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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Billing Analyst

💰 $55,000 - $85,000

FinanceAccountingBillingSaaS

🎯 Role Definition

The Billing Analyst is a finance operations professional responsible for accurate, timely invoice generation, billing reconciliations, and revenue compliance across recurring and one-time revenue streams. This role combines transactional execution (invoice processing, credit memos, collections support) with analytical responsibilities (billing analytics, month-end close support, contract-to-billing validation) and systems ownership (ERP/billing system configuration, data integrity, reporting). Ideal candidates have hands-on experience with ERP/billing platforms (NetSuite, SAP, Zuora, Salesforce CPQ), strong Excel/SQL skills, and a working knowledge of GAAP/ASC 606 revenue recognition principles.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Accounts Receivable Clerk or Billing Clerk
  • Junior Accountant or Staff Accountant (accounts receivable focus)
  • Billing Coordinator or Customer Billing Specialist

Advancement To:

  • Senior Billing Analyst / Revenue Analyst
  • Billing Supervisor or AR Manager
  • Revenue Operations Manager or Finance Systems Analyst

Lateral Moves:

  • Revenue Operations Analyst
  • Financial Systems / ERP Analyst
  • Customer Success Operations (billing-focused)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Manage end-to-end invoice processing for monthly, quarterly and ad-hoc billing cycles, ensuring invoices are created, validated and delivered to customers on schedule using ERP and billing platforms such as NetSuite, SAP, Zuora, or Salesforce CPQ.
  • Perform detailed billing reconciliations between contract terms, order management systems, CRM, and general ledger to identify and resolve discrepancies prior to month-end close, ensuring revenue accuracy and audit readiness.
  • Execute month-end and quarter-end billing close activities, including preparing journal entries, posting revenue-related adjustments, and working with accounting to ensure accurate revenue recognition in accordance with ASC 606 / GAAP.
  • Investigate and resolve billing disputes and customer inquiries by collaborating with Sales, Customer Success, and Legal to interpret contracts, statements of work (SOWs), and pricing schedules, and by issuing credit memos or adjustments as appropriate.
  • Maintain and apply pricing rules, discounts, usage rates, and contract amendments to ensure invoices reflect agreed commercial terms and pricing schedules, including tiered, usage-based and subscription pricing models.
  • Monitor accounts receivable aging, support cash application activities, escalate delinquent accounts to collections and reconcile unapplied payments and short pays to reduce outstanding balances.
  • Prepare and deliver recurring and ad-hoc billing reports and KPIs (e.g., invoiced revenue, billed vs recognized revenue, MRR/ARR, churn-related adjustments, days sales outstanding) for Finance leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Own billing system configuration changes and enhancements, including rate table updates, product catalog maintenance, and billing workflow optimization to improve billing accuracy and automation.
  • Write and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), billing run checklists, and control matrices that document billing processes, approval flows, and exceptions handling to support SOX compliance and internal audits.
  • Conduct root cause analysis on recurring billing issues, implement corrective actions with IT/ERP teams, and track key metrics to reduce error rates and improve first-time-right invoice percentages.
  • Reconcile deferred revenue and unbilled receivables accounts, ensuring timely recognition and proper cut-off of revenue tied to contract milestones or usage data.
  • Collaborate with Revenue Accounting to validate revenue schedules, deferred revenue amortization, and contract modifications that impact revenue recognition and financial reporting.
  • Manage the creation and issuance of tax-compliant invoices, including sales tax, VAT or GST handling where applicable; coordinate with tax teams to ensure correct tax codes and remittance procedures are applied.
  • Support system integrations and data feeds (EDI, SFTP, API) between billing, CRM and ERP systems; validate mapping, perform test billing runs, and troubleshoot data transfer issues.
  • Implement billing automation initiatives, including invoice templating, batch processing, and robotic process automation (RPA) to reduce manual effort and increase invoicing throughput.
  • Maintain customer billing profiles, credit terms, and billing contact information; ensure sensitive financial data is handled securely and in accordance with company policies and privacy regulations.
  • Execute contract-to-billing audits for new business and renewal deals to ensure signed contract terms are accurately reflected in billing schedules and invoices.
  • Prepare supporting schedules and reconciliations for external and internal auditors, providing detailed invoice histories and documentation of billing controls and exceptions.
  • Liaise with Sales Operations to onboard new customers to the billing system, validate pricing and billing start dates, and confirm revenue triggers for trial-to-paid transitions in subscription models.
  • Track and process refunds, chargebacks and credit memo requests; ensure these adjustments are recorded properly and communicated to customers with clear explanations.
  • Develop and maintain billing templates, invoice formats and remittance instructions that improve customer clarity and reduce payment delays.
  • Perform ad-hoc analysis to support commercial decisions — for example, evaluating the revenue impact of pricing changes, contract amendments, discounts, or promotional offers.
  • Train and mentor junior billing staff and provide cross-training across billing, collections and AR functions to build a resilient billing operations team.
  • Continuously review and improve billing-related controls, recommend process changes, and partner with Finance and IT stakeholders to implement system enhancements that scale with business growth.

