Most accountants picture an office in the city. Very few know that remote mine sites and big construction projects have their own finance people, and that some of those roles come with a roster. If you are an accountant who likes the idea of FIFO, here is how it looks from the hiring side.
The roles
- Site accountant. The finance person for one operation. Month-end, accruals, reporting to head office, keeping the site’s costs honest.
- Project accountant. Tracks a project’s budget, forecasts and cost to complete. Works closely with the project manager.
- Cost controller. Lives in the cost codes. Compares what was planned with what is being spent, and flags it early.
- Commercial and contracts roles. Variations, claims, progress payments to subcontractors. Often a step on from cost control.
- Payroll on remote operations. Rosters, allowances and award conditions for a lot of people on unusual hours.
Not all of these are FIFO. Many sit in a Perth or Brisbane office with site visits. Some are fly-in fly-out on a site roster. The ad will say. Read it for the roster and the point of hire first.
What gets you shortlisted
Industry, if you have it. Mining, construction, engineering services, resources. Even a short stint counts. Put it near the top.
Project language. If the role is project-based, I want to see budgets, forecasts, cost to complete, variations, work in progress. A CV that only talks about financial statements and tax reads as practice or corporate, and it goes in that pile.
Systems. Name your ERP and your level in Excel. Large operations run big systems, and someone who has used one at scale gets read first.
Working with operations. Site finance people who hide in the spreadsheet do not last. Give me one line that shows you worked with project managers, supervisors or engineers to sort out a number.
The roster. One line near the top. Accountants moving out of an office need to show me they have thought about it.
If you have no industry experience
Look at the contractors and the mining services companies, not only the operators. Look at labour hire and finance recruiters for short contracts on projects, because a few months on a project changes how every application reads afterwards. And look at cost control or project admin as a way in, if a straight accounting role is out of reach.
You still need the site basics
If the role involves site time, expect a medical, a drug and alcohol test and site inductions. If it is a construction site, you may need the general construction induction card. Read the ad and sort it before you apply.
Where to look
The contractors, operators and engineering firms all hire finance people. The Employer Map in the FIFO guide lists them by state. Search with the title and the region: “project accountant FIFO”, “site accountant Pilbara”, “cost controller Bowen Basin”.
And if you are not sure your CV is reading the way you think it is, the Hiring-Side CV Review tells you what the screen sees in thirty seconds.
From Office to Site · A$29Site admin, document control, engineering and accounts roles: what the screen looks for, the words your CV needs, and the way in.Get it →
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