Accounts Receivable Analyst at PZ Cussons

Experience within an FMCG transactional shared services environment

Strong track record of driving cross-functional alignment and delivering measurable business outcomes in a shared services model.

A good knowledge and understanding of standard accounting principles and working with accounting procedures and controls environments.

You really know your stuff when it comes to SAP, the parts that are not part of the regular system, which is called OTC. You also understand how customer portals work and how customer pricing is done.. You are very aware of how business is done in mainland Europe, which is a big plus. Your knowledge of SAP and the commercial processes, in mainland Europe is excellent.

Proven ability to operate independently within a complex, matrix environment, exercising sound judgement in balancing commercial priorities with financial control

You need to have good skills when it comes to influencing people and helping them work together. This means you have to be able to communicate and do so in a way that is friendly and respectful. You should be the type of person who can talk to others and find a way to make things work without making anyone upset. Good communication skills are very important, for this. The ability to influence people and facilitate discussions is essential.

Have great attention to detail, accuracy, and ability to work to tight deadlines.

Ability to partner and work with colleagues from your peers to the Senior Leadership team.

Able to handle change in a forever changing commercial world and be to support colleagues as well as yourself through periods of change and uncertainty.

Ability to interpret, analyse and report financial data and willing to challenge ways of working, to optimize team performance and improve processes.

See yourself a “completer / finisher” with the genuine drive, enthusiasm, and commitment to build improvement to ways of working but also self-develop yourself to enhance your career.

Demonstrate the right behaviours consistent with the Winning Team Principles and BEST (Bold, Energetic, Striving, Together) values.

Can lead and direct local initiatives (e.g. small projects) to enhance ways of working or to deliver a tangible improvement.

Working knowledge of Excel (intermediate level)

Check how your CV aligns with this job

This role holds end-to-end accountability for the Order to Cash (OTC) process across the UK, Ireland and USA markets, ensuring strong financial governance, control, and insight to optimise working capital performance. Acting as the senior regional OTC specialist, the role provides leadership and expertise across a complex, multi-market landscape, directly influencing business performance and cash flow outcomes

Function/Business Unit Overview:

The Financial Control team for Europe is a part of the Group Finance function that is based in Manchester. This team supports the PZ Cussons Leadership team. It also coordinates the financial reporting, the planning and the control across the PZ Cussons group. The Financial Control team, for Europe does a lot of work to help the PZ Cussons Leadership team and the Group Finance function.

There are three main areas under the Group Financial Control Director namely:

Group Finance Control & Compliance.

Financial Control by region

Group Finance Operations (including our Finance Shared Service Centres).

There are three Financial Controllers, around the world. We also have one Head of Financial Control and Compliance and one Head of Finance Shared Service. These people report directly to the Group Financial Control Director. This job is part of the Financial Control team that looks after Europe and the USA.

Reporting Relationships:

This job will be under the Europe Head of Financial Control. The person in this role will also have to keep the OTC Tower Lead, in Indonesia informed about what they're doing. The OTC Tower is a part of a bigger team that handles financial work for the whole company.

The role of the OTC position does not have any people working directly under it. However it does provide leadership and guidance to the OTC colleague based in the United Kingdom. The OTC position also helps the OTC colleagues around the world to improve their skills. You will be very involved, in helping and guiding the OTC colleague. The OTC colleague will look to you for support and advice. You will help them learn and grow in their role as an OTC colleague.

Job context & scope:

As an OTC Analyst you are very important to the company. You will be the connection between the OTC team that handles transactions in Indonesia and the other parts of the OTC team that do not handle transactions. This means you will work with different people inside the company. You will also work with people outside the company such, as OTC Customers, OTC Auditors and other OTC third parties.

You will be a local point of contact, due to your specialised and localised expertise and insight.

You will have knowledge of over the counter and commercial things to help and give advice to people in the United Kingdom and Ireland and the United States of America while also remembering that you need to represent the Finance Shared Services team and talk to them in a way that they understand even though they work from places and are, in a different time zone.

You will be a Subject Matter Expert for OTC UK and Ireland and the United States of America. The company needs your skills and experience to handle things that are affected by the time difference with Indonesia. You will also have to take care of responsibilities that're specific to the OTC UK and Ireland and the United States of America markets, which are explained in the job description. Your skills and experience as a Subject Matter Expert for OTC UK and Ireland and the United States of America will be very important, in this role.

You will start projects to make things better all the time. You will do this by working with the Group Continuous Improvement team. The goal is to make things easier and simpler. We want to make sure that we follow the steps every time and that we do what we are supposed to do. This way our processes will be the same everywhere. We will not forget to follow the rules. The Group Continuous Improvement team will help us with this. We will work together to make Improvement a part of what we do.

