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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Invoicing Clerk

💰 $ - $

FinanceAccountingBilling

🎯 Role Definition

The Invoicing Clerk is responsible for executing accurate, timely, and compliant billing and invoicing activities across customers and vendors. This role handles invoice creation and distribution, payment application, dispute management, aging and collections, month-end reconciliations, and documentation to support audits and financial reporting. The ideal candidate will combine technical proficiency in invoicing systems and Excel with strong communication and problem-solving skills to improve cash flow and minimize invoice-related exceptions.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable Assistant
  • Junior Billing Clerk or Bookkeeper
  • Customer Service Representative with billing responsibilities

Advancement To:

  • Senior Invoicing Clerk / Senior Billing Specialist
  • Accounts Receivable Supervisor
  • Billing Manager or AR/AP Manager
  • Finance or Accounting Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Credit Analyst
  • Payroll Specialist
  • Billing Systems Analyst
  • Customer Billing Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Process high volumes of customer invoices from sales orders, contracts, timesheets, or procurement documents, ensuring accuracy in pricing, quantities, taxes, and billing codes before distribution.
  • Generate, validate, and distribute electronic and paper invoices on a daily/weekly schedule using ERP and billing systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks), and monitor successful delivery to customers.
  • Match vendor invoices to purchase orders and receiving reports, code costs to the correct general ledger accounts, and prepare invoices for approval in accordance with company policies.
  • Apply incoming customer payments to the correct accounts and invoices promptly, reconcile unapplied cash, and maintain an accurate cash application ledger to support banking and cash forecasting.
  • Research and resolve invoice discrepancies and billing disputes by collaborating with sales, customer service, procurement, and operations teams; document resolutions and follow up until closure.
  • Run and maintain accounts receivable aging reports, aging analysis, and collections queues; proactively contact customers to collect past-due balances while escalating high-risk accounts to management when necessary.
  • Prepare and execute vendor payment runs and support AP activities (when required) to ensure on-time vendor payments and to take advantage of early payment discounts where applicable.
  • Reconcile billing sub-ledgers to the general ledger each period, prepare month-end invoice accruals and adjustments, and support close activities with timely reporting and documentation.
  • Generate and distribute billing reports, invoice status summaries, and KPI dashboards (e.g., DSO, aging bands, dispute volumes) for finance leadership and operational stakeholders.
  • Maintain invoice master data, customer billing profiles, tax classifications (VAT/GST), payment terms, and pricing tables in the ERP system to ensure billing accuracy and compliance.
  • Create and process credit memos and debit memos, ensuring appropriate approvals, documentation, and posting procedures are followed; coordinate with sales/credit to ensure customer satisfaction.
  • Execute and maintain internal controls over invoicing and billing processes, including segregation of duties, approval workflows, and SOX-compliant procedures where relevant.
  • Support invoice-related audits by preparing schedules, providing backup documentation, and responding to auditor inquiries regarding invoice flows, adjustments, and controls.
  • Perform periodic account reconciliations for key customer and vendor accounts, investigate variances, and recommend corrective actions or process changes to reduce recurring errors.
  • Maintain communication with external customers and vendors regarding billing inquiries, payment terms, credits, and statement reconciliations while preserving professional relationships and company reputation.
  • Validate and process recurring invoices, subscription billing, milestone-based invoices, and complex contract billing (e.g., chargebacks, rebates, retainers), ensuring alignment with contract terms.
  • Utilize OCR, EDI, and invoice scanning workflows to speed processing and reduce manual data entry, including reviewing system-captured data for accuracy and making necessary corrections.
  • Support pricing verification and fee calculations for invoices that include chargebacks, discounts, taxes, freight, and third-party fees to prevent revenue leakage or overbilling.
  • Participate in systems implementations, ERP upgrades, and billing configuration projects by testing invoice scenarios, documenting requirements, and training end users on new billing functionality.
  • Monitor and escalate suspected fraud or suspicious billing activity, coordinate with Compliance or Internal Audit teams, and follow company protocols for investigation and remediation.
  • Maintain comprehensive invoice filing, digital archives, and retention schedules according to accounting policies and regulatory requirements to enable easy retrieval for customer inquiries and audits.
  • Prepare customer account statements, reconciliations, and balance confirmations upon request and coordinate credit hold or release procedures with Sales and Finance teams as appropriate.
  • Assist with cash forecasting inputs and credit risk assessments by providing up-to-date aging statistics, collections trends, and expected receipts for inclusion in cash flow models.
  • Drive process improvement initiatives to reduce billing cycle time and billing exceptions, documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs), creating checklists, and training colleagues to promote consistency and efficiency.

