Collections Specialist

At CooperVision, a division of CooperCompanies, we’re driven by a unifying purpose to help people to experience life’s beautiful moments. We are connected through our shared values - dedicated, innovative, friendly, partners, and do the right thing. As a leading global manufacturer of contact lenses, we are committed to helping improve the way people see each day. Through our diverse lens portfolio, we tackle the toughest vision challenges – including astigmatism, presbyopia, and childhood myopia. We offer the most complete collection of spherical, toric, and multifocal products available, enabling us to fit 99% of all contact wearers. Learn more at www.coopervision.com

Scope:
This position performs a wide range of tasks in support of credit, billing, cash applications, and collections.

Job Summary:
The Collections Specialist serves as a liaison for customer billing inquiries and is the focal point for cash application and collections activities. Responsibilities include reconciling accounts receivable, managing collection processes, posting payments, and maintaining collaborative relationships with assigned accounts. The role also involves financial analysis related to establishing customer credit lines.

Essential Functions & Accountabilities:

• Process daily cash receipts and apply incoming customer payments to appropriate accounts and invoices
• Manage discrepancies, deductions, and adjustments
• Perform collection activities for accounts with past-due balances
• Monitor and maintain assigned account portfolio
• Identify potential bad debt and financial exposure risks
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with customers and internal partners
• Communicate with customers regarding billing and general inquiries
• Reduce accounts receivable aging and delinquency for assigned accounts
• Maintain accurate records related to accounts receivable, credit, discrepancies, and issue resolution
• Generate weekly and/or monthly reports
• Review and process pending orders and account adjustments in accordance with department policies
• Interact with customers and internal teams to resolve disputed items per company policies and procedures
• Collaborate with sales and management to expedite collections and resolve issues
• Assist in financial analysis, credit underwriting, and approval of new accounts
• Support Sales and Marketing teams with customer inquiries, new program launches, and initiatives
• Recommend and prepare severely delinquent accounts for external collection proceedings
• Participate in special projects supporting the Accounts Receivable department and Finance organization

Qualifications
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Degree in Accounting, Business, or a related field preferred
• A combination of education and experience resulting in a solid understanding of cash applications and collections is required
• Minimum of 1 year of experience in accounts receivable, cash applications, collections, or customer relations
• Experience with Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and other ERP/business applications is beneficial
• Strong attention to detail and data accuracy
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Friendly, collaborative, and team-oriented
• Strong customer service, research, and negotiation skills
• Sound judgment based on data analysis
• Organized with strong time management and multitasking abilities
• Moderate understanding of accounts receivable and general accounting principles
• Critical thinking skills to proactively address unfavorable conditions
• Adaptable to changes in systems and processes
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel

Work Environment:

• Standard office setting
• Onsite 5 days a week in office
• Sedentary to light physical effort
• Extensive use of telephone and computer

For U.S. locations that require disclosure of compensation, the starting base pay for this role is between $24.00 and $28.00. per hour and may include cost of living adjustments. The actual base pay includes many factors and is subject to change and modification in the future. This position may also be eligible for other types of compensation and benefits.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

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Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong attention to detail
• Proficiency with data entry accuracy, produces highly accurate output.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Friendly and collaborative; team oriented.
• Excellent customer service, research, and negotiation skills
• Ability to make sound judgments, based on data analysis.
• Organized with excellent time management skills.
• Ability to multi-task and focus, in a fast-paced work environment.
• Possesses a moderate understanding of accounts receivable and general accounting.
• Ability to perceive unfavorable conditions and employ critical thinking skills to proactively initiate alternatives to circumvent the problem.
• Flexible; easily adapts to change in systems and/or process.
• Microsoft Office / Excel skills.

Work Environment:

• Standard office environment.
• Sedentary to light physical effort necessary to perform the job.
• Extensive telephone use and computer work.

Experience:

• Minimum of 1 year previous experience with; Accounts Receivable, cash applications, collections, customer relations required. Experience with Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and other ERP/business applications is beneficial.

Education:

• Degree in accounting, business or related area is preferred.
• A combination of experience and education resulting in a moderate understanding of cash applications & collections is required.   

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

For U.S. locations that require disclosure of compensation, the starting base pay for this role is between $25.00 and $28.00 per hour and may include cost of living adjustments. The actual base pay includes many factors and is subject to change and modification in the future. This position may also be eligible for other types of compensation and benefits.

#LI-SD1

• Handle & process daily cash receipts.
• Apply incoming customer payments to their respective accounts and invoices.
• Manage discrepancies, deductions and/or adjustments.
• Performs collection related tasks for accounts with past due receivable balances.
• Responsible for monitoring and maintaining assigned accounts portfolio.
• Identifies bad debt and/or financial exposure risk
• Establish and maintain effective and collaborative working relationships with customers and internal partners.
• Communicate with customers regarding billing and other general inquiries.
• Accountable for reducing accounts receivable aging/delinquency, for assigned accounts.
• Maintain accurate records pertaining to accounts receivable, credit, discrepancies, issue resolution, etc.
• Weekly and/or monthly reporting
• Reviews and processes pending orders, and account adjustments within the department policy guidelines.            
• Interact directly with customers and internal partners to analyze and resolve disputed items according to company policies and department procedures.
• Enlists the support of sales and management, when necessary, to expedite the collections and/or issue resolution processes.
• Assists in the financial analysis, credit underwriting and approval process for new accounts.
• Collaborates with the Sales and Marketing departments in support of customer related inquiries, new program launches and other initiatives. 
• Recommends and prepares severely delinquent accounts for external collection proceedings.
• May be required to participate on special projects in support of the Accounts Receivable dept. and/or Finance organization.

Travel Requirements: No travel required