Accounts Receivable Associate

We thrive on challenge and change. We rise to challenges together.

Accounts Receivable Associate (OTC – Order to Cash)

Location: Newark (Hybrid Working 3 days in the office 2 days at home)

Business Area: Finance
Contract Type: 6 month fixed term contact

Working Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5:00pm – however part time and job share applications will be considered

Salary: Competitive plus pension, life assurance

Holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays

We’re the biggest name you’ve never heard of. You’ve probably eaten our food – you just didn’t realise it. We make innovative fresh products, with around 18,500 colleagues working across the UK, US and China. We’re the market leader in the UK fresh prepared food industry supplying meals, salads, desserts, pizza and bread to leading grocery retailers (including Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose). We’re ambitious. We’re full of ideas. And we’re ready for more people who share our values and passion for quality to join us.

The Role

We’re proud to offer you a career with real scope for development. To reward your hard work and ambition as a talented Accounts Receivable Associate with plenty of support and opportunity. And empower you to drive your own success and create a career you can be proud of too.

In this busy and exciting role, you will be responsible for the day-to-day processing of customer billing, cash collection, cash application, performing reconciliation, managing disputes and performing other AR related tasks.

The role involves transactional processing based on the allocation of tasks by OTC Team Leader / Manager and requires following Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to execute the tasks within agreed SLAs and KPIs.

Accountabilities

Billing

• Perform timely and accurate creation of sales invoices based on agreed procedures Engage with stakeholders as needed to gather incomplete data and ensure that invoices have all required information completed accurately and in line customer requirements
• Verify correct discounts, rebates and adjustments have been applied to sales invoices where appropriate
• Liaise with OTC Team Leader if approval for sales invoice is required, in line with Bakkavor’s policies
• Employ the utilisation of PODs (Proof of Delivery) and the principles of good faith receiving to generate invoices as required, adhering closely to the terms and guidelines established per policy

Credit Management

• Review credit applications from new customers and assess their creditworthiness to establish appropriate credit limits; present findings to Team Leader/Manager for decision making
• Analyse existing customer credit limits based on their history, recommending adjustments to OTC Team Leader where appropriate
• Communicate with relevant stakeholders over credit decisions, providing explanation when necessary

Account Receivables and Revenue Reconciliations

• Undertake AR ageing analysis and calculate bad debt levels as per established Bakkavor policies, present to Team Leader for review and approval
• Undertake AR, Sales Not Invoiced (SNI), and revenue reconciliations accurately and in a timely manner, escalate reconciling issues (along with appropriate supporting information) for review and approval
• Reconciliation of Customer supply chain financing (SCF) portals to ERP systems to ensure all invoices are available for draw down
• Investigate any missing invoices with customer to ensure resolve in a timely manner and escalate to manager unresolved
• Review AR ledger and complete appropriate collection of account receivables and debt chasing activities as per agreed debt collection strategy
• Accurately record all ‘promise to pay’ and outcomes of debt chasing activities in a timely manner
• Escalate to Team Leader persistent overdue invoices and customer accounts

Debit Note Resolution and Cash Application

• Undertake reconciliation of cash received against customer invoices to enable application of cash received to customer accounts. Where required, generate debit notes for customer deductions. Gather appropriate evidence and approval as per documented procedures
• Engage with stakeholders as needed to ensure payment is made within the agreedupon terms
• Identify unallocated cash and track source of it through reviewing payment records, bank statements, and any available communication with customers
• Generate credit notes as per documented procedures and seek appropriate approvals
• Raise customer account write offs to OTC Team Leader as needed

Dispute Management

• Creates dispute case records with appropriate classification based on nature of disputes
• Undertake research on dispute cases; attaches and updates case documentation as appropriate
• Contacts customer and resolves disputes or escalates as appropriate
• Notifies appropriate internal stakeholders and updates case status
• Liaises closely with Business and Site Finance teams as appropriate

Query Resolution

• Leads on resolving any queries or discrepancies related to sales orders, such as pricing discrepancies, quantity changes, or late deliveries
• Leads on resolving queries and issues related to the settlement of invoices in line with payment terms, or contractual obligations
• Resolve escalations from internal customers and respond to customer enquiries, ensuring issue and error resolution in line with agreed SLAs
• Correspond with Team Leaders if further escalation on queries is required

Audit and Internal Controls

• Support internal and external audits as required
• Adhere to all documented procedures, internal controls, governance and policy requirements at all times
• Prepare reports on Accounts Receivables data, KPIs, aged receivables, and cash flow projections and share with the OTC Team Leader

About you

Ideally, you will have previous experience within a similar role and a sound understanding of the end-to-end OTC process – a history of working with ERP systems, specifically with SAP S/4 HANA would be highly desirable.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, an excellent service delivery attitude, attention to detail, proficiency of the use of Microsoft Office products and the ability to manage time effectively to meet tight deadlines whilst managing multiple tasks – will all be key.

If you have a strong understanding of accounting concepts and/or are currently undergoing professional accounting qualification (e.g., AAT/ACA/ACCA/CIMA) this could be the perfect role for you.

Come and join our fast paced and dynamic work environment and positively contribute to the growth and transformation of our shared services team.

What you’ll receive

As an equal opportunity employer, we’re committed to providing a safe and rewarding environment for you to thrive in. This is why we work hard to deliver benefits, rewards and wellbeing offerings that are important to you.

You’ll enjoy:

• A stakeholder pension scheme

• Personal accident Insurance

• Free independent mortgage advice

• Employee assistance programme

• A range of voluntary benefits

• Holiday purchase scheme

• Additional life assurance

• Dental & hospital cash plans

• Discounted tutoring for children

• Access to financial learning tools

• Affordable loans via your salary

• Proud to be and loyal service awards.

Plus, a commitment to your wellbeing that includes emotional, physical and financial support services delivered by our fantastic team of wellbeing champions.

Proud to be Bakkavor

We’re the biggest name you’ve never heard of. You’ve probably eaten our food. You just didn’t realise it. Because as global leaders in the fresh prepared food industry, we create innovative products, including meals, soups, dips, salads, desserts, pizzas and breads for our customers in the UK, US and China. We’re ambitious. We’re full of ideas and we’re ready for more people to join us who share our passion for quality – come and join our dedicated Bakkavor team!