Interim Chief Financial Officer — SaaS Revenue Control

The mandate

The statutory auditor challenged how extensions, usage credits and implementation concessions were accounted for across several enterprise contracts, delaying year-end sign-off. The CFO left after the Audit Committee requested a full contract review, and finance needs an independent executive to resolve policy and operating defects together.

The interim must join within three weeks for a fixed ten-month term covering delayed close, remediation and the next annual audit. Recruitment for a permanent CFO starts once the corrected policy is approved, with six weeks of successor overlap reserved before expiry.

Handover is complete when the delayed statements and next audit receive unmodified opinions, contract-to-billing controls operate for two quarters, deferred and unbilled revenue reconcile by customer, and the successor has signed the first close. Every material contract judgement must be indexed and retrievable.

The interim may determine accounting positions with auditor challenge, pause non-standard bookings and use ₹7 crore of approved finance remediation spend. Restatement, settlements above ₹10 crore, changes to standard pricing, permanent leadership hires and commercial terms with material margin consequence require committee or board approval.

Sales strategy, product packaging and implementation delivery sit outside the assignment. Finance will define recognition and approval consequences without assuming ownership of customer negotiation or feature completion.

Why this seat is open

The audit delay exposed that technical accounting memos and operational billing did not describe the same obligations. Existing finance leaders authored portions of the disputed treatment. A temporary CFO can make objective corrections and leave a repeatable contract-control environment for permanent leadership.

What you will own

• Catalogue affected contracts and decide accounting treatment for modifications, credits, variable usage and implementation obligations.
• Reconcile contract terms to orders, fulfilment evidence, invoices, cash, deferred balances and general-ledger entries.
• Issue a non-standard deal approval matrix covering accounting, margin, tax, delivery capacity and legal enforceability.
• Approve corrected financial statements with a retained judgement file responsive to every auditor challenge.
• Build monthly customer-level bridges for recognised, deferred, unbilled and collected revenue.
• Prove contract-to-billing controls over two quarters through independent samples and timely exception closure.
• Transfer policy papers, customer reconciliations, audit correspondence, control owners and the next close calendar to the permanent CFO.

Candidate qualifications

• Held CFO, controller or finance director authority in enterprise SaaS or subscription software.
• Resolved complex contract modifications, variable consideration and multi-element revenue questions under audit.
• Built operational links among CRM, contracting, fulfilment, billing, cash and general-ledger records.
• Led a delayed audit or material close correction without losing control of routine reporting.
• Challenged revenue-bearing commercial terms and presented consequences to sales and boards.
• Has managed finance teams supporting Indian operations and cross-border enterprise contracts.

Non-negotiables

• Can work from Pune within three weeks and commit through the next annual audit.
• No recent role with the statutory auditor or the contract-review firm.
• Will disclose any restatement or modified opinion occurring under their finance authority.
• Must reject booking where customer or fulfilment evidence is incomplete.

1. 49 words maximum. Confirm your start date and whether you can remain through the next audit.
2. 49 words maximum. Describe a SaaS contract modification judgement you resolved and the decisive evidence.
3. 49 words maximum. Which systems must reconcile before you trust reported annual recurring revenue?