Shared Services Finance Roles: Good for Your Career or a Dead End?
Shared services finance roles are now a normal part of finance in Australia and New Zealand. Large organisations bring together transactional work, such as accounts payable, receivable, payroll and general ledger, into central teams that serve several business units. Some of these teams are onshore. Many are partly or fully offshore.
For finance professionals, shared services roles raise a real question. Are they a good career move, or a dead end?
The honest answer is that it depends on the role, the organisation and what you do with it. This article looks at the skills shared services roles build, the risks and how to move on when the time comes.
What shared services roles involve
Shared services finance roles vary, but common positions include:
Team Leaders in accounts payable, receivable or payroll
General Ledger or Record to Report Leads
Process Improvement or Continuous Improvement Leads
Shared Services Managers overseeing several teams
Service Delivery or Transition Managers working with offshore teams
The focus is usually on efficiency, accuracy, service levels and process standardisation across the organisation.
The skills they build
Shared services roles can build valuable skills that are sometimes underestimated.
Process design and improvement. Standardising processes across business units and removing waste.
Leading at scale. Managing larger teams than many Finance Managers ever lead.
Service management. Setting and meeting service levels with internal customers.
Systems and automation. Working with ERPs, workflow tools, robotic process automation and AI.
Offshore team management. Leading across time zones and cultures.
Controls. Designing controls that work at volume.
These skills are increasingly relevant as more finance functions automate and use offshore teams.
The risks
There are also real risks.
Narrow experience. If you spend years in one transactional process, you may lack broader finance experience such as management reporting, budgeting or business partnering.
Limited business exposure. Shared services teams can be far from the operational business and senior leaders.
Offshoring and automation. Transactional roles are the most exposed to further offshoring and automation.
Perception. Some hiring managers see shared services experience as transactional rather than strategic.
When it is a good move
A shared services role can be a strong career move when:
It gives you leadership of a larger team than you could get elsewhere
You are leading process redesign, automation or transition projects
You manage offshore teams and service providers
The organisation is large and offers internal moves into other finance roles
You want to build a career in finance operations or transformation
When it can hold you back
It can hold you back when:
The role is purely transactional with little improvement work
You stay many years without broadening
Your long-term goal is Financial Controller, Head of Finance or CFO and you are not building reporting and commercial experience
In that case, plan a move before you get stuck.
Finance operations as a career
For some people, shared services is not a stepping stone but a career in itself. Finance operations and transformation leadership is a growing field. Heads of Finance Operations, Global Process Owners and Finance Transformation Leads are senior roles that value exactly the skills shared services builds.
If this path appeals, focus on process, systems, automation and leading change at scale. These are the skills that will matter most.
Moving from shared services to broader finance
If you want to move into Finance Manager, Financial Controller or business partnering roles, you will need to add experience in areas such as:
Management reporting and analysis
Month end ownership for a business unit
Budgeting and forecasting
Working directly with business leaders
Look for internal moves, secondments or projects that give you this exposure. Large organisations with shared services often have internal finance roles in business units. For more, see using secondments to build finance experience.
Automation and the future of shared services
Shared services teams are at the front line of automation. Invoice capture, bank reconciliation matching, robotic process automation and AI-assisted coding are removing large amounts of manual work. Teams that once needed dozens of processors now need fewer, with different skills.
For shared services professionals, this is both a risk and an opportunity. The risk is for people doing purely manual work. The opportunity is for those who lead automation, manage exceptions, design controls and improve processes. Position yourself in the second group. For more, see what AI means for finance roles.
Offshore team leadership
Many shared services roles in Australia and New Zealand now involve leading or working with offshore teams in the Philippines, India, Malaysia or elsewhere. This is a skill in its own right.
It requires clear process documentation, good communication across time zones and cultures, sensible service levels and regular quality checks. If you do this well, say so on your resume with results. It is increasingly valued by Financial Controllers and Heads of Finance building modern finance functions.
Internal customers
Shared services teams serve internal customers, such as business unit finance teams, managers and suppliers. Managing those relationships well is a real skill. Service agreements, regular reviews and responsiveness all matter.
If you have improved customer satisfaction or reduced complaints, include it. “Lifted internal customer satisfaction scores from 62 to 85 per cent by introducing service level reporting and monthly reviews with business unit finance leads” shows service leadership that is relevant to many roles.
A realistic career plan
If you are in shared services now, give yourself a timeframe. Two to four years in a well-chosen role can build strong leadership and process skills. Much longer without broadening can make other moves harder.
At the two-year mark, review where you are. Are you building the experience you need for the next step? If not, plan a move, internally or externally.
How to present shared services experience
Present shared services experience by focusing on scale, improvement and results, not just processes.
“Led a 25-person accounts payable team processing 18,000 invoices a month for six business units. Cut processing cost per invoice by 35 per cent through automation and offshore transition, while lifting first-time accuracy to 99 per cent.”
That line shows leadership, scale, efficiency and quality. It reads very differently from “managed accounts payable”.
A worked example
Shared Services Manager, national retail group
Key Achievements and Projects
Cut cost per invoice by 35 per cent through automated invoice capture and a transition of processing to a Manila team.
Lifted payment accuracy to 99.5 per cent across 18,000 invoices a month through a new quality review process.
Standardised accounts payable and receivable processes across six business units, reducing month end journals by 40 per cent.
Developed three team leaders, two of whom moved into Finance Business Partner roles.
A worked example: Team Leader to Finance Business Partner
James leads a 12-person accounts payable team in the Melbourne shared services centre of a large health services group. He has been there three years. He wants to become a Finance Business Partner, but his title says “Team Leader, AP”.
Here is how he builds a bridge over 12 months.
He offers to prepare the monthly spend analysis for the procurement team, which gives him direct contact with business leaders.
He joins the budget cycle as a support analyst for one hospital division.
He leads a project to cut duplicate supplier payments, which saves $310,000 in the first year.
He asks the divisional Finance Manager for a three-month secondment when a Business Partner goes on leave.
At the end of the year, his resume shows leadership, process improvement, spend analysis, budgeting and business partnering. He is no longer “just AP”. He is a finance professional with a clear story about moving closer to the business.
Before and after resume bullets
Before: “Managed the accounts receivable team.”
After: “Reduced debtor days from 58 to 41 across four business units by introducing weekly collection targets and escalation rules, releasing $6.2 million in cash.”
Before: “Involved in offshore transition.”
After: “Transitioned general ledger reconciliations for 14 entities to an offshore team in eight weeks, with no missed month end deadlines.”
Questions to expect when you move on
Hiring managers outside shared services will test whether your skills go beyond process.
“How have you worked with business leaders, not just finance teams?”
Use any example where you explained numbers to a manager, supported a decision or changed a process with operational teams.
“What do you know about management reporting?”
Show what you have done, such as month end journals, reconciliations or spend analysis, and how you would build on it.
“Why leave shared services now?”
Keep it positive. Explain that you have built strong process and leadership skills and now want to apply them closer to the business.
Common mistakes
Staying in purely transactional roles too long
Describing shared services work as processes rather than results
Not building broader finance experience when aiming for Financial Controller or CFO
Ignoring the risk of offshoring and automation
Underselling leadership of large teams
Your next step
Decide whether you want a career in finance operations or a move into broader finance. Then choose one step to build the experience you need in the next six months.
If you want your resume and LinkedIn to present your shared services experience as leadership and improvement, my Gold package covers your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn and positioning strategy.
If you feel stuck in shared services, book a complimentary Clarity Session.