Secondary Functions

  • Support cross-functional initiatives such as CRM-ERP integration projects, data migration validation, and UAT testing for billing system upgrades or replacements.
  • Assist Revenue Operations and Finance teams in building dashboards and visualizations (Power BI, Tableau) to provide transparency into billing performance and revenue health.
  • Participate in pricing governance meetings and contract review sessions to advise on billing implications of proposed commercial terms.
  • Help define KPIs and SLAs for billing and collections operations and work with teams to meet operational targets and service level commitments.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, macros/VBA) for reconciliation and ad-hoc analysis.
  • Hands-on experience with ERP and billing systems such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Zuora, Aria, or similar subscription billing platforms.
  • Practical SQL skills for querying billing, transaction and customer datasets to produce reconciliations and troubleshoot discrepancies.
  • Strong understanding of revenue recognition principles (ASC 606) and general ledger accounting related to deferred revenue, unbilled receivables and revenue amortization.
  • Familiarity with billing integrations and data exchange methods (API, EDI, flat-file SFTP) and experience validating inbound and outbound billing data feeds.
  • Experience preparing journal entries, supporting month-end close, and working with general ledger accounting teams.
  • Knowledge of sales tax / VAT / GST invoicing requirements and experience applying tax codes in billing systems.
  • Experience with billing-specific tools and CRMs such as Salesforce CPQ, Chargebee, Recurly, or custom order-to-cash systems.
  • Ability to build and maintain billing reports and dashboards using Power BI, Tableau, or Excel-based reporting.
  • Experience with automation and process improvement tools (RPA, scripting, ETL concepts) to streamline repetitive billing tasks.
  • Strong documentation skills for SOPs, control narratives and audit documentation.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent attention to detail with a commitment to first-time-right billing accuracy.
  • Strong analytical mindset and problem-solving ability to diagnose root causes of billing discrepancies and propose robust solutions.
  • Clear and professional verbal and written communication skills for interacting with customers, Sales, Legal and Finance stakeholders.
  • Customer-focused approach with the ability to handle billing disputes sensitively while protecting company revenue.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to handle multiple billing cycles, month-end close demands and urgent escalations.
  • Collaborative team player who can work cross-functionally and influence non-finance stakeholders.
  • High level of integrity and discretion when handling confidential financial and customer data.
  • Adaptability to changing tools, processes and scaling business requirements.
  • Process-oriented with a continuous improvement mindset and a bias for operationalizing best practices.
  • Ability to train and mentor junior colleagues and to contribute to knowledge transfer across the team.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field (or equivalent practical billing/AR experience).

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance with coursework in revenue recognition, auditing, or ERP systems.
  • Relevant certifications such as Certified Bookkeeper, CPA (preferred for senior roles), or certificate programs in Revenue Recognition/ASC 606, NetSuite Administrator, or Zuora training.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Information Systems / Management Information Systems (MIS)
  • Economics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of billing, accounts receivable, or revenue operations experience; 1–3 years for associate roles.

Preferred:

  • 3+ years in billing operations or accounts receivable with demonstrable experience in ERP/billing systems and month-end close cycles.
  • Experience with subscription billing / SaaS revenue models, contract-to-cash processes, and ASC 606 revenue recognition.
  • Prior exposure to system implementations, integrations, or process automation projects is highly desirable.
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