Job Title: Manager / Sr. Manager – Accounts Receivable & Collections
Location – Bangalore
Role Purpose
We are looking for a hands-on Manager – Accounts Receivable & Collections to lead the AR function for a business with an annual turnover of approximately INR 2,000 crores. The role requires an individual who can thrive in a complex, high-volume environment, drive collections, improve cash flow, reduce DSO, and systematically resolve years of legacy customer reconciliation issues.
This is a transformation role requiring strong commercial acumen, analytical capability, and the ability to influence both internal stakeholders and customers.
Key Responsibilities
Accounts Receivable & Collections
- Own the end-to-end Accounts Receivable and Collections function across the business.
- Drive collection efficiency through structured follow-up, customer engagement, and proactive resolution of payment issues.
- Develop and execute strategies to reduce DSO and improve working capital.
- Monitor ageing, overdue receivables, and collection performance, ensuring timely escalation of high-risk accounts.
- Prepare collection forecasts and ensure achievement of monthly cash collection targets.
Customer Reconciliations & Dispute Resolution
- Lead the resolution of long-pending customer reconciliations and legacy outstanding balances.
- Work closely with customers, Sales, Commercial, and Finance teams to resolve deduction disputes, claims, pricing differences, debit notes, and unapplied receipts.
- Build sustainable reconciliation processes to prevent recurrence of legacy issues.
Process Improvement & Controls
- Bring discipline and structure to AR processes in a dynamic and evolving business environment.
- Identify root causes of collection delays and implement corrective actions.
- Strengthen process controls around invoicing, collections, cash application, customer reconciliations, and month-end closing.
- Drive continuous improvement through automation, standardization, and process simplification.
Team Leadership
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of approximately 10 members.
- Allocate work effectively, monitor productivity, and establish clear performance metrics.
- Foster a culture of accountability, customer service, and continuous improvement.
Systems & Reporting
- Utilize SAP extensively for AR operations, customer accounting, reporting, and reconciliations.
- Develop MIS, ageing dashboards, DSO analysis, collection trackers, and management reports using advanced Microsoft Excel.
- Analyse large datasets to identify trends, collection bottlenecks, and opportunities for process improvement.
Stakeholder Management
- Act as the primary finance interface for customers on receivable-related matters.
- Build strong working relationships with key customers while balancing commercial objectives with financial discipline.
- Partner with Sales, Commercial, Customer Service, and Supply Chain teams to improve collections without impacting business relationships.
Desired Candidate Profile
- CA Inter, M.Com, MBA (Finance), B.Com, or an equivalent finance qualification.
- 8–15 years of experience in Accounts Receivable, Collections, or Order-to-Cash functions in a large, transaction-intensive organization.
- Demonstrated success in driving DSO reduction, improving collections, and resolving complex customer reconciliation issues.
- Experience managing high-value receivables and customer deduction/dispute resolution.
- Strong working knowledge of SAP (FI-AR). Experience with S/4HANA is an advantage.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills are essential, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, Power Query, dashboards, and large-data analysis.
- Proven people management experience leading teams of 8–12 members.
- Strong negotiation, customer management, and stakeholder influencing skills.
- Highly analytical, resilient, and capable of working in a demanding, fast-paced environment.
Key Success Measures
- Measurable reduction in DSO.
- Improvement in collection efficiency and monthly cash realization.
- Reduction in overdue receivables and ageing buckets.
- Closure of legacy customer reconciliation and outstanding issues.
- Timely and accurate month-end AR closure.
- Improved process controls and reporting quality.
- High team productivity and service levels.
