Assistant Manager Finance

– Assistant Manager, Finance Operations

Scope: Global Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable & Payroll

Location : Mohali

Role Purpose

The Assistant Manager – Finance Operations will be responsible for supervising and managing day-to-day finance operations covering Accounts Receivable (AR), Accounts Payable (AP), and Payroll across multiple entities and countries.

The role will ensure that operational activities are completed accurately, on time, and in accordance with defined processes, SLAs, financial controls, and month-end timelines.

The Assitant Manager will work closely with the respective AR, AP, and Payroll teams, monitor daily operational performance, review exceptions and reconciliations, resolve operational issues, and escalate significant risks to the Manager – Finance Operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Day-to-Day Finance Operations

• Supervise daily operations across AR, AP, and Payroll.
• Ensure activities are completed according to defined process calendars, SLAs, and cut-off timelines.
• Conduct regular operational reviews with respective teams.
• Monitor pending activities, ageing items, backlogs, and exceptions.
• Ensure appropriate prioritization and allocation of work within the teams.
• Resolve day-to-day operational issues and escalate critical matters when required.
• Ensure adequate backup coverage for critical operational activities.
• Maintain operational trackers, checklists, and process documentation.

2. Accounts Receivable Operations

• Supervise and review AR activities including:
• Customer billing and invoicing.
• Cash application and allocation.
• Collection follow-ups.
• Customer account reconciliations.
• Credit and debit notes.
• Unapplied and unidentified receipts.
• Customer queries and disputes.
• AR ageing and overdue accounts.
• Billing and collection cut-offs.
• Provision and bad debt inputs.
• Monitor DSO, collection performance, overdue receivables, billing accuracy, cash application TAT, and outstanding reconciliations.
• Ensure significant overdue accounts and collection issues are appropriately escalated.

3. Accounts Payable Operations

• Supervise and review AP activities including:
• Vendor invoice processing.
• PO and non-PO invoices.
• Vendor advances.
• Employee reimbursements.
• Approval workflow follow-ups.
• Vendor reconciliations.
• Payment proposals and payment runs.
• Credit/debit notes.
• Blocked and overdue invoices.
• Vendor queries.
• Accrual and prepaid expense inputs.
• Monitor invoice processing TAT, overdue invoices, payment due dates, blocked invoices, payment accuracy, and vendor reconciliation status.
• Ensure invoices and payments are processed in accordance with the companys approval matrix and financial controls.

4. Payroll Operations

• Supervise and coordinate payroll activities including:
• Monthly payroll calendar and cut-offs.
• Payroll input collection and validation.
• New joiners and employee exits.
• Salary revisions and payroll adjustments.
• Bonuses, incentives, arrears, and other payroll inputs.
• Payroll variance and exception review.
• Payroll processing coordination.
• Salary payment coordination.
• Payroll accounting and reconciliations.
• Statutory payroll payment coordination.
• Employee payroll queries.
• Coordination with HR and external payroll providers.
• Ensure payroll is completed accurately and within defined timelines, with appropriate review and approval before final processing.

5. Month-End Close

• Coordinate AR, AP, and Payroll activities as per the month-end close calendar.
• Ensure operational cut-offs are followed.
• Review outstanding and ageing items before closure.
• Ensure AR and AP sub-ledgers are reconciled with the General Ledger.
• Ensure payroll accounts and related balances are reconciled.
• Coordinate accruals, provisions, payroll entries, and other month-end inputs.
• Follow up on unreconciled or long-outstanding items.
• Maintain appropriate month-end checklists and supporting documentation.
• Escalate items that may impact timely or accurate financial closure.

6. Reconciliations & Financial Controls

• Review AR, AP, Payroll, customer, and vendor reconciliations.
• Ensure reconciling items are identified, investigated, and cleared within defined timelines.
• Ensure maker-checker controls are followed.
• Review transactions for compliance with approval requirements and supporting documentation.
• Monitor exceptions and control deviations.
• Support implementation of corrective actions for identified control gaps.
• Maintain adequate documentation and audit trails.

7. KPI & SLA Monitoring

• Track and report operational KPIs across the three functions, including:
• AR: DSO, collections, overdue ageing, billing accuracy and cash application.
• AP: Invoice processing TAT, overdue invoices, on-time payments and reconciliation status.
• Payroll: Payroll accuracy, timely processing, corrections, query resolution and reconciliation status.
• Prepare regular operational dashboards and reports.
• Highlight SLA breaches and recurring exceptions.
• Perform root-cause analysis for operational issues.
• Follow up with teams on corrective actions.

8. Team Supervision & Development

• Supervise and guide AR, AP, and Payroll team members.
• Allocate and monitor workload.
• Ensure team members understand their responsibilities and timelines.
• Provide operational guidance and coaching.
• Conduct regular reviews of work quality and productivity.
• Identify training requirements and process knowledge gaps.
• Ensure cross-training and backup arrangements for critical processes.

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  Support the Manager in performance management and team development.

9. Process Improvement

• Identify process gaps, inefficiencies, and repetitive manual activities.
• Recommend opportunities for standardization and automation.
• Participate in finance transformation and system improvement initiatives.
• Support testing and implementation of new finance processes and system changes.
• Assist in developing and updating SOPs, process maps, and checklists.
• Track implementation of agreed process improvements.
• Promote consistent processes across entities and countries.

10. Stakeholder Management

• Coordinate with Finance, HR, Procurement, Treasury, Compliance, FP&A, and business teams for operational requirements.
• Work with external payroll providers and other finance service providers.
• Respond to operational queries and ensure timely resolution.
• Coordinate escalations between operational teams and management.
• Maintain effective communication with internal and external stakeholders.

11. Audit & Compliance Support

• Ensure supporting documentation is maintained for transactions and reconciliations.
• Support internal, statutory, and external audits.
• Prepare required schedules and supporting documents.
• Follow up on audit observations and agreed corrective actions.
• Ensure adherence to company policies, approval matrices, and process controls.
• Ensure appropriate confidentiality of financial and payroll information.

Key Performance Indicators

• Performance will be measured through:
• Achievement of AR, AP, and Payroll SLAs.
• Timely completion of daily and monthly activities.
• AR collection performance and overdue ageing.
• AP invoice processing and on-time payments.
• Payroll accuracy and timely processing.
• Timely completion of reconciliations.
• Reduction in long-outstanding and unreconciled items.
• Month-end close adherence.
• Number and ageing of operational exceptions.
• Accuracy and quality of operational reporting.
• Audit and control compliance.
• Reduction in recurring operational errors.
• Team productivity and quality.
• Successful implementation of assigned process improvements.

Qualification & Experience

• CA Inter / CMA Inter / MBA Finance / M.Com / B.Com or equivalent finance qualification.
• Approximately 6–9 years of relevant Finance Operations experience.
• Good working knowledge of Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, with exposure to Payroll operations preferred.
• Experience supervising or managing a finance operations team.
• Experience working in a multi-entity or global finance environment preferred.
• Strong understanding of reconciliations, financial controls, and month-end processes.
• Working knowledge of ERP systems such as SAP S/4HANA or similar platforms is mandatory.
• Strong Excel and data analysis skills.
• Experience in shared services or centralized finance operations will be an advantage.