Customer Financial Services Representatives

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

To perform the job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Duties and responsibilities include the following, other duties may be assigned:

Collections Functions

• Work individually and as a team member to achieve set collection goals and objectives.
• Analyze customer account to determine best solution to resolve invoicing issues and document resolution.
• Initiate calls to customers in order to secure payment for past due balances and negotiate and arrange payment plans for customers unable to pay within terms.
• Process customer credit card payments as needed to pay down open balances.
• Follow the Standard Work Schedule provided by management to efficiently work assigned accounts.
• Utilize the Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) to verify and update account information, record names, conversations, and establish follow-up tasks.
• Document, track and resolve customer issues and complaints.
• Collaborate with all internal departments to assure customers' needs are met.

Cash Application Functions

• Accurately complete the following: apply/post credits and debits, deductions to invoices, cases and incoming remittances.
• Apply all payments before end of business each day.
• Communicate with both internal and external customers to insure proper posting of items to the customer's account and internal General Ledger (GL).
• Analyze customer accounts, at the time of application, for any skipped or partial payments, or customer errors. Contact customers immediately to resolve any remittance discrepancies.
• Work on the cash on account.
• Complete daily and monthly reconciliation and end of Month balancing.
• Document and communicate, with the Customer Financial Services Representative and customer, remittance issues to ensure smooth application.
• Maintain established deductions codes to notate debit notes, partial pays and cash on account.
• Identify and resolve payment discrepancies and record the cases in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.
• Escalate cases, as appropriate to management for review.
• Follow established procedures for processing receipts, cash etc.

Tax Certificate Functions

• Manage the sales tax certificates email box.
• Receive and validate all incoming sales tax certificates for new and existing customers and then set them up accurately and timely in the Avalara CertCapture software.
• Manage all sales tax certificates that are expiring by contacting customers to obtain, validate and setup new certificates in the Avalara CertCapture software.
• Communicate internally and externally with customer service, sales and customers if there are issues with their sales tax certificates.
• Act as the first contact for all questions and issues related to sales tax certificates, their setup and their impact on invoicing.
• Generate and distribute expiration reports to the Customer Financial Services and Inside Sales teams for assistance with collecting new certificates.
• Utilize CRM to create templates to be used for expired certificate requests.
• Complete cases assigned to the cash application queue. These cases include miscellaneous invoices and credits, due date changes, offsets, adjustments and write offs.
• Act as a backup for the cash application team. This entails accurately applying/posting credits and debits, deductions to invoices, cases and incoming remittances.
• Act as backup for Account Setup role. This entails following established work processes to set up new accounts or maintain existing accounts in an accurate and timely fashion.
• Act as a backup for the phone queue handling calls as needed during peak times, during our busy season or during times of vacations or alternate hours.

Qualifications

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Requires knowledge of accounting principles, credit and collection policies and procedures, and credit risk.
• Strong problem solving, interpersonal, and financial analysis skills. Goal oriented, motivated self-starter, with excellent organizational skills and the ability to handle multiple tasks.
• Excellent oral, written, and presentation skills with the ability to deal tactfully, confidently, and ethically with both internal and external customers required.
• Strong PC skills and Excel, and experience with other Microsoft Office products: Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.

Associate Degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field. Directly related experience in finance or accounting and in progressively responsible positions desirable. In lieu of degree, 3-5 years of related experience that yields equivalent level of knowledge, skills, and experience.