Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Finance Billing Administrator

🎯 Role Definition

The Finance Billing Administrator is responsible for accurate, timely billing and invoicing, managing accounts receivable workflows, resolving billing disputes, and maintaining billing system integrity to support revenue recognition and cash collection targets. This role bridges finance, sales, operations, and customer service to ensure invoices reflect contract terms, pricing, and delivered goods/services while minimizing days sales outstanding (DSO) and reducing billing errors.

Key focus areas: invoice generation and validation, billing reconciliations, payment application, credit and debit memos, AR aging and collections support, ERP and billing system administration, process improvement and audit compliance.

Primary keywords: Finance Billing Administrator, billing specialist, accounts receivable, invoice processing, billing reconciliation, ERP billing, collections, revenue cycle, billing systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Zuora), DSO reduction.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Billing Specialist / Billing Clerk (1–2 years experience)
Accounts Receivable Clerk / AR Specialist
Finance Assistant or Accounting Technician

Advancement To:

Senior Billing Administrator / Senior AR Analyst
Billing Manager / Accounts Receivable Manager
Revenue Cycle Manager or Revenue Operations Lead
Finance Manager or Accounting Manager (with broader finance responsibility)

Lateral Moves:

Revenue Analyst
Credit & Collections Analyst
Customer Billing & Onboarding Specialist
ERP/Billing Systems Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Prepare, generate and distribute accurate customer invoices across multiple billing models (one-time, recurring, milestone-based, time & materials) ensuring invoices reflect contract terms, pricing, taxes, and required supporting documentation to minimize disputes and late payments.
Manage end-to-end accounts receivable cycle by applying customer payments, posting receipts to the general ledger, reconciling unapplied cash, and resolving unapplied or short payments with timely adjustments and communications.
Perform detailed billing reconciliations between the billing system, ERP ledger (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite), and bank deposits on a daily/weekly/month-end cadence to ensure revenue and cash accuracy for financial reporting.
Investigate and resolve complex billing discrepancies and customer-reported disputes by reviewing contracts, delivery records, purchase orders, and system logs; liaise with Sales, Operations, and Customer Success to negotiate resolutions and issue credit memos or adjustments as appropriate.
Maintain and update customer master data and billing profiles in the ERP/billing platforms, including billing addresses, tax codes, payment terms, pricing overrides, and contract renewals to prevent invoicing delays and tax misstatements.
Execute month-end and quarter-end billing close activities including preparing billing cut-off schedules, accruals, deferred revenue schedules, and variance explanations to support accurate revenue recognition and audit readiness.
Monitor AR aging reports and KPIs (DSO, aging buckets, dispute rates) and proactively drive collection outreach for overdue invoices through written communications, phone calls, and escalation to credit or legal teams as needed.
Process credit and debit memos, refunds, write-offs, and bad debt provisions following internal controls and approval workflows; document supporting rationale and ensure timely general ledger entries.
Configure and maintain billing workflows in subscription and recurring billing platforms (e.g., Zuora, Chargify) to handle proration, renewals, upgrades/downgrades and mid-cycle billing adjustments while minimizing customer impact.
Support contract and pricing validation by reviewing SOWs, quotes and master service agreements to ensure invoice line items and bill rates are accurate and compliant with agreed terms.
Prepare and deliver regular billing and AR reports and dashboards for finance leadership, including cash collections forecasts, billing exceptions, dispute aging, and revenue leakage metrics to support decision-making.
Coordinate with internal audit and external auditors to provide billing schedules, reconciliations, supporting documentation and walk-throughs that demonstrate adherence to SOX and company billing controls.
Maintain and improve billing documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and internal control checklists to reduce process variance and strengthen compliance.
Lead and participate in cross-functional projects to implement billing system upgrades, ERP integrations, or process automations that reduce manual transactions and improve billing cycle time.
Validate invoices for tax, surcharge, freight and third-party pass-through charges and liaise with tax or compliance teams for complex multi-jurisdiction billing situations.
Train and mentor junior billing staff and temporary resources on invoice processing, system navigation and escalation protocols to ensure consistent execution and coverage during peak periods.
Execute billing system testing for configuration changes, patches or new integrations, document test cases and defects, and coordinate fixes with IT/system integrators.
Manage relationships with third-party billing service providers or shared service centers, ensuring SLAs are met and issue resolution is efficient and documented.
Reconcile customer deposit accounts, prepaid balances and retainers, applying to invoices per agreement terms and reflecting correct balances on customer statements.
Generate and distribute customer statements, aging notices and electronic remittance advice (ERAs) and manage electronic payment files to accelerate collections and reduce manual posting workload.
Analyze recurring billing errors and root causes, implement corrective actions (process changes, validations, system rules) and monitor effectiveness to reduce invoice dispute rates and rework.
Support pricing and revenue operations during contract renewals and account transitions by coordinating prorated invoices, one-time credits and final billing to ensure smooth customer experience and accurate revenue capture.
Ensure high levels of confidentiality and data protection when handling customer financial information, following company policies and relevant regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA where applicable).

