Finance and accounting search
Atlanta-based search for the people who own the numbers. Controllers, FP&A leaders, accounting managers, and cost accountants, placed across the Southeast on a retained or contingency basis.
Focus areas
Where this practice concentrates
Corporate accounting
Controllers, assistant controllers, accounting managers, and technical accounting leads. The people who own the close and answer for the numbers.
FP&A
Planning and analysis from senior analyst through director. Forecasting, budgeting, and the business partnering that makes either one useful.
Finance leadership
VP of Finance and CFO placements, from first finance leader in a growing business through established leadership teams.
Audit and compliance
Internal audit and technical compliance hires, including the internal controls work that sits behind it.
Screened on specifics, not keywords
Most finance resumes describe the same short list of duties. The screen goes at what sits underneath them: whether a controller candidate actually owned the close or just participated in it, whether an FP&A hire built the model or maintained someone else’s, how a cost accountant handles standard-to-actual variance when the plant pushes back.
Roles placed
- Chief Financial Officer
- VP of Finance
- Director of Finance
- Corporate Controller
- Plant Controller
- Assistant Controller
- FP&A Manager
- FP&A Director
- Senior Financial Analyst
- Accounting Manager
- Technical Accounting Manager
- Cost Accountant
- Senior Accountant
- Internal Audit Manager
- Treasury Manager
- Revenue Accounting Manager
Where these searches run
Atlanta is home and the Southeast is the core market, across Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Florida. Searches run outside the region and remote when the role calls for it, which is routine for plant controller and divisional finance roles that sit at a site rather than at headquarters.
Much of this work is in manufacturing businesses, where the finance team and the operations team either talk to each other or the numbers drift. If you are hiring on the operations side as well, check out our manufacturing and operations practice.
For hiring managers
What to look for in a finance or accounting hire
Four things that decide these hires.
Separate ownership from participation
Most finance resumes describe the department's work, not the candidate's. Three people can all claim they 'owned the monthly close' when one ran it, one reconciled two accounts in it, and one reviewed it after the fact. The screen has to establish which. Ask what broke last quarter and what they personally did about it.
Match the stage, not just the title
A controller from a $2B company with eleven direct reports and a shared services center behind them is not automatically ready to be the only accountant who knows the ERP at a $60M manufacturer. The reverse is also true. Stage fit kills more finance hires than technical skill does.
Decide early whether you need a builder or an operator
A business with clean processes and a stable close needs someone who runs the machine well. A business with a messy ledger, a bad ERP migration, or no forecasting function needs someone who likes the mess. Those are different people and they rarely enjoy each other's jobs.
Test the operations relationship
In a manufacturing business the finance hire who cannot talk to the plant is a liability regardless of their technical ability. Cost accounting, standard-to-actual variance, and inventory accuracy all run through people on the floor. Ask how they handled a plant manager who disagreed with their numbers.
Questions
Finance and accounting recruiting questions
What hiring managers ask before starting a finance search.
Is every candidate screened before we see them?
Yes. Every candidate on a slate has been through a live conversation, not a resume review. Hard requirements get verified with the candidate directly, so a system, a certification, or a specific piece of scope is confirmed before the name reaches you rather than after a first interview.
Can a finance search be run confidentially?
Yes, and it is common. Replacing a controller or a finance leader who is still in the seat means the role is described to candidates without naming the company until there is real interest on both sides. Outreach stays one-to-one, and nothing gets posted.
What do you need from us to start a search?
A conversation with the person who will actually manage the role. That covers the scope the hire owns, who they work with across the business, the comp band, and what would make someone a strong fit beyond the job description. From there the search can run without going back and forth on basics.
Do you recruit finance talent outside Atlanta?
Yes. Atlanta and the Southeast are the core market and where the network runs deepest, and searches run nationwide and remote when the role calls for it. Plant controller and divisional finance roles that sit at a site rather than at headquarters are the most common example.
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