Accounts Receivable Specialist I

Pvi Holdings - Baton Rouge, LA

Full-time - Entry Level

Baton Rouge, LA

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

About the position

The Accounts Receivable Specialist I at PVI Holdings, Inc. is a full-time position based in Baton Rouge, LA, responsible for managing the invoicing and collection processes for outstanding accounts receivable balances. This role is crucial in ensuring that the company maintains healthy cash flow by collecting payments in a timely manner and addressing any issues that may arise with customer accounts. The specialist will work closely with the Accounts Receivables Supervisor, the Accounting team, and customers on a daily basis to facilitate effective communication and resolution of any discrepancies or overdue payments. In this position, the specialist will be tasked with monitoring assigned customer accounts to identify unresolved debts and past due receivables. They will make collection calls in a professional manner, ensuring that customer relations are maintained and improved. The role also involves facilitating timely payment of invoices by clearly communicating outstanding balances to customers and partnering with both customers and internal departments to resolve transaction discrepancies and held order situations. The specialist will review on-hold/release decisions for customer orders and work with internal contacts to resolve any issues that may lead to account delinquencies. Additionally, the Accounts Receivable Specialist I will develop effective repayment plans, follow up on payment commitments made by customers, and assist in reducing the company’s Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). They will identify and resolve payment discrepancies, answer customer inquiries, and participate in department quality improvement efforts. The specialist will also be responsible for processing drop shipment purchase receipts, initiating credit orders, and submitting invoices to customers in accordance with their requirements. This role requires a strong understanding of billing and collection processes, as well as the ability to adapt to a fast-changing environment while producing accurate work.

Responsibilities

• Collect customer payments in accordance with payment due dates
• Monitor assigned customer accounts to identify unresolved debts and past due receivables
• Make collection calls in a professional manner while keeping and improving customer relations
• Facilitate timely payment of invoices by communicating to customers their outstanding balances
• Partner with both customer and internal departments to conduct research and resolve transaction discrepancies as well as held order situations
• Review on-hold/release decisions in a timely manner on customers' orders that have been placed on hold and work with internal contacts/customers to resolve on-hold order situations
• Identify issues attributing to account delinquencies and discuss them with management team
• Develop effective repayment plans
• Follow up on payment commitments made by customers to ensure money is in transit
• Assist in reducing customer DSO (days sales outstanding)
• Identify and resolve payment discrepancies and answer customer inquiries as needed
• Perform all other duties assigned by Accounts Receivables Supervisor
• Research and implement effective collection techniques
• Identify, document and effectively communicate root causes of collection delays and/or billing errors
• Participate in and make contributions toward department's quality and sustainable continuous improvement efforts and projects
• Process drop shipment purchase receipts
• Initiate credit orders and rebill transactions as needed to correct billing errors
• Submit invoices to customers in methods per their requirements and customer portal in a timely manner
• Utilize system reporting to confirm invoices are submitted within 24-72 hours of shipment of material
• Navigate several shared email inboxes

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED
• 2+ years of commercial, business to business accounts receivable collection experience preferred
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel
• Understanding of billing and collection processes
• Strong written and verbal communication/negotiation skills
• Ability to work independently and adapt to a fast changing environment
• Knowledge of laws and policies related to debt collection desired
• Customer service focused and collaborative team player
• Detail-oriented, reliably producing accurate work

Nice-to-haves

• College degree desired
• Oracle Experience helpful, but not required
• Experience with Ariba web-portal or similar preferred