You will find the problems, the tough parts and the things that are not going right. Then you will figure out where to tell people about these things and how to tell them. You need to do this. When you tell people you should also give them ideas, for how to fix the problems. You will decide what to do about the risks the challenges and the issues and you will come up with plans to solve them.

To do this job you have to be able to work with people. At the time you need to be able to work by yourself. This means you have to be independent and resilient. You have to be a team player and work with others. You also have to be able to make decisions on your own and keep going even when things get tough. Team players are important. Being able to work with autonomy is also important. Team players who can work with independence and resilience are the kind of workers.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Transaction processing

Oversee daily OTC UK&I and USA operations on behalf of the Head of Financial Control for the region and the OTC Tower Lead in Indonesia. Own and govern OTC operations for UK&I and USA, ensuring adherence to control standards.

Accountable for ensuring timely cash collection and minimising aged debt exposure across both markets, directly supporting Net Working Capital and cash flow performance

We need to keep an eye on the credit release every day. This means we have to check and approve credit releases daily. We also have to keep records of the orders that have been released using the information, from SAP.

It is very important that we follow the rules for dealing with problems and releasing orders. When the Finance Director says an order is okay we release it away. We also have to make sure that the people who need to know about the status of the customer orders are informed. This includes telling them what is going on with the credit release of the customer orders. We have to do this for all customer orders.

You will follow up on all the issues that need to be fixed with the people in charge. The customer disputes are a deal because they can be worth a lot of money between £2m to £3m every year. You will also look into problems with getting cash from customers and making sure it is allocated correctly. If there are debts that cannot be paid you will come up with a plan. Send it to the Finance Director to ask if these debts can be written off. You will also think about problems that are specific, to our market and come up with solutions for them.

Manage the cash collection measures locally to resolve disputes as and when required, e.g. phone calls with customers, coordinating legal actions, sending physical dunning letters to customers (if applicable and required).

I will be the person that the Group Treasury team talks to about Over The Counter receipts from customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland and the United States of America. I will also share important information about Over The Counter that might affect how much cash the group has. My job is to make sure I regularly talk to the Group Treasury team so we're, on the same page and they know what is going on with any problems we are trying to fix. I will keep them updated on Over The Counter issues. Make sure we work together to resolve them which will help with forecasting how much cash the group will have.

Support OTC in Indonesia with Cash allocation to all customer ledgers if required, with a focus on ensuring timely cash allocation for Europe / USA ledgers.

Resolve legacy account receivable transactions in customer ledgers by proactively contacting customer(s) for non-payment and dispute resolution alongside working with our National Account Managers (NAMs) for support. Drive actions plan, measure and report progress with the Head of Financial Control and the Finance Director. You will focus on all 30 days overdue debt.

Train, coach, mentor and support other OTC team members less experienced in the execution of the above tasks to ensure best practice in line with policy and procedures resulting in positive and timely outcomes.

Business Partnering

You will be the face of the function as an OTC Analyst. This role needs someone with a lot of knowledge about the customers in the UK and Ireland and the USA. The OTC Analyst will have to be an expert, in dealing with the customers in these places.

I will be representing the OTC function at important meetings, with senior commercial and operational people. My job is to give them information and suggestions that will help the OTC function make business decisions. The OTC function needs to be part of these decisions.

* I will do this by looking at things and then telling the senior people what I think the OTC function should do.

* The OTC function will be better if I can help the senior people understand what we do and how we can help the company.

* This will help the company make decisions that work well for the OTC function and the whole business.

Be the point of contact and representative of the wider Finance Shared Services global function, through endorsing and delivering consistent and standard financial and accounting transactions and controls in line with group policies, whilst also identify and resolving any local abnormalities and deviations.

I need to work with people, from different teams and be someone that the Commercial team and the Supply Chain team can trust and believe in. My goal is to help the team and the Supply Chain team by looking at financial information and finding ways to use that information to make good decisions that will help our company grow and run smoothly. I want to help the Commercial team and the Supply Chain team make money and be efficient.

Proactively manage stakeholder relationships within UK & Ireland and US whilst acting as a conduit with the Global FSS function, ensuring appropriate representation and ownership for localised activities, actions and objective.

Demonstrate proactive ownership of local OTC issues and/or processes. Manage these OTC issues and challenges to a successful conclusion for all urgent queries, or risks identified also identified by local stakeholders.

Support wider business strategic projects and change initiatives, by providing operational process knowledge, policy and / or insights as required.

Depending on the nature, either manage or oversee any internal/external audit queries for UK & Ilreand and USA. Proactively engage with local stakeholders and and oversee requests for information/data ensuring PWC received all requests per the deadlines