AR Assistant II-2

Columbia Sportswear; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 350,000 - 650,000; Full time

Job summary

Columbia Sportswear in Bengaluru seeks an Accounts Receivable Specialist to manage AR processes across ERP systems, balance cash, reconcile accounts, and support month-end closing.

The role involves collections calls, documentation, researching deductions, processing payments, and coordinating with Customer Service, IT, and Distribution Centers to resolve issues.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business or relevant educational background.
• Minimum of 3-5 years experience in an accounts receivable environment with increasing responsibility including management level experience.
• Preference for credit experience selling to retailers in footwear, apparel, or outdoor industry.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret root cause issues throughout the process.
• Proficiency in an ERP system, preferably SAP.

Responsibilities

• Contact customers on past due items and document all correspondence.
• Identify, research, and validate customer deductions (claims/short pays).
• Gather billing documents (PODs, POs, invoices) and route to information owners.
• Generate cash batches and apply payments; use Dunning process, SAP, and SAP-based tools.
• Ensure accurate follow-up with Customer Service, IT, Distribution Centers, and Sales teams.
• Reconcile accounts by reviewing aging reports and matching invoices, memos, and payments.

Skills

Communication

Negotiation & Influence

Financial Analysis

Credit & Collections

MS Office Proficiency

English Proficiency

Leadership (indirect)

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Business

Tools

SAP

MS Office

Acrobat

SnagIt

WinZip

Job description

General Position Summary:

This position of Accounts Receivable Specialist will include functional system support related to accounts receivable processes within multiple ERP systems, balancing all cash entries, reconciling all companies, running appropriate reports, and distributing to management. The position also includes customer setups in multiple ERP systems and assisting divisions on customer accounts/problems. This includes maintaining all A/R files including invoices, credit memos, cash receipts, reports, and bank statements. This includes daily collection efforts, to include calls/emails to customers and internal employees. Generate and distribute the A/R problem collection notice. Monitor accounts throughout the month and Month-end Closing. The role requires high attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple portfolios.

Essential Functions/Major Responsibilities:

Responsible for all accounts receivable duties that pertain to the collection, cash applications, and research into customer claims.

• Contact customers on all past due items such as invoices, claims, billings, etc. Document all correspondence with customers, whether by phone, e-mail, video, related to payment for open items.
• Identifies, researches, and validates all customer deductions, i.e., claims or short pays, taken on payments.
• Assist in gathering documents related to billing data (PODs, POs, Invoice copies, etc.) and route to proper owners of the information when unavailable.
• Claims commonly researched are for shortages, pricing discrepancies, promotional allowances, return of resalable merchandise, return of defective merchandise, and various violations.
• Generates cash batches in the system to facilitate the application of incoming cash receipts.
• Utilise tools such as Dunning process, SAP, ESKER to collect receivables.
• Verifies the accuracy of the payments that have been keyed by the lockbox for all payments.
• Retrieves any payment remittance information not forwarded by the lock boxes.
• Researches the individual payments and deductions on each remittance for appropriate coding, value, and accuracy.
• Processes customer payments received via credit card by submitting confidential information for payment through the banking system.
• Matches customer debit memos with the incoming claims and then appropriately codes based on the description noted on the claim.
• Ensures accurate follow‑up with the Customer Service Department, IT Department, Distribution Centers, Sales Field Personnel, Sales Representatives, Freight Carriers, and customers.
• Processes valid claims for crediting and pursues invalid deductions for repayment.
• Provides the customer with documentation to help them verify and validate their open balances with prAna or SAP, in addition to electronic statements that are sent monthly.
• Provides information such as open aging reports, invoice copies, Bills of Ladings, proofs of delivery, and credit memos.
• Reconciles accounts by reviewing aging reports for matching invoices, credit memos, payments, debit memos, etc.
• Works in conjunction with the Customer Service or Sales Departments for the creation of outstanding account receivable items, billings/credit memos to accurate the account receivable for any errors in those departments, or in the field.

Skills needed to be successful in this role:

• Good oral and written communication skills.
• Able to articulate and understand persuasive writing to perform the minimum standards of their duties.
• Confirmed understanding of shipping, receiving, order production, credit, collections, cash receipts and applications, claims investigation, promotions, and compliance issues.
• Able to work in a high volume and results oriented environment.
• Able to meet multiple deadlines while ensuring minimal errors.
• Requires communication with all levels of personnel at the corporate level, the customer base level, and with Sales Representatives.
• High level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation
• Organizational Skills: Filing, Faxing, Copying, Data Entry, Document Control
• Software: MS Office (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint), Windows, Acrobat, Snag It, WinZip
• Accounts Receivable: Invoicing, Collections, Trial Balance

Supervisory Responsibility:

None

Interpersonal Contacts:

Incumbents have regular contact with others, both inside and outside the organization. Position interacts with all levels in the organization including interaction with key executives throughout the business in the US and Canada.

Specific Job Skills:

• Possess strong negotiation, influencing, and business partnering skills.
• Possess an understanding of financial statement analysis in addition to accounting practices, including accrual accounting methods
• Ability to analyze accounting and/or credit documents for accuracy & challenge questionable data.
• Possess an advanced level of computer skills including MS Office
• Possess excellent written and verbal communications skills.
• Ability to manage, lead and motivate direct reports.
• Ability to collaborate remotely with the manager and work remotely from other key inter-company business contacts.
• Must have excellent organizational skills, the ability to prioritize projects, and attention to detail.
• Extremely well-developed ability to read, write, and speak English.

Education and/or Experience:

Bachelor s Degree in Business or relevant educational background

Minimum of 3-5 years experience in an accounts receivable environment with increasingly higher levels of responsibility including management level experience. Preference for credit experience selling to retailers in the footwear, apparel, or outdoor industry.

Strong analytical skills with an ability to interpret root cause issues throughout the process.

Proficiency in an ERP system, preferably in SAP.

Job Conditions:

Job requires flexibility with work hours often exceeding a typical workday/week

This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties and responsibilities, but constitutes a general definition of the positions scope and function in the company.