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Finance Positions

Who runs the loop, and who answers when it breaks?

The Apex​

Every finance position reports up to one decision maker.

The CFO is the apex. They own the gauge, hold the cash truth, ratify the allocation, sign the filings, and tell the board the story. Every other role on this page feeds the CFO. Every agent on this page works under one of these roles.

The CFO is not the largest team — it is the smallest team that can hold the loop. Add positions only when a gauge starts breaking.

The CFO role is detailed at Role — CFO. Everything below is the team that lets the CFO sleep.

Role Inventory​

Seven roles. Each role lists responsibility, touchpoints, hand-off contract, human-AI split with named agent, failure mode.

Controller​

  • Responsibility: Books are correct, complete, current. Close runs on time. Audit-trail intact.
  • Touchpoints: AP/AR specialist (sub-ledgers), treasurer (cash recon), tax lead (provision), external auditor.
  • Hand-off contract: Closed period delivered to FP&A within SLA; audit-trail evidence accessible to audit-agent and external auditor on request.
  • Human–AI split: Controller owns the policy, sign-off, and exception handling. close-agent runs anomaly detection on every journal; reconciliation-agent matches sub-ledgers to GL; audit-agent samples for evidence gaps before close.
  • Failure mode: Close slips silently; cash-truth-vs-reported-truth drift grows. Triggers Performance G1 and G2.

Treasurer​

  • Responsibility: Cash and stables are where they need to be, in the right amount, at the right time. Runway is known.
  • Touchpoints: Banks, custody providers, DeFi yield venues, AP/AR specialist, CFO.
  • Hand-off contract: Daily cash and stables position to FP&A by 10:00 local. Rebalance plan presented to CFO when threshold band breached.
  • Human–AI split: Treasurer sets policy, custodian list, and rebalance rules. treasury-agent pulls positions, computes runway, alerts on band breach, drafts rebalance plan. Human authorizes execution.
  • Failure mode: Stablecoin custody concentrated in one venue; FX or rate exposure unhedged; runway-in-stables drops below target. Triggers G3 and G4.

FP&A lead​

  • Responsibility: Forecast vs actual, variance analysis, capital-allocation discipline, board reporting.
  • Touchpoints: Every department head (forecast inputs), controller (actuals), CFO, board.
  • Hand-off contract: Variance analysis within 24 hours of close. Capital-allocation review quarterly. Board pack delivered 72 hours before meeting.
  • Human–AI split: FP&A lead owns the model, the narrative, the recommendation. FP&A-agent reforecasts runway nightly, drafts variance commentary, assembles board pack. capital-allocation-agent tags every disbursement to tier.
  • Failure mode: Forecast drifts from reality; tier discipline slips; board surprised. Triggers G7 and G8.

Tax lead​

  • Responsibility: Filings on time, provision booked correctly, compliance evidence stored, token-vesting events treated correctly.
  • Touchpoints: Controller (data), external tax advisor, regulators.
  • Hand-off contract: Filing calendar maintained; statutory deadlines never missed; provision reviewed monthly with CFO.
  • Human–AI split: Tax lead owns interpretation, policy, sign-off. tax-agent classifies transactions and drafts filings for review.
  • Failure mode: Filing missed; provision wrong; token event mis-treated; regulator notice. Triggers a CFO-led remediation.

On-chain ops​

  • Responsibility: Wallets, custody, on-chain reconciliation, smart-contract escrow, chain-as-audit-trail.
  • Touchpoints: Treasurer (custody), controller (recon), security engineering (key management), external custody providers.
  • Hand-off contract: Wallet inventory current; key-management policy documented; on-chain reconciliation runs nightly; smart-contract escrows tracked to milestone.
  • Human–AI split: On-chain ops owns key policy and venue selection. reconciliation-agent matches on-chain activity to ledger. treasury-agent monitors DeFi positions. audit-agent sweeps for evidence completeness.
  • Failure mode: Lost key; reconciliation gap; smart-contract bug surfaces in production. Material — escalates straight to CFO.

AP/AR specialist​

  • Responsibility: Invoices in, invoices out, payments made, payments collected. Sub-ledgers clean.
  • Touchpoints: Vendors, customers, treasurer (cash), controller (close), procurement.
  • Hand-off contract: AP aging and AR aging current daily; discount-capture rate and DSO reported weekly.
  • Human–AI split: Specialist sets approval rules and counterparty terms. AP-agent matches invoice to PO, applies rule, sequences payment. AR-agent issues invoices, sequences dunning, proposes rail-switch offers.
  • Failure mode: Discounts missed; DSO climbs; customer concentration risk hidden. Triggers G5 and G6.

Investor Relations​

  • Responsibility: Investor updates, data-room hygiene, board logistics, capital-markets relationships.
  • Touchpoints: CFO, FP&A lead, board, current investors, prospective investors.
  • Hand-off contract: Investor update at agreed cadence; data room current at all times; board meeting logistics handled.
  • Human–AI split: IR lead owns relationships and message. FP&A-agent generates underlying figures; IR shapes the narrative.
  • Failure mode: Investor surprised; data-room stale; board pack late. Reputation cost compounds.

Coordination​

The roles coordinate through five named touchpoints. No coordination by "communication" — every touchpoint has a frequency and an owner.

  • Daily close stand-up — controller leads, 15 minutes, weekdays during close. Treasurer, AP/AR specialist attend.
  • Weekly CFO sync — CFO leads, 60 minutes. Controller, treasurer, FP&A lead, tax lead attend. Reviews every gauge in the warning or bad band.
  • Monthly agent review — FP&A lead leads. Reviews agent override rate and any tuning needs. Required because the agent layer needs governance.
  • Quarterly capital-allocation review — FP&A lead leads, CFO signs. 70/20/10 tier discipline checked.
  • Quarterly board prep — FP&A lead and CFO lead. IR coordinates logistics.

Failure Modes​

When a role is absent or under-skilled, the function still owes the work — it goes somewhere else, badly.

  • No controller → CFO does the books. Strategy starves.
  • No treasurer → cash gets lost between rails. Runway is wrong.
  • No FP&A lead → forecast becomes a vibe. Allocation drifts.
  • No tax lead → external advisor bills go up; filings still slip.
  • No on-chain ops at scale → wallets and custody become a single-point risk on the CFO's desk.
  • No AP/AR specialist → discounts missed and DSO climbs. Working capital evaporates.

Hiring Sequence​

Original guidance retained as appendix below. Read in light of the agent layer: the human you hire owns the policy and the exception; the agent does the volume work that used to require headcount.

Stage-by-stage team​

  • $0–$5M revenue — finance leader: outsourced accounting + finance. Support: Director of Operations covers gaps.
  • $5M–$10M revenue — finance leader: Head of Finance. Support: outsourced accountants; full-time junior accountant.
  • $10M–$20M revenue — finance leader: VP Finance. Support: accounting manager; staff accountants; FP&A manager; sales ops.
  • $20M+ revenue — finance leader: CFO. Support: accounting manager; staff accountants; FP&A manager; sales ops.
  • $150M+ revenue, public — finance leader: public-company CFO. Support: technical accounting; revenue accounting; investor relations; treasury; tax.

In the AI era the same revenue band can run with a leaner human team if the agent layer is properly governed. Do not skip the human policy owner — agents need a named human responsible for their actions.

Context​