Group Chief Financial Officer (Confidential search)

This is a Group CFO mandate for an agricultural business operating across Asia and the United Kingdom — two regulatory environments that do not reward generalists. The business sits at the intersection of food systems, land assets, biological asset accounting, and cross-border capital — making the financial leadership function structurally more complex than most CFO roles at comparable revenue scale.

The incoming CFO will be the first financial executive to hold accountability across both jurisdictions simultaneously — not as a coordinator between regional finance teams, but as the architect of a single, coherent financial operating model that functions under dual regulatory scrutiny, multi-currency cash complexity, and the biological asset volatility intrinsic to agriculture.

1. Build the consolidated financial architecture

Design and own the Group consolidation framework under IFRS, with specific command of IAS 41 (biological assets — fair value vs. cost model decisions), IAS 36 (impairment on land and infrastructure), and the IFRS 16 lease implications of agricultural land concession structures across Asia. This is not a maintenance role. The architecture does not yet exist at Group level in its current form.

2. Build a capital-efficient cross-border treasury function

The business operates in multiple Asian jurisdictions — each with distinct FX controls, thin capitalisation rules, and transfer pricing obligations. You will design a treasury framework that minimises the cost of capital across the Group while remaining defensible under both HMRC's transfer pricing scrutiny and the equivalent tax authority regimes across Southeast and East Asia.

3. Own the ESG financial disclosure agenda

Agricultural businesses are under disproportionate scrutiny — scope 3 emissions from land use change, biodiversity net gain under the Environment Act 2021, deforestation due diligence under the UK Environment Act and EU EUDR spillover obligations. You will be the executive accountable for making these disclosures credible, consistent, and TCFD-aligned — not delegating this to sustainability without financial rigour.

4. Translate regulatory duality into commercial advantage

The UK's post-Brexit agricultural subsidy transition (from EU CAP to DEFRA's ELM schemes — SFI, Countryside Stewardship, Landscape Recovery) creates balance sheet and P&L treatment questions that most finance teams handle inconsistently. Your role is to convert the Group's regulatory literacy into a competitive position — on funding, on tax efficiency, and on capital allocation decisions.

• Financial reporting & statutory compliance — Group consolidation under IFRS; UK statutory accounts under Companies Act 2006; coordination of audits across multiple jurisdictions; FRS 102 familiarity for UK subsidiary structures where applicable.
• Treasury & liquidity — Multi-currency cash pooling, seasonal working capital management (agricultural cycles drive material liquidity asymmetry), commodity price hedging strategy, and FX exposure management across GBP and multiple Asian currencies.
• Tax structuring — UK corporation tax, HMRC Agricultural Flat Rate VAT Scheme, R&D reliefs applicable to agri-tech investment, and cross-border transfer pricing governance. Asia: withholding tax optimisation, land concession tax treatments, and the evolving Pillar Two minimum tax exposure for the Group.
• Investor relations & capital markets — Whether the Group is privately held, PE-backed, or approaching a liquidity event, you will lead the financial narrative for investors, lenders, and strategic partners with P&L fluency and sector credibility.
• M&A and transaction support — Agricultural sector consolidation is accelerating in both the UK (post-subsidy pressure on farm viability) and Asia (food security M&A driven by sovereign priorities). You will lead or co-lead financial diligence, structure acquisition financing, and manage post-merger financial integration.
• Regulatory compliance & government relations (finance layer) — DEFRA grant and subsidy accounting; HMRC; FCA if capital-raising; SFA (Singapore Food Agency) financing programmes; GACC (China customs) and cross-border food trade financial documentation.
• Finance team leadership — Build, mentor, and hold accountable a multi-jurisdictional finance function. Set the standard. Remove the ceiling from talent beneath you.

Requirements

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CPA or equivalent) with a minimum of 15 years in finance, of which at least 5 years at Group CFO, VP Finance, or equivalent P&L owner level in a multi-entity structure.
• Sector depth — agriculture, agribusiness, commodities, food manufacturing, or forestry. You understand that biological assets do not behave like inventory, that seasonality is structural not cyclical, and that land is simultaneously a productive input and a financial asset with ESG obligations attached.
• Dual-jurisdiction lived experience — not theoretical knowledge of UK and Asian regulatory environments. You have personally navigated DEFRA reporting, HMRC agricultural tax positions, and Asian multi-country consolidation. Candidates who have worked in one geography and read about the other will not be suitable.
• IAS 41 competency — you can hold a technical conversation with auditors on fair value hierarchy for biological assets, point-of-harvest cost models, and the P&L volatility implications of fair value movements through a harvest cycle.
• Board-level presence — you communicate financial complexity in terms a Board makes decisions from. You do not hide behind accounting standards or bury risk in footnotes. You surface what matters.
• Capital markets fluency — whether debt, equity, or hybrid — you have raised it, structured it, or managed the process from the finance seat.
• Operationally grounded — you have spent time in the field, in the supply chain, or at least physically present in the operating jurisdictions. This is not a role for a purely HQ-based finance executive.

This is not a financial controller role with a CFO title. It is not suitable for candidates whose regulatory knowledge of either the UK or Asia is theoretical rather than operational. It is not the right fit for finance executives whose backgrounds are exclusively in financial services, technology, or consumer goods — sector translation in agriculture is real and material. Candidates who have managed regional finance teams but have not personally owned cross-border consolidation, IAS 41 reporting, or multi-jurisdictional tax positions will not meet the brief.

Benefits

At Substance, we’re all about action, not just talk. If your profile aligns with what we need, you’ll hear from us within 1-2 weeks. If not, no fluff—just know we value your interest and will keep you in mind for future roles where your skills can make an impact. We focus on real connections and meaningful matches, so when the right opportunity comes, we’ll be ready to make it happen.

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