Transactional. Bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, reconciliations, expense processing, payroll coordination. Hire when the volume of routine work is consuming a founder or an operations person.
Financial operations and reporting. Month end close, management reporting, revenue recognition, multi entity consolidation, audit support. Hire when the numbers exist but nobody trusts them or they arrive 6 weeks late.
Commercial finance. Forecasting, unit economics, pricing analysis, board reporting, scenario modelling. Hire when the constraint is decision making rather than record keeping.
Most companies advertise for the third and describe the first.
Hiring & Search
Hiring finance and accounting for a technology company in the Philippines
In short
The Philippines produces a large number of qualified accountants annually and has a deep pool experienced in international standards and multi entity reporting. For a software company the distinction that matters is between transactional accounting and the revenue recognition, metrics and forecasting work that a subscription business generates.
Finance is often the first non-engineering hire at a growing software company, and the Philippine market serves it unusually well. The care needed is in specifying which finance job you mean, because bookkeeping and software company financial operations are different disciplines.
The 3 versions of this hire
What is different about software company finance
Subscription businesses generate accounting complexity that a general accountant may not have encountered.
Revenue recognition over contract terms rather than at invoice. Deferred revenue balances that need to be right. Annual contracts billed upfront and the cash to revenue gap that follows. Metrics that are not accounting outputs but are treated as though they are, including recurring revenue, churn, and net revenue retention.
Ask directly about deferred revenue in interview. A candidate who has managed a deferred revenue schedule has worked in a subscription business. One who has not may still be excellent, but there is a learning curve and you should price it in.
Revenue recognition over contract terms rather than at invoice. Deferred revenue balances that need to be right. Annual contracts billed upfront and the cash to revenue gap that follows. Metrics that are not accounting outputs but are treated as though they are, including recurring revenue, churn, and net revenue retention.
Ask directly about deferred revenue in interview. A candidate who has managed a deferred revenue schedule has worked in a subscription business. One who has not may still be excellent, but there is a learning curve and you should price it in.
What the Philippine market supplies
Deep and well qualified. The country produces a large volume of certified public accountants each year, and a substantial share have worked for international organisations or shared service operations serving global businesses.
Well represented: general and management accounting, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, month end close, international financial reporting standards, audit support, and multi currency and multi entity work.
Also common: familiarity with the mainstream accounting platforms and with the reporting tools used by international finance teams.
Thinner: senior commercial finance leadership at scale, and specialised treasury or tax structuring work.
Well represented: general and management accounting, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, month end close, international financial reporting standards, audit support, and multi currency and multi entity work.
Also common: familiarity with the mainstream accounting platforms and with the reporting tools used by international finance teams.
Thinner: senior commercial finance leadership at scale, and specialised treasury or tax structuring work.
How to interview
Ask them to find the error. Give a small set of figures with a deliberate inconsistency and watch the approach.
Ask what they closed the books on last month and how long it took. Close discipline is the clearest signal of operational finance capability.
Ask about a number they had to explain to a non finance person. Communication is a large part of the job in a small company and is rarely tested.
Ask what they would automate first. Finance people who have not thought about this have been doing the same manual work for years.
Ask what they closed the books on last month and how long it took. Close discipline is the clearest signal of operational finance capability.
Ask about a number they had to explain to a non finance person. Communication is a large part of the job in a small company and is rarely tested.
Ask what they would automate first. Finance people who have not thought about this have been doing the same manual work for years.
The trust and access question
Finance hires need access to banking, payroll and customer data early, which makes some founders hesitant with a remote first hire.
The practical answer is structural rather than emotional. Segregate duties so that the person who records is not the person who approves payment. Use approval workflows in the systems rather than trust as a control. Run background verification as part of the process.
These are standard controls in any finance function, in any country. Implementing them properly is a better answer than restricting the role's usefulness.
The practical answer is structural rather than emotional. Segregate duties so that the person who records is not the person who approves payment. Use approval workflows in the systems rather than trust as a control. Run background verification as part of the process.
These are standard controls in any finance function, in any country. Implementing them properly is a better answer than restricting the role's usefulness.
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