Accounts Receivable Representative

Company Description

Stratas Foods LLC is the leading supplier of fats and oils to the Foodservice, Food Ingredients and Retail Private Label markets in North America and is a producer of quality bulk and packaged dressings, mayonnaise and sauces. Stratas Foods was formed in October 2008 as a 50/50 joint venture between ACH Food Companies (ACH) and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)

Manufacturing facilities are located in Dallas and Houston, TX; Decatur and Quincy, IL; Englewood, NJ; Fresno, CA; Nashville, TN; and Valdosta, GA. Corporate offices are located in Memphis, TN. We are committed to maintaining a progressive workplace by utilizing the ideas, skills and talents of all of our employees. We strive to make Stratas Foods a great place to work and are building a team capable of meeting our business goals.

Job Description

Primary Duties and Responsibilities 

1. Manage customer information to ensure successful resolution of any customer deductions from payments upon request. Manage collection activity to minimize the aging of open receivables, including disputed deduction claims.
2. Contact customers to determine the nature/details of the customer’s claim and to obtain deduction back-up. 
3. Research the customer’s claim to determine validity and proper handling: 
4. Utilize internal pricing, promotion, order, shipping documentation. 
5. Utilize carrier information. 
6. Work with other Stratas departments (marketing, pricing, sales, customer service, plants, logistics, etc.) and external brokers to clarify discrepancies between Stratas documents and customer claims. 
7. For validated deductions, determine and execute the appropriate method to clear the deduction from the customer’s account. 
8. For invalid deductions, contact the customer to secure repayment. Follow up on payment status and escalate to management for collection assistance, as needed. 
9. Identify deduction trends and research root causes to minimize future deductions. Provide information to Sales and Customer Service to assist with controlling the customer’s deduction practices. 
10. Maintain deduction database information in Blacksmith system. 
11. Utilize the IBM mainframe system to obtain A/R and shipment information as part of the deduction research Process. Update the system as needed to properly reflect the details of open deductions. 
12. Prepare reports as needed to track the status of deduction balances, to categorize deductions and to communicate progress to Stratas management. 
13. Function effectively within the Deduction Resolution Team, including providing coverage for absent co-workers, cross training on co-worker’s assigned accounts, and team process improvement activities.
14. Actively support continual process improvement of our business processes through analyzing department workflow and recommending enhancements to management. Participate as assigned on special projects or project teams. 
15. Other projects as requested by management to support the Deduction Resolution function. 

Qualifications

Qualifications 

Education: Minimum High School Diploma or equivalent work experience. College degree preferred. 

Experience: 

1 - 3 years preferred of deduction resolution or collections experience 

Sales/customer service/logistics experience preferred. 

Skills and Competencies: 

Strong analytical abilities in order to research and determine validity of customer claims. 

Strong organizational skills with an attention to detail and accuracy to document and track deduction related data. 

Negotiation/collection skills needed to secure repayment from customers for invalid deductions. 

Strong interpersonal skills to build relationships with both external and internal customers. 

Understand the supply chain process, contract/pricing structures and customer business practices.

Strong ability to manage data from multiple sources to ensure timely and accurate resolution of open deductions.

Equipment and Software: 

Advanced PC skills – Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel and Outlook primarily). Ability to work in a paperless environment creating PDFs with Adobe. Must be able to quickly learn new system applications. Experience working with databases and exporting to Excel is highly preferred. 

Additional Information

Physical: This position has limited physical activity requirements – primarily sitting, and walking to the copy room and throughout the building to interact with other departments. Lifting would only require filing documents and possibly boxing items to send to storage. 

Sensory: This position requires the use primarily of visual, hearing and speaking senses. Visual activities include the ability to read computer generated reports and customer documentation, and to utilize a computer system. Hearing and speaking is required to work with other department colleagues as well as with parent company colleagues to research issues and learn job functions. Touching is only required to be able to handle reports and complete necessary filing activities. 

Mental/Reasoning: This position requires a great deal of learning, reasoning and analyzing. Mental reasoning is required to analyze customer deduction data and match that with Stratas support to determine the validity of customer disputes. 

Stratas Foods is an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee in any manner prohibited by law, including but not limited to, on the basis of race or color, religion, gender, age, genetic information, national origin/ancestry, mental or physical disability, family status/marital status, sexual orientation, military/veteran status, and any other legally protected status.

Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision-The Employer will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the Employer’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)

Stratas Foods Applicant Request for Accommodation Form: https://www.stratasfoods.com/compliance

Stratas Foods California Privacy Rights Act Policy: https://www.stratasfoods.com/compliance