Accounts Receivable Accountant

Responsibilities

• Collections' Agent will conduct outbound collection calls in a professional manner to maintain customer relationships.
• Instructs customers how to process payments via company's online portal
• Provides daily, weekly tracking reports & metrics on outstanding AR
• Documents collection activity within company collections module and Microsoft Teams shared Excel files including saving of customer communications and updating Sage Intacct Collections module with dates of phone calls & who was contacted and results of conversation
• Provides customer invoices, statements and contracts as requested by customer.
• Reviews customer account information with customer
• Accountable for resolving client-billing problems and decrease accounts receivable delinquency
• Identifies and fully documents any disputed items from customers
• Provides approved ECOs and travel documentation as requested to customers
• Coordinates with internal client's departments for resolution of disputes
• Ensures customer payment is received after dispute is resolved
• Answers inbound calls as received to AR general phone line to assist customers with their questions
• Responds to customer inquiries as received into the AR and collections email distribution lists
• Listens to voicemails received by customers and returns customer calls
• Process dunning notices upon request
• Maintains and follows brand standard collection processes
• Payment application
• Additional collection and accounts receivable support including invoice generation, as requested

Specific Collection Processes:

• Statements:
• Processes Statements to customers on the 15th of each month (14th if the 15th is a Saturday and 16th if the 15th is a Sunday).
• Finals Collection Processes:
• On 6th business day of month (or earlier, when final invoicing activity for prior month has been completed as notified by client's AR/Finance management)
• Contact via phone call and email to all customers who received a final invoice to confirm receipt of invoice and identify any questions on the invoice that would prevent on-time payment
• Track resolution of the issues (e.g., obtain current tax-exempt certificate for updated invoice, supporting documentation as needed, etc.)
• Contact via phone call and email to all customers whose final invoices are 5 days past due
• Identifies when payment will be received
• Contact via phone call and email to all customers whose invoices are 15 days past due
• Participates in Collections Suspension process once invoice is greater than 30 days.
• MRR Collection Process:
• Call customers who have aged MRR invoices, prioritizing those who have 2 or more months aged first, and confirm receipt and payment.
• Follows AR collection escalation process
• Notifies management of any difficult customer conversations
• Notifies management of any disputed items
• Notifies management of any changes that need to be recorded for customer suspension process as soon as information is provided (e.g., received customer payment online so that support can be notified to restore services, customer inquiries for payment plans or provides extenuating circumstances for consideration of extension of payment date to avoid suspension, including providing proof from customer)
• Of note, client's preference is to receive 100% payment and payment plans are very rare. These must be reviewed and approved by the company's Finance Management (VP, Finance or Corporate Controller) and may not be offered as an option by Collection Agents unless specifically directed by company's Finance/AR Management.
• Client's charges a fee on credit cards for credit card payments over a specific threshold. In general, these fees are not waived and can only be done when approved, in advance, in writing, from VP, Finance, Corporate Controller or other delegated Finance/AR management personnel.
• Suspension Process
• Maintains and follows specific suspension collection processes which includes carefully documenting multiple phone calls and email communications to customer leading up to suspension if payment is not received within the two-week timeframe.
• This includes ensuring emails follow specific written instructions, and include specific client's personnel as per processes
• Updates customer records with new customer contact information

Prioritization & Metrics:

• Prioritization
• Final Invoices immediately past due
• Customers with 2 months aged monthly recurring revenue (MRR) invoices
• Invoices > 31 days past due
• Participate in weekly Suspension calls with other departments
• Ensure notes on weekly report is updated prior to meeting
• Provide additional commentary during meeting on customers as needed
• Metrics:
• Call 75 customers a day on past due balances, calling each customer up to 3 times a day until customer has been reached and then follow-up with an email for those who did not respond via the phone, as prioritized by AR management
• Maintaining the collections email queue so that customers are answered within less than 1 business day
• Ensure all customer e-payments are processed within 1 business day of receipt (queue should be empty by COB each day)
• Impact company's Days Sales Outstanding to be less than 35 DSO
• Impact company's Aging so that total invoices +31 days past due is less than $ 2M USD on any given day
• This trends to increase at the first and middle of each month, therefore specific effort towards contacting customers when invoices aged between 5-15 days is critical to the success of decreasing both DSO and aged invoice balances