Revenue-Control Remediation Authority — Cloud Services

The mandate

External audit identified a material control deficiency connecting non-standard contracts, consumption records, credits and variable-consideration estimates to recognised revenue. No pervasive misstatement has been concluded, but manual review cannot prove completeness across high-volume usage. The revenue controller was dismissed after repeated exceptions, leaving the certification window without a single executive owner for remediation and close continuity.

The interim must start within ten days for twelve months, leading exposure review, close control, design and operating-effectiveness remediation, two audit test cycles and successor induction. Recruitment starts once the first remediated quarter is certified. Six weeks are protected for overlap; the role will not extend for general quote-to-cash transformation, pricing redesign or unrelated ERP replacement.

Handover requires a complete population of relevant contracts and modifications, reconciled entitled and billed usage, controlled estimates and credits, approved accounting positions, tested journal and disclosure controls, remediated access and change evidence, and two successful audit cycles. The successor must chair an unseen contract-modification and late-usage scenario with residual system debt explicitly accepted.

The authority may stop recognition workflows, require manual review, reject incomplete deal packages, set control ownership, direct the approved $36 million remediation and post delegated accounting entries. The Controller and Audit Committee retain policy, materiality and certification; Legal interprets contracts; auditors remain independent. The interim cannot set sales terms, redesign commissions, hire permanently or exceed authorised spend.

Commercial pricing, sales-process redesign and wholesale billing-system replacement are outside scope. The leader may require reliable source and interface controls but does not own broader cloud platform or customer-product change. The mandate is bounded to accurate revenue recognition, defensible estimates, certification evidence and permanent control ownership across the existing service portfolio.

Why this seat is open

The audit finding exposed repeat control failures at the contract-to-usage boundary, and dismissal of the controller removed accountable remediation leadership. Finance teams must still close and certify while controls are rebuilt. A temporary executive will contain exposure, prove operating effectiveness and induct a permanent leader without compromising auditor independence.

What you will own

• Reconstruct the affected population across contract, modification, entitlement, consumption, invoice, credit, estimate, journal and disclosure.
• Decide which revenue streams may follow automation, require enhanced review, need accounting consultation or remain constrained.
• Establish completeness and accuracy controls between metering, mediation, billing, subledger and general ledger at period cut-off.
• Govern variable consideration, service credits, minimum commitments, ramp clauses, concessions and subsequent true-ups.
• Direct evidence-based remediation testing across design, implementation, operating effectiveness, deficiency evaluation and certification.
• Maintain close continuity with transparent manual controls while permanent system fixes progress through approved change gates.
• Transfer authority after two audit cycles and successor completion of unseen modification and delayed-usage exercises.

Candidate qualifications

• Held executive revenue-accounting and SOX remediation authority in a scaled consumption, subscription or cloud-services business.
• Reconciled contracts, performance obligations, entitlements, usage mediation, billing, credits and ledger recognition under audit challenge.
• Remediated a material weakness or significant deficiency through defensible population, control design and operating-effectiveness evidence.
• Governed variable consideration and contract modification without allowing commercial urgency to bypass technical-accounting review.
• Led parallel close and remediation work while preserving management certification and independent external-auditor boundaries.
• Handed sustainable controls to permanent ownership through live quarters and adversarial revenue-event testing.

Non-negotiables

• Available within ten days for exclusive Austin service through both audit testing and certification cycles.
• Has personally led revenue-control remediation in a high-volume usage business; general controllership alone is insufficient.
• No undisclosed relationship with the external auditor, control adviser, billing vendor or material reseller involved.
• Will report unresolved deficiency evidence even where disclosure or certification timing becomes commercially difficult.

1. 49 words maximum. State your Austin availability and one revenue-control deficiency you remediated through auditor retesting.
2. 49 words maximum. How did you prove completeness between raw consumption and the population recognised in revenue?
3. 49 words maximum. Which unseen contract modification would qualify the permanent control owner before handover?