Deductions Analyst

UK, Manchester Head Office/ Permanent/ SALARY: COMPETITIVE

The Deductions Analyst is responsible for reviewing all customer deductions and resolving any inaccurate or disputable deductions in a timely manner. The Deductions Analyst owns the responsibility of the financial integrity of all deduction-related transactions. Major responsibilities include root cause analysis, validation, resolution and reporting of all customer deductions.

This role deals with a wide variety of work tasks including, but not limited to, the following:

• Responsible for timely and accurate reconciliation and analysis of customer deductions
• Investigate and resolve retailer claims relating to invoice discrepancies, pricing errors, promotional funding, logistics compliance and service level penalties
• Build strong relationships with key account deductions teams
• Work with customers to challenge disputed deductions and resolve to support accurate invoicing
• Monitor customer accounts to ensure adherence to agreed trading terms and challenge invalid deductions in accordance with contractual agreements
• Work collaboratively with Customer Service and 3PL contacts to review deductions related information such as shortages, overages, damages & returns to support accurate deductions management
• Identify deduction patterns and possible operation issues as needed and assist in solution development with sales, brokers and customer teams
• Work with the Sales team to understand promotions and discounts to support accurate related deductions
• Maintain up-to-date records of remaining deduction balances and prepare deduction reporting to support Sales with customer reviews where required. Perform account reconciliation as needed.
• Challenge ways of working to improve results and processes. Find the root cause of issues and identify continuous improvement strategies to drive down logistics deductions (Overages, Shortages & Damages) and prevent deduction issues from reoccurring

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience working with retailer customer credit/collections, accounts receivable or deduction management
• Working knowledge of Accounting
• Excellent written and oral communication, accuracy and attention to detail
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Highly driven, engaged, and energising individual
• Ability to self-manage and motivate
• Highly organised and methodical
• Commercially minded
• Effective relationship builder
• Action orientated
• Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry experience
• Order to cash cross functional experience