Finance & accounting

The finance & accounting team is responsible for helping Sourcegraph acquire and allocate resources optimally, plan for the future, track progress and execution, and measure results.

Team

Members

Roles

See our careers page for open roles on the Finance team.

Contact

Outreach and questions for the finance team can be asked in the #finance Slack channel, by reaching out to the finance@sourcegraph.com email, or to the finance team members listed above directly.

Objectives

  • Provide timely and accurate financial information
  • Present information in a format that allows for sound decision making
  • Ensure that our Boards expectations are aligned with all teams operational objectives
  • Liaise with all other teams to become trusted business partners
  • Safeguard the assets of the Company

Reporting

Fiscal years

A fiscal year is a one-year period that corporations like Sourcegraph use for accounting and budgeting. Sourcegraph’s fiscal year runs from February 1 to January 31. Having our fiscal year offset by one month from the calendar year ensures that our fiscal doesn’t end during the December holidays, making our quarters more even and predictable, and eliminating pre-New Year stress for our sales, finance, and other teammates.

Fiscal years that don’t align with calendar years (such as our fiscal year) are referred to by the year in which the period ends.

Fiscal year 2025

  • : 01 February, 2024 – 30 April, 2024
  • : 01 May, 2024 – 31 July, 2024
  • : 01 August, 2024 – 31 October, 2024
  • : 01 November, 2024 – 31 January, 2025

Sources of Truth

  • Financial statements
  • Company Information
  • Metrics
    • Quarterly and monthly IARR
    • ARR
    • Annualized net retention - Refer to latest board meeting material
    • Burn ratio, Runway & ARR per employee - Refer to latest board meeting material

Definitions

ARR & Topline Metrics

Topline Metrics Definitions

ARR Definitions

GTM Operations Review

Multi-sku ARR recognition methodology

Budget

The Budget was communicated, and approved, by the Board, at January 28, 2024. You can see the details of the plan Here.

When reviewing and finalizing our plan, we met with our investors and leveraged benchmark guidance that they were able to provide on companies who are experiencing similar growth, opportunities and challenges. We used these benchmarks to gauge our growth and spend versus this peer group.

How the plan was built

The plan was built at a departmental level. We have 9 departments:

DepartmentDepartment (Budget owner)
R&D EngineeringErika Rice Scherpelz
R&D ProductChris Sells
MarketingRaman Sharma
SalesBrock Perko
Customer SupportAimee Menne
Customer EngineeringAimee Menne
OperationsDan Adler
Talent & People-opsCarly Jones
ExecConnor O’ Brien

Within each department, there are also cost centers. The cost center structure can be viewed within Bamboo. The plan was built by allocating and reviewing costs at the cost center level. This structure allowed us to be more detailed and analytical in our investment plan.

How we will monitor performance versus plan

Twice a quarter (following month 2 & 3), the finance team will share a reporting pack with the head of each department that will outline the following:

  • Cost (on a $ basis) versus plan for that quarter or for that quarter to date
  • Updated forecast for the remainder of fiscal quarter, and year, versus plan
  • Headcount versus plan
  • Company-level metrics
    • ARR vs plan
    • Burn vs plan

The above information will be shared via Google slides on business Day +8 following the monthly financial close. As part of this review process, Finance and Department leads will also evaluate our investments for the remainder of the fiscal year and determine if any adjustments are required. There are a number of scenarios that could require us to make an adjustment that would deviate from the plan. Some of these might include:

  • A marketing program has generated a significant amount of opportunities beyond expectations.
  • Our Engineering and Product team believes that there is an opportunity to invest in a feature that will have a meaningful impact on our ARR growth.
  • We see inbound activity beyond what was planned and we need to adjust the hiring plan for the sales team.
  • Our pace of growth is negatively impacted by adverse macroeconomic conditions. We determine that spending refinements are required in order to manage and maintain our forecasted cash position.

The monthly review that will take place between Finance and Department leads should identify the gaps and opportunities that exist. Any adjustments will be documented and provided to the VP of Operations who will provide final sign-off.

Adjustments to investment plan outside of monthly review cycle

Our goal is to ensure financial discipline, however, as a Finance team, we also do not want to constrain growth, or be slow to react when we determine that a team is lacking resources and is under prolonged pressure. We understand that there will be certain occasions where department leads may wish to make an adjustment to their budget. When a department lead determines that it is necessary to complete an off cycle adjustment to the budget, please provide the following detail:

  • If headcount related, please provide the following information:
  • If non- headcount related, please provide the following information:
    • What is the product, service that we are looking to purchase?
    • What is the purpose of this product or service?
    • Who from Sourcegraph will manage the vendor relationship?
    • What is the business need for the adjustment to the budget?
    • What is the opportunity loss if we do not proceed with this adjustment?

For non Headcount related requests, the above detail should be provided to the finance team via the slack #vendor-request channel. The finance team will commit to respond within 24 hours.

All requests should be discussed with your Executive lead before submitting to Finance. For the majority of incremental requests, Finance will be required to work with your Executive lead to offset incremental costs, with savings.

Process

See our process docs.

Exceptions and Approvals

  • Extension Approvals, Discounts: Dan Adler, in #discuss-deal-desk (note discount approval matrix is in process for new pricing with approvals taking place in CPQ)
  • Commissions, Compensation, or CFP Exceptions: Desene Sterling, in #rev-comp-plans
  • ARR Exceptions: Kendrick Morris, either in #discuss-deal-desk or #discuss-finance (note this is if you are requesting a change in how ARR is recognized or the period in which it is being recognized):
  • Compensation Related Budget increases: Tommy O Donnell, in #discuss-finance or if the ask is sensitive, via DM

[Sales & Finance - Exceptions and Approvals Process](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFhEOLKHIvgopTGUxWjOxIPxrhaQqNdwq0_9eUlsvQyfrhsg/formResponse](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1abVSOQq8me-2mhN9hb7uRinQcYVrx3rH6jt1_SiRp9w/edit#heading=h.moq25fk8nn1s)

Accounting

Our internal Accounting team closes the books monthly and produces our financial statements. We also process payables, prepare taxes, file corporate registrations, and more.

Reach out to the Finance team for an introduction if needed.

Accounts Payable

Important AP Information: -Billing Address: 548 Market St PMB 20739, San Francisco, CA 94104-5401 -Billing Contact: AP -Billing Email: ap@sourcegraph.com -Sourcegraph W9 -Corporate Information for Customer/Vendor/Partner Questionnaires

Additional Links:

Travel & Expenses

Accounts Receivable

Fixed Assets

Commission Processing

Deal Desk

Deal Desk supports Sales on non-standard deal structures, offering collaborative support and guidance on contract components. We coordinate internal approvals of paperwork with other internal stakeholders in order to deliver compliant documents and we support throughout the deal closing process.