACCA / CIMA or equivalent), with significant PQE experience.
• Strong financial control background, including leading month-end close and owning balance sheet integrity.
• Demonstrable experience delivering statutory accounts and managing external audits.
• Strong technical accounting foundation (IFRS and/or UK GAAP), with proven ability to apply judgement in complex scenarios.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills; able to communicate clearly to non-finance audiences and influence outcomes.
• Strong leadership capability: sets standards, drives accountability, and develops high-performing teams.
• Process mindset: comfortable improving controls, streamlining processes, and working with systems/data.
• High levels of integrity, resilience and attention to detail; able to manage competing priorities in a deadline-driven environment.

• Professional services / partnership environment experience (law firm experience beneficial).
• Exposure to multi-site operations and matrix reporting (local + group). 

We have an exciting new opportunity for a Financial Controller to join our Finance team, based in A&O Shearman's Belfast office.

The Financial Controller is accountable for the integrity, accuracy, and timeliness of financial reporting and controls across the UK & Ireland (UK&I) offices. The role leads the UK&I financial control agenda: delivering a high-quality close, maintaining a strong control environment, ensuring statutory and regulatory compliance, and partnering with senior stakeholders to support decision-making while safeguarding the firm’s financial position.   

The role and responsibilities include:

Leadership and people management

• Lead and develop the UK&I financial control team, setting objectives, coaching performance and building technical and commercial capability.
• Build effective ways of working across locations, ensuring consistent standards and resilient cover for key processes.
• Promote a collaborative, inclusive working environment and act as a role model for integrity and professional judgement.

Financial close, reporting and balance sheet control

• Lead the month-end close for UK&I, ensuring adherence to timetables and quality standards.
• Maintain the integrity of the UK&I balance sheets through reconciliation governance, substantiation standards, and timely clearance of aged items.
• Ensure appropriate accounting treatment for complex transactions, including judgement-based areas and policy application.

Statutory, regulatory and audit delivery

• Maintain overall accountability for successful delivery of the UK&I audit, providing oversight of planning, issue resolution and sign‑off, and acting as an escalation point for issues arising throughout the process.
• Maintain documentation, evidence and governance required to support audit, controls testing, and regulatory expectations.
• Oversee the preparation and delivery of UK&I statutory accounts and related filings, including technical review and coordination of inputs, and approvals. 

Control environment and governance

• Maintain and strengthen the UK&I internal control framework, including financial controls, approvals, delegated authorities, and key process controls.
• Ensure consistent application of finance policies and procedures; identify control gaps and implement corrective actions.
• Foster a culture of accountability, quality and continuous improvement within the UK&I financial control team.

Stakeholder partnership and decision support

• Deputise for the UK CFO providing support and partnering.
• Lead and coordinate the UK Business Team budget process, acting as a trusted advisor to HR, budget holders and FP&A to ensure budgets are delivered on time, to a high standard, and in line with central guidance.
• Provide strong controllership oversight, advising on risk, internal controls, accounting treatment and governance matters.
• Identify emerging financial, operational and compliance risks early, and develop pragmatic, proportionate solutions.

Systems, process improvement and transformation

• Seek opportunities to optimise UK&I controllership processes: simplifying the close, reducing manual effort, improving data quality and standardising controls.
• Work closely with finance systems teams on improvements to ERP, practice management, time recording and reporting tools, ensuring controllership requirements are reflected.
• Support finance transformation initiatives and ensure smooth adoption of changes to processes, controls, training and documentation.

Achieving the firm’s strategy requires a world class Finance department to work with the decision makers. Our teams add value through the services provided, managing compliance and providing information and insight. This is achieved by having a collaborative and high performing team that builds relationships with the Partners and other decision-makers in the firm so that they trust us to advise them on commercial, financial and technical matters.