View our presentation from CPA Ontario's 2019 Conference for Controllers: How to Score Top Controller Jobs in the GTA and What They Pay. Learning Outcomes: - Finance transformation and the evolving role of the Controller - Hiring trends and in-demand skill sets - Resume review - Raising your professional profile and your salary - Leadership and team building - Job search 101

1. How to Score Top Controller
Jobs in the GTA &
What They Pay
CPA Conference for Controllers

2. Agenda
● What the GTA’s leading hiring
managers are looking for in their
next Controller
● How to raise your professional
profile (and your salary)
● Factors impacting Controller
compensation by industry and
company size
● In-demand candidate skill sets
and hot industries Kevin Jeewan, CPA, CGA
VP, Permanent & Search Services

3. About Lannick
● Lannick is Canada’s largest
specialized regional staffing and
recruitment firm
● Unique Dedicated Service Model
ensures bias-free service
● Lannick is proud to be a Vaco
company. Vaco is a leading talent
acquisition and consulting firm
based with more than 30 locations
around the world
OUR DIVISIONS
● CPA specialists
● Permanent and contract
● Accounting, Payroll, Admin
● Junior/Intermediate roles
● Permanent and temporary
● All roles and levels
● Permanent and contract
● Multiple roles
● Hard to fill roles
● Bilingual roles

4. Old School vs New School

5. Pulse Check
● Do you characterize the Controller as a risk manager that oversees internal
controls?
● Is the Controller’s role changing because the CFO role has changed?
● Do you spend more time on strategic planning than in the past?
● Is your financial close expected to be faster?

6. The Evolving Role of the Financial Controller
● The Controller role has expanded to include risk management and internal
controls
● The CFO role has become more strategic, which has a similar impact on the
role of the Controller
○ Some traditional CFO responsibilities being delegated to the Controller
● Managing IT systems is now a required core competency as cloud-based
ERP systems are revolutionizing accounting departments
● Internal stakeholders viewing Controllers as strategic partners as opposed
to number crunchers

7. The danger of
“the way it’s always been done”

8. Examining the Status Quo
● Sticking with the status quo often viewed as the “safe” choice
● But, manual work and traditional processes are time consuming, inefficient
and can’t provide real-time data
● What’s riskier than falling behind?
○ Uber-competitive marketplace
○ Global, integrated economies
○ Constantly changing technology and regulations

9. A new era of accounting is upon us

10. Finance &
Accounting
Needs A New
Approach…
Ensure data is timely,
accurate and useful
Allow Finance &
Accounting to be business
partners
Reduce the
number of days to
close the books
Time to focus on analysis
and problem solving
Keep up with standards
and regulations
Engaging and meaningful
work to reduce employee
turn over
Ability to respond quickly to business
changes (E.g. Rapid growth, Mergers
& Acquisitions)

11. Case Study
A large public health care organization implemented BlackLine, a finance
controls and automation platform, to improve their close process.
2007
● $4.5B USD in annual revenue
● 900 users involved in the close period
2017
● $45B USD in annual revenue
● 1,000 users involved in the closer period
… a 10x growth in revenue with only a 10% increase in F&A staff

12. Finance Transformation
● Our Finance Transformation practice brings technology, processes and
people together to keep business moving forward
● Through our partnership with BlackLine, we help companies focus on
improved efficiencies and upping the game of their key players, thus
creating more value to organizations
● Vaco is proud to be one of BlackLine’s oldest and most experienced
partners
○ Vaco has implemented and optimized BlackLine in nearly 200 Fortune 500 and dynamic
middle market companies across the globe

13. Hiring for Your Next Controller

14. 88% of respondents were offered
outside job opportunities in the last
year, only 11% of Controllers actually
looking for jobs
Dimensional Research, 2019

15. GTA Hiring Trends
● Candidate-driven market due to huge growth across all industries
○ Tight labour market is having a significant impact on wages and retention
● Segmentation of the candidate market - especially at the mid-market level
○ Candidates staying active longer, even after accepting a new role
○ Talent gaps are resulting in counter-offers and multiple offers
● Growth in tech sector leading to more industry openings for CPAs
○ Microsoft, Intel, Uber, Samsung, LG and Alphabet have all announced projects in Toronto
● Strong preference for tech-savvy candidates due to increased automation
○ Higher demand for expert level software and ERP skills

