Account Payables Domain Expert

The Accounts Payable Domain Expert will lead and manage end-to-end Accounts Payable (AP) operations within a financial services or large corporate environment.

With 8+ years of experience, this role oversees invoice processing, payments, compliance, audits, controls, and process optimization.

The position involves close collaboration with business users, procurement, treasury, and technical teams to support daily operations, financial close activities, and system enhancements.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and manage the end-to-end Accounts Payable lifecycle, from invoice receipt through payment execution and reconciliation.
• Oversee high-volume and high-value invoice processing, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with internal controls.
• Review and approve complex and non-standard invoices, ensuring proper validation, coding, and authorization.
• Manage 2-way and 3-way matching (Purchase Order, Invoice, and Goods Receipt).
• Investigate and resolve invoice discrepancies, blocks, and exceptions.
• Enforce segregation of duties (SoD) and maintain strong internal control frameworks.
• Govern vendor onboarding processes, approve vendor bank detail changes, and act as escalation point for critical vendor issues to mitigate fraud risk.
• Oversee payment scheduling and execution, ensuring compliance with contractual, regulatory, and internal requirements.
• Review and approve payment runs and manual payments, coordinating closely with Treasury and Cash Management teams.
• Support urgent, high-value, and exception payments while optimizing cash outflows.
• Lead month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close activities related to Accounts Payable, ensuring completeness and accuracy.
• Ensure proper application of indirect and withholding taxes (e.g., VAT, GST, WHT/TDS).
• Maintain compliance with accounting standards, regulatory guidelines, and internal policies.
• Support statutory, internal, and external audits, including preparation of audit schedules and responses to audit queries.
• Implement and monitor AP fraud prevention controls, including duplicate payment reviews and anomaly detection.
• Review and analyze AP performance metrics such as invoice cycle time, overdue payables, and payment accuracy.
• Prepare management reports and dashboards, providing insights to support working capital optimization.
• Communicate AP policies, procedures, and process changes clearly to finance stakeholders.
• Support training, SOP development, and process documentation.
• Demonstrate strong understanding of end-to-end payments and cash management processes, including payment proposal review and exception handling.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive experience in Accounts Payable within financial services, banking, insurance, or large corporate environments.
• Proven experience managing high-volume and high-value AP transactions.
• Strong understanding of financial accounting principles and standards.
• Experience working with bank interfaces and payment formats.
• Ability to work independently and lead AP-related initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder management, analytical, and communication skills.
• Remote with 25-50% travel onsite

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in shared services or global finance operations.
• Exposure to process automation, RPA, and finance transformation initiatives.
• Experience supporting ERP-based AP operations (e.g., SAP FICO or similar platforms).

Certifications

• Professional qualifications such as MBA (Finance), CA, CPA, CMA, or equivalent are preferred.
• ERP-related certifications (e.g., SAP FICO) are a plus.