Accounts Receivable - Billing & Collections Specialist

Melanie Harrison

**************@*****.*** 678-***-**** linkedin.com/in/melaniebharrison

Self-starting, analytical, and meticulous Billing/AR Specialist who consistently delivers accurate, timely, and quality results. Known for being proactive and anticipating future implications and next steps; maintains an attitude of excellence. A skillful trouble shooter with ability to identify discrepancies and resolve problems or issues quickly

Areas of Expertise:

Accounts Receivable Customer Invoicing Collections Client Relationships

Investigative Research Research & Analysis Process Improvement & Documentation

Can-Do Attitude Providing Team Support SOX Requirements

Technical Skills:

Oracle 11i/r12, Account Fees, Viaduct, Excel (V-Lookup/Pivot Tables), Salesforce, RightNow Technologies, Siebel Workflow Systems, Markview, MAS500, ORS, TMS

Professional Work Experience

Efreight Solutions World Wide, Kennesaw, GA July 2018 – May 2019

Collections Specialist – Accounting

Responsible for monitoring and managing customer accounts receivables in a fast paced, goal-oriented collections department. Routinely contact customers on open account balances to obtain prompt payment, improve cash flow and ensure customer satisfaction.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Provide customer service regarding collections issues, process customer refunds, review and

process account adjustments, resolve client discrepancies and short payments

Make outbound calls/send correspondence to collect on delinquent accounts and handle

inbound calls from customers while maintaining solution-based conversation.

Contact customers based on scheduled work plan to obtain prompt payment

Identify and reconcile customer disputes as they pertain to payment of o/s balances

Follow up with Disputes and Claims department regarding status of billing issues

Identify and target accounts for improvement in delinquency

Set up repayment plans based on ability to pay

Receive customer payments via credit card and provide documents for other payment types

Ensure customer contact information is routinely updated on accounts

Identify delinquent customers and initiate action to place with third-party collection agencies

Prepare and send monthly statements via email

Provide reports as directed by manager

Manage customers on No Credit

Vision Therapy Cook, Marietta, GA June 2017 – July 2018

Vision Therapist

Perform vision therapy exercises with patients to correct vision problems including amblyopia, strabismus, convergence insufficiency and other vision problems outside of the 20/20 vision test such as eye muscle coordination, eye control, visual tracking, visual perception, eye-hand coordination and visualization.

INVESCO, Ltd., Atlanta, GA 2012 – 2016

Billing / Accounts Receivable Specialist, Institutional, January – December 2016

Responsible for invoicing of $297 Million annually; analyze comparative billing reports for variances; investigate and resolve discrepancies. Review, analyze, and resolve unbilled accounts; initiate client refunds and billing adjustments; build and foster positive client relationships and coordinate billing and collection activities with national client teams.

Review and ensure accuracy of management fee invoices and supporting documents.

Perform research and analysis of fee variances above acceptable threshold.

Track timely creation/distribution of invoices by performing daily reconciliation of billing registers

Perform manual calculations for special handling accounts.

Research unbilled accounts to find resolution.

Review credit/rebills of invoices as necessary, tracking reason for the revision.

Manage collection activities for assigned accounts by collaborating with internal/external contacts

Review, analyze and distribute monthly aging reports to various internal contacts and field any questions pertaining to collections.

Billing Analyst, Atlantic Trust Private Wealth, 6/2013 – 12/31/15

Responsible for invoicing of $98.7Million annually; run and analyze comparative billing reports for variances; investigate and resolve discrepancies. Review, analyze, and resolve unbilled accounts; initiate client refunds and billing adjustments; Build and foster positive client relationships and coordinate billing and collection activities with national client teams and off-shore team in India.

Took the initiative to investigate aged receivables and reduced by 90%

Decreased number of accounts on bill review list by 62%

Maintain a high level of knowledge for processes, formulate possible process improvements, document processes for training purposes and provide training

Identified and resolved key issues in system conversion process

Streamlined quarterly billing for Atlantic Trust Private Wealth, approximately 7000 accounts

Partner with leadership to continuously streamline processes for optimum performance

Recognized for exceeding client expectations and maintaining highest standard of legal and ethical conduct

Billing / Accounts Receivable Specialist, 2/2012 – 6/2013

Analyzed Bill Compare Reports for variances above tolerance and potential errors; prepared and submitted custodian fee uploads; provided quarterly billing for Invesco’s Private Capital and Institutional accounts. Monitored cash account logs to ensure timely and accurate application of payments. Documented processes and provided training for new hires.

Collected $7.1M in past dues in first week of employment

Reduced aged receivables by 26% and total account receivables 49% by revamping and standardizing the collection process

Review, analyze and distribute monthly aging reports to various internal contacts and field any resulting questions pertaining to collections.

Developed a training process for refund documentation that significantly reduced errors and improved turnaround time by 50%

Guaranteed SOX documents met compliance standards

TRAVELCLICK / RUBICON, Atlanta, GA 2008 – 2012

Billing Analyst

Managed multi-currency int’l & domestic invoicing up to $1.8 million per month and 60+ complex corporate client relationships such as Hilton, Starwood, IHG, Best Western, Wyndham, Marriott and Hyatt. Reviewed contracts for accuracy to mitigate risk of lost revenue; analyzed payment / billing issues and resolved; managed reconciliation projects between account and sales support systems.

Proactively worked with customer support, inside sales, and configuration to ensure appropriate billing formats were presented to customers. Analyzed and converted complex usage reports to detailed invoice spreadsheets.

Identified a significant contract discrepancy and realizing the implications, coordinated a meeting with client and company key leader stakeholders to discuss and identify an amenable solution. Single-handedly took on the massive project that involved complex reconciliations of multi-level retro discounts for 800+ properties and rollover from individual to corporate billing. Recognized by client and CEO for superior work, initiative, and problem solving.

Launched regular interdepartmental meetings to improve communication and enhance customer experiences.

Planned and supervised cleanup modification projects such as conversion of 400+ IHG properties to central bill.

Assisted Controller in year-end audit

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