Secondary Functions

  • Support special projects such as month-end process redesigns, intercompany invoicing setups, and cross-functional process mapping to improve end-to-end billing accuracy.
  • Train and mentor junior billing and AR staff on invoice processing best practices, ERP navigation, and exception handling to build bench strength in the team.
  • Participate in system user acceptance testing (UAT) for billing modules, prepare test scenarios for typical and complex invoice types, and validate reporting outputs.
  • Collaborate with Tax and Legal teams on invoicing requirements related to sales tax, VAT/GST, and international billing compliance for cross-border transactions.
  • Prepare ad-hoc analytics and root-cause analysis for leadership when invoice volumes or dispute trends spike, recommending process or policy changes to mitigate recurrence.
  • Assist Sales Operations with invoice formatting, billing requirements for promotions, and custom invoicing requests to ensure timely and compliant billing.
  • Coordinate with IT and billing system administrators to troubleshoot integration issues between front-office systems (CRM/order entry) and the ERP invoicing module.
  • Implement and maintain controls for electronic invoice delivery, e-invoicing standards, and supplier onboarding for automated invoice receipt and processing.
  • Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry billing standards, regulatory changes, and best practices to keep the invoicing function current and compliant.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Invoice processing and billing cycle management for both customer invoices and vendor invoices.
  • Accounts receivable and cash application expertise, including payment matching, unapplied cash resolution, and bank reconciliation.
  • Proficiency with ERP and billing systems such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics, or similar platforms.
  • Strong Microsoft Excel skills: VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, SUMIFS, conditional formatting, and basic macros to analyze and reconcile invoice data.
  • Experience with EDI, OCR/invoice scanning tools, document management systems, and electronic invoicing platforms.
  • Knowledge of general ledger (GL) coding, journal entries, month-end close procedures, and preparing accruals and adjustments.
  • Understanding of sales tax, VAT/GST, and other transaction tax rules that affect invoicing and billing compliance.
  • Familiarity with collections techniques, dispute resolution workflows, credit memo processing, and customer account reconciliations.
  • Experience creating and maintaining billing reports, KPI dashboards (DSO, aging), and ad-hoc financial analyses for leadership.
  • Working knowledge of SOX and internal control frameworks related to billing, approvals, and segregation of duties.
  • Ability to navigate CRM/order-entry systems and reconcile order information to invoices, including knowledge of pricing and discount structures.
  • Basic SQL or data-querying skills and comfort extracting data from ERP/reporting tools for analysis (preferred).

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy when reviewing invoices and financial records.
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills for negotiating with customers and coordinating with internal stakeholders.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to handle high transaction volumes and meet strict billing deadlines.
  • Problem-solving mindset with the ability to investigate root causes and recommend operational improvements.
  • Customer service orientation when interacting with external clients or internal sales teams to resolve billing issues.
  • Team player who can collaborate across Finance, Sales, Operations, and IT teams.
  • High level of integrity and confidentiality when handling sensitive financial information.
  • Adaptability to changing processes, system upgrades, and evolving compliance requirements.
  • Analytical thinking and comfort working with numerical and tabular data to reconcile and report on accounts.
  • Initiative and continuous-improvement focus to streamline workflows and reduce invoice exception rates.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent with proven practical invoicing/billing experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Associate degree or Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Economics
  • Information Systems (with accounting focus)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1–5 years of hands-on invoicing, billing, accounts receivable, or billing-related accounting experience.

Preferred:

  • 2–4 years working with ERP billing systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, QuickBooks) and demonstrated experience in cash application, reconciliations, and collections.
  • Prior experience in a high-volume billing environment, subscription or recurring billing, or complex contract billing preferred.
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