Associate Vendor Claims Processing Analyst

Role Summary: 

The Associate Analyst role will focus on Hershey’s Trade Claims Review and Payment Process. He/ She is responsible for monitoring Hershey’s Trade / Commercial Spent commitments, accruals, and payments. This includes closely working with the business unit to ensure that the claims paid are valid and with complete supporting documents and that the claims do not exceed against committed amounts. He/ She is also responsible for ensuring that the accounting for Trade / Commercial Spent is in accordance with company policies, month-end accruals are reasonable, and that the balance per schedule/monitoring file agrees with the balance per books.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

Commercial / Trade Spent Review:

• Review of Distributor’s Claims on trade spent and ensures the following:
  • Related activity is valid and has been completed with reference to the proof of performance and has complete supporting documents;
  • Amount to be paid does not exceed the committed amount;
  • Proper charging of invoices to its correct subsidiary ledger.
  • Expenses are correctly classified with reference to the Hershey Guidelines;
  • Ensures that the amount charged is in compliance with the contract/agreement with the trade partners;
  • Ensures non-occurrence of double payment.
• Ensures timeliness of claims review, and accuracy of the manual tracking file. The tracking file is a schedule of commitments, accruals and payments and ensuring that it ties up with the balance per SAP – GL, TP Tool, SIS and IO reports
• Facilitate Payment of claims thru preparation of Request for payment (RFP) and wire transfer request (WTR), routing to approvers, and encoding in Vendor Management System (VIMS).
• Reconciles payment made in SAP versus manual records.
• Communicate with the Distributors on invoice queries.
• Records Retention: Ensure retention of Trade Spent Claims Document, and are in compliant with the country specific statutory regulation.

TP Tool Administration and Master Data:

• Responsible for the following:

• Vendor Master Data requirements
• Maintaining the Trade Promotion payments using TP Tool
• Payment uploading in TP Tool (Mass OK to Pay Process)
• Creation and Changes in Master data for Internal Orders

Audit Support:

• Responsible for the preparation and submission of documents required for internal or external audit of the Hershey books and work processes. This includes providing assistance during audit process walkthrough.
• Together with the Process Lead, timely resolution of all issues and close out of all raised audit recommendation.

Others:

• KPI Tracking and Reporting
  • The Analyst is responsible for defining relevant KPIs for the processes. Apart from defining measures, the accountant is responsible for timely updates, reporting to customers, identifying and resolving issues that will lead to the improvement of KPIs.
• Continuous Process Improvement
  • Responsible for continuous process improvement which includes but not limited to process documentation, identifying quick wins, and projects that will make the process more robust
• Ashco and other tasks

• Others related ad hoc roles that may be assigned with alignment with the RTR Manager, AEMEA.

• Adhoc/ other Tasks:

• Others related ad hoc roles that may be assigned with alignment with the direct supervisor, AEMEA.

Minimum knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform major duties/responsibilities: 

Knowledge:

• BS Accountancy, or its equivalent
• 2-3 years working knowledge and proficiency in Accounting
• Strong understanding of trade spend claims process
• Proficient in MS Office Applications (word, excel, PowerPoint, Visio etc.)
• Knowledge in SAP

Soft Skills:

•  Highly Analytic Skills
• High/ Good Communication Skills, expected to communicate to Higher Level of Management and Third Party
• Good Interpersonal Communication Skills,
• Collaboration Skills
• Attention to Details
• Strong Analytical and Problem Solving Skills/ Solution Driven Approach
• Works with minimum supervision
• Proactive
• Project Management Skills and ability to prioritize

Competencies: 

Team Approach:

Initiates open dialogue across the organization; forms alliances and coalitions across functional areas; recognizes the interdependence of team members throughout the organization.

Learning:

Learns from personal successes and failures and those of others and applies learning to new situations; learns quickly when facing new problems; versatile and experiments to try to find solutions; open to change; enjoys the challenge of an unfamiliar task.

Listening and Interpersonal Skills:

Practices attentive and active listening and has the patience to hear people out; can accurately restate the views of others even when he/she personally disagrees; relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and across the internal organization and externally; builds rapport quickly; develops constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse high-tension situations comfortably.

Education/Experience:

Education: Degree in Accountancy or any equivalent

Experience: 

• At least 2-3 years total work experience in Invoice or Claims Processing.
• Must have experience in Claims Processing and three-way matching.
• Must have experience processing high volume of transactions.
• Must be able to work well under pressure. 
• Must have excellent English written and verbal communication skills.

• Must have strong business partnering experience with stakeholders.
• Must be adaptable to changes.
• Must be amenable to work on Day shifts.
• Must have the capability to establish rapport and strong collaborative relationships with cross functional teams while also having the ability to push back when needed.