Description
Accounting Options is currently assisting one of Orange County's largest growing distributors in their search for a experienced Credit Collections Analyst. In this position you will be required to perform the following functions:
- Collections on past due accounts
- Account analysis and reconciliation
- Work closely with sales department on client credit and order status.
- Work with internal departments to resolve disputed items or accounts.
- Analysis of aging report.
- Ensure that DSO goals are met.
Requirements
1+ years credit and collections experience
Accounts receivable experience
BS/BA in Accounting or related field a plus
Excellent written and oral skills
Ability to work in a fast paced department
Ability to communicate effectively with both external and internal clients
For immediate consideration, please e-mail your resume
As a public service, I will freely decode the hidden and insidious messages hidden in this typical want ad for an A/R Collections Clerk or as it is also called in my sample ad, a Credit Collections Analyst. It is a position in Irvine California paying $15.00 to $17.00 and hour. That’s $600 to $680 a week, $2,947 as month or $35,360 a year tops. In other words, it is entry level, for someone just starting out in the credit / collections profession.
Here are what the requirements really mean:
Collections on past due accounts
Note that the ad does not define past due accounts nor does it tell you the size of your past due portfolio and it fails to detail how you are to go about the task of collections. Will you be sending out a series of increasingly threatening letters? Will you be required to call a quota of accounts each day and will the required number of calls be attainable?
Account analysis and reconciliation
When this is the second most important function, it may mean the company is having problems with cash application and most of the customers’ accounts are a mess. Therefore, before you can make an intelligent collection call you will first be required to unravel all of the erroneous entries that have so distorted the true picture it may be impossible to collect the full balance.
Work closely with sales department on client credit and order status.
Since this is the third function in the hierarchy it indicates a hostile credit and sales environment. You will have aggressive and eager, commission sales reps making a lot more than your $15.00 an hour, who want their orders released right this moment and if they don’t get their way they won’t hesitate going over your head to the sales manager, who believes past due is no excuse to hold orders, particularly when the account is a mess because of the sorry state of cash application.
Work with internal departments to resolve disputed items or accounts.
This tells me that cash application is one of the “internal” departments that you’ll have to do battle with in order to get the accounts back in shape. Another internal department handles credit memos and adjustments and since it takes so long to get a credit issued the customers are withholding payments until they get the adjustments they need and that’s just another reason why the accounts are such a mess.
Analysis of aging report.
What kind of analysis is expected of a $15.00 an hour accounts receivable clerk? This is a code for being required to explain to the boss why all of the accounts on your aging have not paid yet.
Ensure that DSO goals are met.
This is great. For $15.00 an hour, you are supposed to ensure, that is guarantee, that what ever the DSO expectations are you will meet them. That means, you, a lowly entry level clerk are responsible for the total accounts receivable and sales of the company and that when applied to the formula they will be within the required days. Good luck with that.
When I see ads like this I wonder if there is a retention problem at the company. Clerks come in, beat their head against the wall, fight with sales reps and clerks in cash application or accounting all day, are berated for not meeting collection or DSO goals and after awhile say, forget this and leave.
This is where Strategic Credit Management Solutions can help. We know credit departments, their systems and procedures. Much of what seems beyond the control of an analyst are dysfunctional processes. We can help. We can analyze your current functions, see where the flaws are and make recommendations. We can help train the staff in effective revenue procedures and we will follow up later to see how you are doing. Our goal is to help you create competitive, productive departments in which the clerks are motivated and happy. See our website, http://powerscredit.com/. You can e-mail us at patrickpowers@sbcglobal.net.
Your comments are welcome.
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