Accounts Receivable Cash Application Specialist

Accounts Receivable Cash Application Specialist

MES is seeking an Accounts Receivable Cash Application Specialist to ensure customer payments are identified, posted and applied accurately and promptly.

This position is responsible for processing daily lockbox deposits, ACH payments, wire transfers, checks, credit-card settlements and other customer receipts across multiple MES entities and bank accounts. The specialist will research missing remittance information, resolve application exceptions, reconcile cash activity and reduce unapplied cash balances.

The successful candidate will have strong attention to detail, solid accounting skills and experience working in a high-volume, deadline-driven accounts receivable environment.

Core Duties and Responsibilities:

• 24 years of AR or cash application experience, preferably in a high-volume environment.
• Experience applying ACH, wire, check, lockbox, and electronic payments.
• Strong understanding of customer accounts, invoices, credit memos, deductions, short payments, and unapplied cash.
• Ability to process a high daily transaction volume accurately and efficiently without sacrificing quality.
• Strong research skills for identifying payments when remittance information is missing or incomplete.
• Comfortable contacting customers, collectors, Sales, and other internal teams to obtain remittance information and resolve discrepancies.
• Strong reconciliation skills, including comparing bank activity, remittance information, and ERP transactions.
• NetSuite experience strongly preferred; experience with automated cash application platforms such as Celigo is a plus.
• Strong Excel skills, including filters, lookups, reconciliation, and working with large datasets.
• Demonstrated ability to manage priorities and complete daily cash posting within established deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to maintaining accurate customer balances.
• Takes ownership of exceptions rather than allowing unidentified or unapplied cash to remain unresolved.
• Dependable, responsive on Teams/email during working hours, and able to work independently with limited supervision.

Daily Cash Application

• Retrieve and review daily lockbox, ACH, wire, check and electronic-payment activity.
• Record customer receipts accurately and promptly in NetSuite.
• Apply payments to the correct customer accounts, invoices, credit memos and business entities.
• Follow customer remittance instructions and document all payment applications.
• Process payments involving multiple invoices, deductions, discounts, short payments and overpayments.
• Ensure cash is posted within established daily service level and month-end cutoff requirements.
• Verify that payment totals posted in NetSuite agree with bank and lockbox activity.
• Maintain accurate transaction dates, payment methods, reference numbers and supporting documentation.

Remittance Research and Exception Resolution

• Obtain missing remittance details from customers, collectors, bank records and electronic payment notifications.
• Research unidentified receipts and determine the correct customer account and invoice application.
• Investigate payments received under parent companies, third parties, customer locations or alternate account names.
• Resolve duplicate payments, short payments, overpayments, offsets and unauthorized deductions.
• Coordinate with Accounts Receivable Collections Specialists to resolve payment-application questions.
• Escalate significant or unresolved exceptions to the Accounts Receivable Manager.
• Maintain clear notes describing research performed, application decisions and outstanding actions.
• Ensure unresolved cash items are assigned to an owner and actively monitored.

Unapplied Cash and Customer Credits

• Review unapplied and unidentified cash reports daily.
• Research aged unapplied balances and coordinate resolution with customers and internal teams.
• Apply available credit memos according to customer remittance instructions and approved accounting procedures.
• Identify customer credits that may be applied to open invoices.
• Research customer refund requests and prepare supporting documentation for review and approval.
• Ensure refunds, write-offs and account adjustments receive the required authorization.
• Prevent customer overpayments and credits from remaining unresolved for extended periods.

Bank, Lockbox and System Reconciliation

• Reconcile daily cash postings to lockbox reports, bank deposits and electronic-payment activity.
• Identify differences between bank activity and NetSuite cash receipts.
• Investigate missing, duplicated or incorrectly posted transactions.
• Support monthly reconciliation of cash receipts, unapplied cash and accounts receivable balances.
• Confirm that deposits are recorded in the correct legal entity, currency and bank account.
• Coordinate corrections involving intercompany or cross-entity payments.
• Retain bank reports, remittance documentation and reconciliation support in accordance with company policy.

Cash-Application Systems and Automation

• Monitor automated cash-application interfaces and exception queues.
• Review system-generated customer and invoice matches before final posting when required.
• Research payments that fail automated matching or require manual intervention.
• Identify recurring remittance or system issues that reduce the automated application rate.
• Work with Finance and IT to improve customer matching, remittance capture and cash-posting rules.
• Assist with testing system upgrades, bank integrations and cash-application enhancements.
• Maintain current process documentation and cash-application procedures.

Customer and Internal Support

• Respond to customer questions regarding payment application, account balances and available credits.
• Provide payment details and supporting documentation to AR Collections Specialists.
• Assist with customer account reconciliations.
• Communicate recurring payment issues to the appropriate collector or manager.
• Participate in daily cash reviews, aging meetings and month-end close activities.
• Provide coverage for other cash-application functions when necessary.
• Support internal and external audit requests involving customer receipts.

Key Performance Indicators

• Percentage of receipts posted within one business day
• Cash-application accuracy rate
• Automated cash-application rate
• Unapplied cash balance and aging
• Number and value of unidentified receipts
• Average time required to resolve application exceptions
• Daily bank-to-NetSuite reconciliation completion
• Month-end cash-posting cutoff compliance
• Duplicate or incorrect application rate
• Customer and collector inquiry response time
• Completeness of remittance documentation

Requirements

• Associate degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• At least three years of accounts receivable, cash-application or accounting experience.
• Experience processing high-volume customer payments.
• Working knowledge of lockbox deposits, ACH payments, wires, checks and customer remittances.
• Understanding of invoices, credit memos, deductions, overpayments and unapplied cash.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Outlook.
• Strong reconciliation, research and analytical skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and data-entry accuracy.
• Ability to manage daily deadlines and changing priorities.
• Ability to handle confidential banking, customer and financial information appropriately.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, Finance, Business Administration or a related field.
• Experience with NetSuite or a comparable enterprise resource planning system.
• Experience with automated cash-application software or bank-integration platforms.
• Experience processing transactions for multiple legal entities and bank accounts.
• Experience with Canadian-dollar or other foreign-currency receipts.
• Experience in a distribution, manufacturing, service or high-volume transactional environment.
• Familiarity with customer procurement portals and electronic remittance formats.

Core Competencies

• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Account reconciliation
• Research and problem-solving
• Time management

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