Industry
Professional Services
Location
Indonesia & Singapore
Number of Employees
10 - 50 employees
CLIENT OVERVIEW
Our client is a boutique professional services firm with offices in Singapore and Indonesia. The company specialises in accounting, tax, and payroll services, complemented by business consulting, strategic cooperation, and digital transformation solutions.
Operating with a relatively lean team, the firm combines professional-services expertise with the agility and broad responsibilities of an entrepreneurial business.
CHALLENGE
The client engaged Avomind to hire a Finance Manager in Indonesia who could take ownership of its finance operations while working effectively in a small, fast-moving consulting environment.
The role required an unusually specific combination of experience. Candidates needed a strong technical foundation in finance and accounting, practical knowledge of tax and payroll, proficiency in Xero, and previous experience in both consulting and startup environments.
Finding professionals who had worked across these two environments was particularly challenging. The successful candidate needed to understand the structure, client expectations, and communication standards of professional services while also being comfortable with the ambiguity, independence, and broad responsibilities associated with an entrepreneurial organisation.
The client also had strong academic expectations, with a preference for graduates from leading Indonesian universities. At the same time, candidates could have no more than seven years of professional experience, despite needing sufficient technical depth and maturity to operate at Finance Manager level.
People-management experience created an additional constraint. The successful candidate needed to have led at least one or two team members, meaning Avomind had to identify finance professionals who had progressed quickly and demonstrated leadership relatively early in their careers.
Xero proficiency was another non-negotiable requirement. Combined with the need for accounting, tax, payroll, consulting, startup, and leadership experience, this considerably narrowed the pool of immediately qualified candidates.
SOLUTION
Avomind created a highly targeted candidate profile based on the complete set of requirements rather than searching broadly for professionals holding a Finance Manager title.
Our sourcing strategy prioritised finance and accounting graduates from leading Indonesian universities who had developed experience across both consulting and entrepreneurial organisations. We expanded the search beyond traditional accounting firms and corporate finance departments to identify candidates whose career paths demonstrated the required combination of technical rigour, client exposure, and adaptability.
Because the role had a maximum experience threshold of seven years, we focused on high-potential professionals who had progressed quickly and assumed meaningful responsibilities early in their careers. Candidates were evaluated according to the scope and complexity of their work rather than seniority or job title alone.
Xero experience was treated as a core screening criterion from the beginning of the search. We also validated candidates’ practical involvement in accounting, tax, payroll, and wider finance operations to ensure that their expertise extended beyond general administrative or reporting responsibilities.
Leadership potential was assessed alongside technical capability. We looked for evidence of direct supervision, delegation, mentoring, and ownership of team deliverables, ensuring that shortlisted candidates could support and guide a small finance team.
Given the client’s boutique structure, we prioritised candidates who were comfortable wearing multiple hats, working independently, and taking responsibility beyond a narrowly defined finance function. Their communication skills and ability to operate in a client-focused professional-services environment were equally important.
OUTCOME
Avomind’s targeted search enabled the client to appoint a Finance Manager who combined strong accounting expertise with the adaptability required in a growing boutique consultancy.
The successful candidate brought practical experience across finance, tax, payroll, and Xero, alongside exposure to both consulting and entrepreneurial working environments. This combination allowed the candidate to contribute quickly while managing the broader and less structured responsibilities associated with a lean organisation.
The appointment also gave the client a finance professional with the leadership capability to guide a small team, communicate effectively in a client-facing environment, and take greater ownership of finance operations as the business continues to develop across Indonesia and Singapore.