WHAT DOES A CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS SPECIALIST DO?
Published: September 10, 2024 - The Credit and Collections Specialist's daily collections activities are conducted through calls and communications with customers to secure payments and maintain accurate records of these transactions. Responsibilities also include processing and reconciling accounts receivable, liaising with departments on credit issues, and ensuring compliance with F5’s credit requirements before order shipment. Additional duties involve monitoring and managing workflow queues, making credit decisions, and mentoring team members to promote growth and adherence to F5’s Business Code of Ethics.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Credit and Collections Specialist
1. Credit and Collections Specialist Duties
- Customer Relationship Management: Establishes an effective relationship with customers to improve collection efforts.
- Employee Relationship Management: Establishes effective relationships with employees, especially inside and outside sales reps.
- Sales Involvement in Collections: Determines the appropriate time to involve sales in collections.
- Collection Process Development: Determines an effective collection call process for past-due accounts to achieve a DSO of 40 days and minimize past-due amounts.
- Agency Partnership: Responsible for choosing and partnering with effective collection agencies.
- Reporting: Provides a weekly past-due aging report to management and sales.
- Credit Limit Assignment: Responsible for determining and assigning appropriate credit limits for new customers using D&B, trade and bank references, and sales rep input.
- Documentation Management: Obtains signed credit applications, W9s, and tax exemption reports.
- Credit Approval: Approves or denies credits for new customers within 2-3 days and notifies sales of the decision.
- Credit Limit Management: Manages credit limits for existing customers continuously.
- Order Release Management: Reviews the credit hold portal continuously and releases orders appropriately.
- Customer Account Maintenance: Responsible for P21 customer account maintenance, including new customer setup and ship-to-tax jurisdictions.
2. Credit and Collections Specialist Details
- Deposit Management: Applies lockbox, ACH, and wire deposits to customer accounts.
- Payment Research: Researches short payments, deductions, and discrepancies.
- Credit Card Processing: Coordinates third-party credit card transactions and processes credit card authorizations, charges, and payments.
- File Maintenance: Ensures customer files are current and up to date.
- Account Reconciliation: Reconciles accounts receivable aging to the general ledger at month-end.
- Collection Documentation: Updates collection call notes daily.
- Collections Management: Collects, negotiates, and resolves open accounts receivable balances.
- Issue Resolution: Collaborates with internal partners to identify and resolve root causes for non-payment.
- Credit Evaluation: Manages orders and evaluates creditworthiness to assign credit limits and facilitate on-time shipments.
- Reporting & Communication: Communicates major collection issues to management and reports the status of the assigned portfolio to relevant stakeholders.
3. Credit and Collections Specialist Responsibilities
- Collections Management: Daily collection calls and communication with customers to obtain payments while maintaining accurate documentation of collection activities.
- Accounts Reconciliation: Process and reconcile accounts receivable and remittances (including credit card payments).
- Cross-Department Liaison: Liaise with multiple departments regarding credit and collection issues.
- Order Validation: Review and validate pending orders for acceptable terms and conditions as well as proper data entry.
- Order Approval: Approve orders for shipment and/or billing after ensuring they meet F5’s credit requirements.
- Collection Follow-Up: Contact collection account customers in a timely manner for payments owed on past-due invoices.
- Inbox Management: Monitor shared Order Validation Inbox, facilitate and/or respond directly to internal/external customer questions, and manage various scheduled reports.
- Account Statement Preparation: Prepare account statements, research unapplied cash, and reconcile customer accounts.
- Credit Decision Making: Review DNBi workflow queues in the Decision Maker module for assigned accounts and make credit decisions based on the Level of Authority Matrix.
- Credit Policy Compliance: Monitor DNBi workflow queues in the Account Manager Module, and ensure accounts are reviewed regularly and managed within the guidelines of the company’s Credit Policy.
- Ethics Compliance: Responsible for upholding F5’s Business Code of Ethics and for promptly reporting violations of the Code or other company policies.
- Team Development: Mentor, coach, and cross-train other team members to help the team grow and thrive.
4. Credit and Collections Specialist Job Summary
- Regional Support: Provide regional support to revenue and billing function, as well as other areas of importance in revenue cycle.
- Process Improvement: Participate in regional or functional process transformation and continuous improvement efforts for credit and collections, encompassing process, tools, and data.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Build strong, collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, with a focus on driving efficiencies and improving levels of service.
- Strategy Execution: Design and execute strategies and plans for ongoing process and technology change initiatives.
- Reporting Enhancement: Enhance accounts receivable reporting packages.
- Performance Metrics Management: Measure and report on key performance metrics, highlighting issues/areas for improvement and developing required action plans with a focus on improving order-to-cash cycle time.
- Risk Management and Compliance: Monitor and report on transactions and processes to ensure effective accounts receivable risk management and compliance with company policies.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with internal teams in the office as part of the international finance team.
- Accounts Disposition: Recommend disposition of unpaid accounts based on company policy.
- Ad-hoc Reporting: Provide timely ad-hoc reports to operations and finance teams.
5. Credit and Collections Specialist Accountabilities
- Process Improvement: Actively participate in process improvement, reporting, control design, and system implementations.
- AR Review: Actively participate in the monthly review of AR reserves for assigned portfolios.
- Payment Research: Assist the Cash team with customer payment research.
- Refund Approval: Approve refunds, credits, and other adjustments in accordance with company policy.
- Reporting Improvement: Improve processes, reporting results, and control environment.
- Relationship Building: Develop and maintain strong working relationships with business partners and peers.
- DSO Improvement: Drive DSO improvement/stability for assigned portfolios.
- Workflow Management: Manage workflows in accordance with company KPIs for area(s) of responsibility.
- Systems Mastery: Master the AR systems and ERP sub-ledgers and continuously improve knowledge of system capabilities.
- Credit Risk Mitigation: Mitigate credit risk for assigned portfolios through effective management of delinquent customer accounts.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with sales, customer service, and GMs to drive collections while serving customer needs.
- Statement Reconciliation: Reconcile customer statements.