Senior Executive – Accounts Receivable (AR)

The individual will be responsible for proactively managing overdue receivables, reducing ageing, improving collection effectiveness and ensuring timely resolution of customer account discrepancies.

The position requires hands-on working knowledge of SAP, particularly in relation to customer accounts, open item management, payment allocation, account reconciliation, reporting and AR closing activities.

The Senior Executive will work closely with customers and internal stakeholders including Sales, Customer Service, Credit, Treasury and Finance teams to ensure timely collection of receivables, accurate cash application, resolution of disputes and smooth month-end closing.

The role requires a high level of ownership, communication skills, analytical ability and a strong collection mindset. The successful candidate should be comfortable handling customer conversations, including difficult collection discussions and payment negotiations, independently driving issues through to resolution.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end Accounts Receivable and Order-to-Cash (O2C) activities for assigned customer accounts.
• Monitor AR ageing and proactively follow up on overdue and long-outstanding receivables.
• Make regular calls and send emails to customers for payment follow-up, obtain payment commitments and track payments until closure.
• Handle collection conversations professionally and manage difficult payment-related discussions where required.
• Prioritize high-value, overdue and high-risk customer accounts and escalate collection risks appropriately.
• Perform customer account reconciliations and resolve discrepancies related to invoices, payments, credit notes, deductions and open items.
• Perform cash application and payment allocation and resolve unapplied, unallocated and unidentified customer payments.
• Follow up and resolve customer disputes, deductions, short payments and billing-related queries in coordination with internal stakeholders.
• Prepare and distribute Statements of Account and follow up on customer discrepancies.
• Monitor customer payment behaviour, overdue balances and support DSO improvement and collection targets.
• Support bad debt provision, doubtful debt and write-off activities.
• Perform assigned month-end and quarter-end AR closing activities, including reconciliation, open item review, ageing validation and unapplied cash review.
• Perform Intercompany AR/AP reconciliations and resolve outstanding differences.
• Manage the AR/customer mailbox and ensure timely response and resolution of customer and internal queries.
• Use SAP for customer account management, open item review, payment allocation, reconciliation and AR reporting.
• Prepare AR ageing, collection, DSO and other management reports.
• Maintain documentation of customer communications, collection actions, payment commitments, disputes and escalations.
• Identify recurring issues and contribute to process improvement, standardization and automation initiatives.
• Support SOP documentation, cross-training and backup arrangements within the team.

Candidate Requirements

Education & Experience

• Graduate/Postgraduate in Commerce, Accounting, Finance or Business Administration.
• 5–7 years of relevant experience in Accounts Receivable / Collections / O2C.
• Experience in a Shared Services Centre (SSC), Global Business Services or multinational environment is preferred.

Must-Have Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of end-to-end AR/O2C processes.
• Hands-on experience in customer collections and direct customer calling for overdue payments.
• Ability to obtain and follow up on payment commitments.
• Strong knowledge of AR ageing, overdue debt management and DSO.
• Experience in customer account reconciliation and Intercompany reconciliation.
• Experience in cash application, payment allocation and resolution of unapplied payments.
• Knowledge of customer disputes, deductions, short payments and billing queries.
• Experience in month-end/quarter-end AR closing activities.
• Understanding of bad debt provision and write-off processes.
• Hands-on SAP/ERP knowledge is mandatory; SAP FI experience is preferred.
• Strong MS Excel skills, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS and data analysis.

COMMUNICATION & BEHAVIOURAL SKILLS

• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Confidence in communicating and negotiating with customers over calls and emails.
• Strong collection mindset with proactive and persistent follow-up.
• Ability to independently manage assigned customer accounts and drive issues to closure.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and reconciliation skills.
• Ability to handle difficult customer conversations professionally.
• Strong attention to detail, accuracy and ownership.
• Ability to prioritize workload and meet strict deadlines.
• Good stakeholder management and collaboration skills.
• Self-organized, reliable, adaptable and team oriented.
• German language knowledge is an advantage but not mandatory.

PREFERRED / GOOD TO HAVE

• Experience supporting EMEA or international customers/entities.
• Shared Services / Global Finance SSC experience.
• SAP FI – Accounts Receivable experience.
• Experience with Power BI and AR reporting dashboards.
• Experience in process improvement, automation or finance transformation initiatives.

KEY PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

• Timely collection and reduction of overdue receivables.
• Improvement in AR ageing and DSO.
• Timely completion of customer calls and collection follow-ups.
• Accurate customer account reconciliation and cash application.
• Timely resolution of unapplied cash, disputes and deductions.
• Timely completion of month-end and quarter-end activities.
• Accurate and timely AR reporting.
• Compliance with agreed SLAs and company policies.