Your delivery center processes the work. Your CFO still chases the answers.
Reconciliations arrive, but unexplained balances carry forward. Reports are prepared, but someone still has to challenge the numbers. The close moves only when the CFO intervenes.
A hybrid finance team can fill that ownership gap: keep the delivery center in India or the Philippines and add a senior accountant or controller in Latin America, with working hours agreed around the US business.
One team. Three clear responsibilities.
The delivery center prepares. The senior hire reviews and resolves within the agreed remit. Client leadership sets policy and approves matters outside delegated authority.
This is a proposed allocation, not a rule about geography. Experienced specialists can work in any of these locations. Start with what your existing people already do well.
Is the missing piece capacity—or ownership?
Before opening a role, look at where work stops.
| What keeps happening? | What to investigate |
|---|---|
| Routine processing falls behind | Capacity, missing inputs, or a weak process |
| Schedules are ready but nobody reviews them | Senior review capacity |
| Exceptions pass between teams without a decision | A named owner and escalation route |
| The CFO personally coordinates every close | A controller remit with real authority |
Check your current provider first. A stronger team lead or a revised service scope may solve the problem. A separate hire makes sense when the responsibilities, access and working arrangements justify it.
For an external delivery center, agree who can change priorities and request extra work. The new hire should have a clear relationship with the provider's manager.
Choose the role by what it must own
Senior accountant
Best fit: you already have someone who owns the accounting policies and close process, but need stronger execution and review.
The senior accountant can prepare complex schedules, review assigned reconciliations, investigate differences and bring a shorter list of unresolved items to the controller or CFO.
Test in the interview: give the candidate a sanitised reconciliation with an unexplained balance. Ask what they would investigate, what evidence they need and when they would escalate.
Financial controller
Best fit: nobody below the CFO consistently coordinates the close, sets review standards and brings together a dependable reporting pack.
The controller needs authority to establish deadlines, request evidence and escalate missed commitments. Accountability without access to information or decision-makers will leave the same bottleneck in place.
Test in the interview: ask the candidate to work through a delayed close. How would they prioritise, coordinate both teams and separate their decisions from those retained by the CFO?
For either role, verify accounting-framework, industry and system experience. A title or location does not establish readiness.
Follow one issue through the close
Illustrative workflow—not a client case study.
Three customer receipts remain unapplied when the delivery team prepares the receivables reconciliation. Here is what an effective handoff could look like.
01 / Prepare the evidence
The delivery team records the amounts, dates, supporting documents and checks already completed. Two receipts appear to match customer remittances; the third needs confirmation from sales.
Handoff: a review-ready reconciliation and a specific exception list.
02 / Resolve the business question
The senior hire reviews the evidence and contacts the US business owner during agreed overlapping hours. They confirm the treatment within their authority or escalate the remaining decision.
Handoff: documented instructions and evidence for the correction.
03 / Review and close the loop
The correction is recorded and reviewed under the company's control procedures. The reporting pack identifies any unresolved material item for the designated client approver.
Result to look for: an issue resolved with a traceable decision, instead of another unexplained balance carried into next month.
The same pattern can apply to accruals, missing invoices and unusual movements. Assign preparation, review and approval explicitly; one person should not silently inherit all three.
Make the working hours work
A LatAm location alone does not guarantee the overlap you need. Agree a real handoff window with both the US business and the delivery center, including holidays, backup coverage and daylight-saving changes.
Use a shared tracker that answers four questions: What is ready? What is blocked? Who acts next? By when? Reserve live discussion for issues that need a decision.
Test the model over three closes
| Close | Focus | Evidence to collect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Baseline | Where does work stall today? | Review delays, open items, corrections and CFO coordination time |
| 2 — Ownership | Give the hire the agreed remit | Decisions resolved, missed handoffs and remaining bottlenecks |
| 3 — Evaluate | Compare with the starting point | Reporting quality, unresolved issues and senior time still required |
This is a suggested evaluation period, not a guaranteed improvement timeline. Agree success criteria first. A quicker close is useful only when the reporting remains dependable.
Reconsider the arrangement if processing itself is unreliable, there is too little recurring work for the senior capacity, or the hire cannot obtain necessary decisions.
Budget for the whole arrangement
Compare the delivery-center fee, senior support, transition work, systems access and client supervision still required. Check whether the provider already charges for the review or coordination you plan to add.
Use the finance talent cost guide for broad planning context, then request a proposal for the actual remit and hours. Compare that proposal with improving the existing provider or building a dedicated team.
Start with the work your CFO still owns
Bring your current team structure, close calendar and recurring unresolved issues. Define what stays with the delivery center, what the senior hire takes over, and what still requires client approval.
Discuss your finance team with Nexteam →
Further reading
The role and governance principles above are informed by ACCA's guidance on retained finance responsibilities, finance governance and the financial controller role. The regional arrangement and workflow are editorial proposals, not findings that one location performs better than another.