How Finance Can Lead the Transformation of Order-to-Cash in SaaS

The Order-to-Cash (O2C) process, which converts sales into bookings, billing, and revenue, becomes increasingly complex as SaaS companies diversify. New revenue models, such as usage-based pricing, along with expansion into new regions or markets, add layers of complexity that legacy systems can’t support.  Add to this the ever-evolving AI and GenAI innovations and use cases, and you have a perfect storm of challenges for SaaS O2C.

With sales teams pursuing larger clients, product teams rapidly launching new bundles, and acquisitions and market expansions adding complexity, many SaaS companies are struggling to manage the wave of non-standard deals, evolving pricing models, and system inefficiencies.

This dynamic approach to monetization—while necessary for growth—also complicates the O2C process, creating significant challenges for financial systems and teams. As McKinsey aptly describes it, this is “a classic ‘elephant problem’: finance sees a controls problem, sales sees a speed problem, and IT sees a complexity problem. Nobody sees the pain points as symptoms of an end-to-end issue or approaches the search for solutions through that lens.”

Why engineering led O2C falls short

In developer-centric or product-led growth (PLG) organizations, Engineering often takes the lead in managing O2C processes. While this may work in the early growth stages, it creates significant challenges as companies scale:

• Limited financial expertise: Engineers, while technically skilled, may not fully understand the nuances of revenue recognition, compliance requirements, and financial regulations that become increasingly important as a company grows.
• Reactive vs. Strategic approach: Engineering teams tend to build quick fixes for immediate problems rather than designing comprehensive systems that anticipate future financial needs.
• Resource diversion: Rather than focusing on core product development, engineering resources get diverted to maintaining internal billing systems and extracting data for Finance, hindering innovation and slowing product releases.
• Compliance gaps: Without proper financial oversight, compliance issues can emerge, leading to potential audit problems, revenue misstatements, and regulatory concerns.

The case for finance-led O2C

The solution to these growing pains lies in optimizing the team structure, processes, and systems that manage O2C. While engineering often takes the lead in the early stages, as companies grow, leaving O2C solely to engineering can create significant issues with compliance, audits, and revenue recognition.

In response, finance should take the lead in streamlining O2C processes. While engineering will continue to play a role, finance leaders are best equipped to tackle the complexities of O2C, ensuring compliance, accurate reporting, and scalability as the business grows.

The common perception that finance is primarily concerned with risk mitigation overlooks the fact that finance plays a pivotal role in driving growth. A finance leader—whether a Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) or Controller—has the skills and expertise to manage complex O2C systems while ensuring that revenue recognition, billing, and reporting are accurate and scalable.

If O2C responsibilities are fragmented across different departments, it’s time to put Finance in the driver’s seat. By empowering them to build a comprehensive Order-to-Cash framework, you can meet today’s demands while positioning your business for scalable growth. Here are the key steps a finance leader can take to streamline and optimize O2C:

1. Assess the current Order-to-Cash architecture

Conduct an internal assessment or work with a consultant (Deloitte, PWC, CFGI, RSM, others) to identify the current O2C architecture and gaps. This will tell you how to sequence improvements across order management, billing operations, payment operations, collections, accounts receivable, and revenue recognition. While some companies take a phased approach (choosing to optimize one part of the process at a time), others redesign all their processes and move to a new clean O2C system.  

For example, when BigCommerce transitioned from PLG to enterprise B2B sales, Chief Accounting Officer Hubert Ban recognized the growing compliance risks tied to more complex deals and billing terms. Rather than waiting for issues to arise, he took proactive steps by forming a cross-functional team of O2C and Financial Systems experts to select a unified O2C platform. This early assessment not only streamlined audits and ensured accurate revenue tracking but also positioned BigCommerce to support new sales strategies with flexibility.

2. Improve collaboration between finance and sales

Rather than having Deal Desk focus on quote creation, re-assign the team to liaison between finance and sales and assess the revenue recognition impact of enterprise deals before quotes are created. This enables Deal Desk to be a strategic partner to sales and allows finance to automate “down the middle” standard deals, while spending more time on non-clickthrough deals.

For instance, as PagerDuty expanded into larger enterprise contracts, Jane Koltsova, Sr. Director, Global Revenue Controller, recognized that deal complexity was growing. She and her team focused on proactively integrating Finance into the sales motion from the earliest stages, often before ideas were fully developed. By fostering cross-functional collaboration between Finance, Sales, and Operations, PagerDuty ensured that new deal structures, pricing models, and revenue recognition considerations were addressed upfront. This approach allowed the company to scale effectively without introducing unnecessary risk or operational friction.