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc billing analytics requests and deeper exploratory analysis to identify revenue leakage, billing churn, or patterns in disputes that inform operational improvements.
Assist the finance team with month-end reporting tasks beyond billing, such as reconciliations to the general ledger, variance analyses and journal entries related to billing and AR.
Contribute to the organization's billing system roadmap and continuous improvement initiatives by documenting pain points, proposing automation opportunities and piloting enhancements.
Collaborate with Sales, Customer Success, Legal and IT to translate billing and contract requirements into system configurations and operational requirements to reduce exceptions.
Participate in project planning and agile ceremonies when implementing billing or ERP changes; provide user stories, acceptance criteria and help test new functionality before release.
Create and maintain comprehensive SOPs, knowledge base articles and customer-facing billing guides to reduce recurring inquiries and improve self-service outcomes.
Provide back-up support for credit and collections activities during peak periods or staff absences, including outreach and payment negotiation.
Facilitate training sessions and lunch-and-learns for cross-functional teams to increase awareness of billing processes, invoice interpretation and dispute submission best practices.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Invoice processing and billing cycle management (recurring, one-time, milestone, usage-based) with strong attention to pricing and contract compliance.
Accounts receivable management, payment application, unapplied cash resolution and AR aging analysis.
ERP and billing platform proficiency (experience with SAP FI/CO, Oracle Financials, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Zuora, or other subscription billing systems).
Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, pivot tables, Power Query, macros) for reconciliation and reporting.
Experience with payment processing, lockbox processing, ACH, credit card reconciliation and electronic remittance (ERA/EDI) formats.
General ledger reconciliation, journal entry preparation and month-end close support related to billing and revenue accounts.
Hands-on experience with collections tools, credit management systems and CRM integration (Salesforce integration with billing systems preferred).
Familiarity with revenue recognition standards (ASC 606) and ability to prepare deferred revenue schedules and billing cut-off documentation.
Knowledge of tax implications in billing (sales tax, VAT, GST) and ability to flag complex tax situations for escalation.
Experience with billing system configuration, testing, and release management including writing test cases and facilitating UAT.
Strong reporting and BI tool experience (Power BI, Tableau, Looker or similar) for creating billing and AR dashboards.
Experience working within SOX-compliant control environments and supporting external/internal audits.

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail with the ability to spot billing anomalies and correct root causes.
Strong verbal and written communication skills for clear customer interactions and cross-functional collaboration.
Customer-focused problem solving with a service-oriented mindset to reduce disputes and preserve customer relationships.
Time management and prioritization skills to handle high-volume billing cycles and competing deadlines.
Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret financial data and present actionable insights to stakeholders.
Team player who can collaborate across Finance, Sales, Legal and Operations to improve end-to-end processes.
Adaptability and openness to change in dynamic environments, including system upgrades and process re-engineering.
High integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive financial and customer information.
Persuasive negotiation skills for effective collections and dispute resolution.
Continuous improvement mindset with the ability to document processes and drive standardization.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High School Diploma or equivalent; required. Strong candidates typically hold post-secondary education.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Accounting
Finance
Business Administration
Economics
Information Systems (with ERP/billing focus)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years of progressive experience in billing, accounts receivable, or revenue operations for medium-to-large organizations. Experience in high-volume invoice environments or subscription/SaaS billing preferred.

Preferred:

3+ years with direct experience in ERP/billing platforms (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Zuora), month-end close exposure, and demonstrated success reducing DSO or dispute rates. Prior exposure to ASC 606 revenue recognition and SOX/controls environments is highly desirable.