16. In-Demand Skill Sets
1. Financial reporting under IFRS if publicly traded
2. Experience with large ERP systems AND systems implementations
3. People management skills for large teams
4. Strong business partnering skill set
5. Process improvement - creating efficiencies, cost savings, automating
6. Data manipulation and related skills

17. The Controller is a Midfielder

18. Controller Resume 101

22. Raising Your Professional Profile
(& Your Salary!)

23. 57% of CFOs see delivery of data and
advanced analytics as key
capabilities for tomorrow’s finance
and accounting function
Do You Define Your CFO role? Or Does it Define You?
- EY

24. 80% of employers are competing to
hire the top 20% of available
candidates

25. Breaking into the Top 20%
MORE THAN JUST THE BASICS
● Applying the right accounting standards and methods
● Timely reporting to internal teams
● Making smart business decisions that consider risk and opportunity
● Succinctly communicating financial concepts to stakeholders
● End-to-end understanding of the reporting system
● Flexibility to adapt to changing technology
● Supporting the business through systems enablement
● Get your team to the next level through leadership and mentoring

26. Actionable Steps to Raise Your Profile
● Have the tough conversations, even if this means disagreeing with the
senior leadership team
● Push a strategic agenda rooted in technology and become a Subject Matter
Expert at your organization
○ Help overcome technology-related anxiety and re-define roles for yourself and your team
● Prove the ROI on your initiatives
○ Are you adding value?
○ Saving money?
○ Providing leadership?

27. Compensation Analysis

28. Controller Compensation
● Lannick 2019 Salary Report
○ Average: $120,500
○ Low: $90,000
○ High: $140,000
● Compensation varies widely as a function of seniority, industry sector, risk
and reward factors, and company size and location
● Salary information is base annual salary and does not include bonuses,
profit sharing, benefits, etc.

29. Controller | Lannick Salary Report

30. The Toronto Landscape
● Controllers working in the Mining, Financial Services, Real Estate and
Manufacturing are the highest paid
● HOT INDUSTRIES
1. Manufacturing / Consumer Packaged Goods
2. Real Estate / Property Management
3. Construction
4. Technology
5. Financial Services
6. Cannabis
* High risks in deregulated and/or new industries often reflected by higher pay rates

31. Don’t let people problems become
business problems

32. Driving Change Through People
● Have a thorough understanding of what’s happening in the external
environment and within your organization
● Evaluate any gaps and be prepared to take action; tough changes may be
necessary to ensure shareholder value
● Consider the opportunity cost of inaction
○ Your team may not be broken, but can it be made better?
○ What are you costing the company by not making changes to your team?
○ Are you risking employee burnout?
○ Do you have a strategy to tackle retention issues?

33. Culture + Innovation = Performance
● Culture is a powerful driver of engagement, which is linked to better
financial performance
● A Deloitte study found mission-driven organizations have 30% higher levels
of innovation; tend to be first or second in their market segment
● Lead the charge! Drive operational and cultural change to get things done
while simultaneously empowering your team

34. Growing Your Team
● What skill sets are necessary to support future growth?
● Partner with a professional who will take care of the heavy-lifting of the
recruitment process
○ Job description
○ Candidate profile benchmark relative to budget
○ Preliminary candidate screening for technical and cultural fit
○ Interview scheduling
○ Compensation negotiations
○ Background and reference checks
○ Post-placement quality control
○ Placement guarantee

35. Make a Move!

36. The Value of Recruiters
● Recruiters will help you (for free!)
○ Assessing your current market value
○ Resume reviews
○ Interview preparation and insights into prospective companies
○ Coaching and career planning
● Skip the line!
○ Many companies work directly with recruitment partners
○ Your profile is submitted directly to Hiring Managers (vs general inbox)
○ Access into companies that don’t publicly post their roles
■ Mission-critical roles, confidential searches, no internal HR, niche roles

37. The Value of Recruiters
● Gain entry into companies/industries that may typically be difficult to break
into
○ Recruiters will advocate for you and promote your candidate value proposition to Hiring
Managers
● CPA expertise if working with a specialized firm
● Passive searches
○ Happy at work? Have someone monitor the market for new roles that match your interests

38. Thank You!
Questions?
Email me at kevin@lannick.com