Deduction Specialist (Toronto)

Barilla Group; Toronto; On-site; CAD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Group insurance from day one

RRSP with employer contribution

2 to 4 weeks paid vacation

6 personal days + 3 floating holidays

Telemedicine and EAP

Job summary

Barilla Group seeks a Deduction Specialist to safeguard revenue and streamline deduction processes across sales, service, and trade teams. You will lead investigations of customer deductions, ensure proper documentation, and drive timely resolutions while maintaining strong relationships with customers.

You will review existing processes, propose automation, and partner with cross-functional teams to minimize losses, improve accuracy, and support compliant, auditable workflows.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field.
• 3-5 years of experience in Accounts Receivable and Deduction Management, ideally in a CPG company.
• Proficiency with SAP and Microsoft Office Suite, with advanced Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP).
• Strong analytical skills with attention to detail.
• Familiarity with customer deduction portals.
• Customer Relationship: establishing key customer contacts and working relationships.
• Process Complexity: handling a variety of deductions and ensuring compliance and accuracy.
• Dispute Resolution: managing disputes in a timely fashion.
• Mandatory in-office presence three days per week.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with sales, customer service, and trade team to understand contract terms and deductions.
• Investigate customer deductions and discrepancies including pricing issues and chargebacks; ensure adequate documentation.
• Oversee investigation and resolution of deductions related to billing, payments, or contracts and post audits.
• Identify deduction issues and root causes; implement corrective actions to minimize future occurrences.
• Ensure timely and accurate processing of deductions for financial accuracy and tradespend estimations.
• Review deduction processes and identify opportunities for improvements or automation.
• Work with cross-functional teams to resolve systemic issues and enforce best practices.
• Maintain detailed records and report deduction trends and metrics.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with company policies and external regulations.

Skills

Analytical skills

Customer relationship

Dispute resolution

Attention to detail

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration

Tools

SAP

Microsoft Office

Excel (Advanced)

Pivot tables

VLOOKUP

Job description

At Barilla, we believe that every great journey begins with passion and a bold vision. From our humble beginnings in 1877 in a small shop in Parma, Italy, we’ve blossomed into a global leader in the food industry, guided by our commitment to progress and excellence.

Today, Barilla is an international group present in more than 100 countries and we are proud to be recognized as the world’s top food company by reputation. With 22 beloved brands in our portfolio, we are world leader for pasta, the number one choice for ready-made sauces in Europe, leader for bakery products in Italy, and for crispbread across Scandinavia with Wasa.

Our success story is written by a passionate team of almost 9,000 dedicated employees across 30 plants and offices worldwide, all united by a shared mission to nourish the future with purpose and passion.

Are you ready to add your unique flavor to our journey?

Job Purpose

The Deduction Specialist is a key role in ensuring the smooth flow of financial operations, minimizing revenue leakage, mitigation of risks and maintaining strong customer relationships. It requires a combination of leadership, problem-solving, and technical skills to effectively manage the team, develop and maintain “best-in-class” deduction management processes.

Key Accountabilities:

• Collaborate with sales, customer service, and trade team to understand contract terms, sales agreements, and any customer-specific deductions.
• Investigate customer deductions and discrepancies, including pricing issues, promotional allowances, chargebacks, markdowns and reclamation charges. Ensure adequate documentation is received to validate or dispute deductions.
• Oversee the investigation and resolution of customer deductions related to billing, payments, or contracts and post audits.
• Identify deduction issues, identify root causes, and work on corrective actions to minimize future occurrences.
• Ensure timely and accurate processing of deductions for financial accuracy and tradespend estimations.

Process Improvement:

• Review existing deduction management processes and identify opportunities for improvements or automation to reduce inefficiencies.
• Work with cross-functional teams (e.g., sales, customer service, trade marketing) to resolve systemic issues that lead to deductions.
• Implement and enforce best practices for deduction management.

Reporting & Analytics:

• Maintain detailed records of deduction, disputes, resolutions, and communications. Prepare and present regular reports on deduction trends, volumes, and key performance metrics.
• Analyze deduction data to identify recurring issues and assist in the development of strategies to mitigate.
• Use data to forecast future deduction trends and proactively address potential challenges.

Customer Relationship Management:

• Establish and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders – both internal and external.
• Maintain clear and professional communication with customers regarding the status and resolution of their deductions, ensuring timely follow-ups and dispute closures.

Compliance and Risk Management:

• Ensure that deduction processes comply with company policies and external regulations.
• Mitigate the risk of financial losses through proper documentation and ensure audit and governance compliance.

Additional information

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).
• 3-5 years of experience in Accounts Receivable and Deduction Management, ideally in a CPG company.
• Proficiency with SAP and Microsoft Office Suite, with advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP, etc.).
• Strong analytical skills with attention to detail.
• Familiarity with customer deduction portals.
• Customer Relationship: Establishing key customer contacts and working relationships.
• Process Complexity: Handling the variety of deductions (e.g., short payments, chargebacks, rebates) and ensuring compliance and accuracy.
• Dispute Resolution: Managing disputes in a timely fashion.
• Mandatory in-office presence three (3) days per week
• Competitive total compensation and benefits package.

We offer a full range of benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with your experience
• Competitive group insurance from day one
• RRSP with significant employer contribution
• 2 to 4 weeks of paid vacation per year
• 6 personal days per year3 floating holidays pear year
• Telemedicine and EAP …

Barilla is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.