Can Opus help a US company hire a controller in Latin America?

Yes. Opus recruits dedicated, full-time Latin American professionals, including controllers. We source and screen against your role brief and provide ongoing contracts, payroll, benefits and compliance support. Your company selects the hire, manages the work and retains its accounting policies and approval decisions.

Should we hire a controller or a finance manager?

Write down who will own accounting policy, close review, internal controls and final reporting. If those responsibilities belong to the new hire, make them explicit in the controller brief. A finance-manager title may cover different work at another company. Compare responsibilities, review authority and team leadership before choosing the title.

Can a LATAM controller work with US GAAP and NetSuite?

Set US GAAP and the relevant NetSuite environment as requirements, then assess each candidate against them. Ask which accounting judgments they personally owned, which entities they closed and which NetSuite workflows they used. A software keyword or a previous job title does not establish that experience.

What affects the cost of a controller hire?

Entity count, close complexity, systems, reporting deadlines, policy ownership, team management and required working hours all shape the brief. Request a quote for that scope and compare the full monthly cost and included support. A salary reference, employer cost and provider invoice measure different things.

Hire a controller in Latin America

Give the controller a defined part of your finance function

Start with the work your CFO or founder needs to hand over. A controller brief can include leading the monthly close, reviewing reconciliations, maintaining internal controls, coordinating audit requests and preparing financial commentary. State which decisions the controller can make and which require your CFO or another accounting reviewer. The same title can describe a hands-on accounting owner or a manager of an established team.

Bring the current close calendar and reporting pack to the scoping conversation. Those documents show the accounts, deadlines and review responsibilities the hire will inherit. If the books need cleanup, describe the unresolved work and the records available. That changes the search from maintaining an established close to taking ownership of an unfinished process.

What belongs in your controller brief?

Name every entity the person will support. Specify whether the role includes consolidation, intercompany reconciliations and eliminations, or reporting to a parent company.
Describe the close from source records through review and release. Include the current deadline, recurring delays and the person who approves the final pack.
Identify the accounting decisions the hire will own. Applying an established policy and proposing a new policy need different experience and review authority.
List the ERP and the workflows used each month. For NetSuite, say which entities, reports and modules are in use and whether the role includes system administration or works with a separate administrator.
Describe the reporting audience. A founder, PE sponsor, lender and external auditor can require different schedules, supporting records and explanations. Assign an owner to each request.
Set the management scope and working hours. Include direct reports, outside accountants, meetings with the US team and any on-site work required. Confirm the actual schedule with each finalist.

Our controller hiring guide includes a fuller scope and cost comparison. Use the same brief when requesting proposals so differences in responsibility remain visible.

Separate close ownership from planning and forecasting

A controller search should make accounting ownership clear. An FP&A search may instead center on a forecast, scenario analysis or management reporting. A finance manager can cover parts of either, depending on your team. Specify the outputs and approval decisions before combining them into one role.

If you need one person to own both close review and forecasting, write down the workload for each and who provides specialist review. Ask candidates for evidence in both areas. Our FP&A work sample evaluates analysis separately from the close-review exercise. Your finance reviewer can select the material that matches the job.

What your team and Opus each own

We use your role profile and scorecard to recruit and screen candidates. Your team interviews the finalists and selects the person. After the hire joins, your manager sets priorities, reviews the work and provides feedback. Accounting policy, system permissions and approval of the financial reports remain decisions for your company.

Opus provides the ongoing employment support described in the agreement, including contracts, payroll, benefits and compliance support. Confirm the contracting or employing entity, included services, notice and replacement terms for your arrangement. The payroll and compliance overview and replacement terms are available before you discuss a search.

Prepare the first close before the start date

Assign a finance reviewer and prepare the information the controller will need: the chart of accounts, prior close pack, reconciliation schedules, accounting policies, open audit requests and a list of unresolved items. Give system access through your normal approval process. Name the people who can explain earlier decisions and answer questions about the records.

Agree on the first deliverable in writing. It might be a reviewed close calendar, a register of outstanding reconciliations or a draft reporting pack. Choose it from the actual state of your finance function and define who accepts the work. A start date alone does not establish that the records, access and reviewers are ready.

Use our first-assignment handoff template to record the inputs, owner, reviewer and escalation route. When you are ready to assess finalists, the controller selection page explains what evidence to request in the interview and work sample.