3. Assign a dedicated IT resource

As the Order-to-Cash process becomes increasingly reliant on software and automation, finance leaders need dedicated IT expertise embedded within the finance organization. This team can ensure that tools are implemented, workflows are optimized, and technology investments are aligned with financial objectives. In addition, by reducing dependency on IT for customizations, finance teams can remain nimble and responsive to the needs of the business.

4. Assess the impact on revenue recognition with auditors

Will enterprise customers be able to buy bundles of software and services? What are the right discount levels to stay within standalone selling prices? What systems will bookings and billing data for revenue recognition come from—is it accurate and traceable? If you’re selling a simple monthly or annual subscription, revenue recognition is fairly straightforward and recognized ratably. However, anything beyond a simple subscription will lead to more complex revenue allocations, standalone selling prices, and frequent revenue contract modifications. You’ll need to assess this with an auditor well in advance. 

For example, Stephanie Thorin, Senior Manager of Revenue Accounting at Hudl, faced the complexities of revenue recognition as the company scaled its SaaS operations. During peak seasons, her team often spent extra days—and late nights—closing the books due to manual data reconciliation. With over 20,000 teams worldwide and rapid growth, Hudl needed to scale its financial operations. By consolidating their Order-to-Cash system, Hudl not only streamlined revenue recognition but also improved bookings and billing. 

5. Evaluate and streamline your O2C systems

Many companies start by managing their O2C with simple billing systems, spreadsheets, or basic accounting software. While this may work initially, it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile dispersed data and keep numbers accurate and auditable as the business grows and revenue models become more complex.

Upgrading to an ERP system can address some of these challenges, but it requires significant time and customization. Piecing together an Order-to-Cash (O2C) framework by integrating separate CRM, CPQ, and ERP solutions can also lead to ongoing synchronization hurdles and questions around data integrity.

A modern approach consolidates the entire O2C process into a single system, offering a unified view of bookings, billing, and revenue—making audit readiness more efficient. This kind of solution also needs to support a range of sales models, handle complex deal structures, and adapt quickly as the business evolves, all without heavy reliance on development teams or protracted IT projects. 

Building for future growth

When finance takes ownership of the O2C process, companies gain more than just operational efficiency- they gain a strategic advantage. By establishing a finance led O2C strategy, organizations can:

Innovation and go to market agility- A finance-driven O2C system enables faster decision-making and the flexibility to quickly adapt to new sales models, product offerings, and market opportunities. By streamlining the O2C process, finance helps the organization stay nimble, accelerating the ability to innovate and meet the ever-changing needs of the market. This agility in revenue recognition, billing, and collections makes it easier for companies to launch new products, enter new markets, and implement pricing strategies without being bogged down by operational bottlenecks.

Foster sales and finance alignment- A well-integrated O2C framework fosters closer collaboration between sales and finance teams. With finance taking a proactive role in revenue recognition and deal structuring, both teams can work together to align sales strategies with financial goals. This alignment leads to more predictable cash flow, clearer performance metrics, and a deeper understanding of how sales efforts impact the bottom line. Ultimately, sales can focus on driving revenue while finance ensures that those efforts are sustainable and compliant.

Scale faster- As businesses grow, their processes need to scale alongside them. Finance plays a crucial role in creating an O2C system that can accommodate increased volume, complexity, and diverse customer needs without requiring constant manual intervention or excessive IT resources. A scalable O2C system supports growth by automating routine tasks, enabling finance to focus on higher-value strategic initiatives like forecasting, risk management, and compliance.

The order-to-cash process becomes a critical factor in enabling, or hindering, sustainable growth. A seamless, automated, and transparent O2C strategy lays the groundwork for long-term business success, supporting both current operations and future expansion efforts. To fully unlock the potential of this strategy, it’s essential that finance takes a leading role.

Finance is no longer confined to traditional accounting functions. The modern finance leader is evolving into a strategic partner that drives business growth. By owning the O2C process, finance leaders can help companies navigate the complexities of modern business, ensuring that revenue is accurately recognized, risks are mitigated, and financial goals align with broader business objectives. With a strong, finance-led O2C strategy in place, businesses are better equipped to respond to market changes, scale efficiently, and achieve sustained growth.