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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Invoicing Inspector

💰 $ - $

FinanceAccountingAuditCompliance

🎯 Role Definition

The Invoicing Inspector is a finance and compliance professional responsible for end-to-end invoice review, validation, and exception handling to ensure accurate payments, regulatory compliance, and optimized cash flow. This role combines transactional expertise (accounts payable/billing) with strong analytical controls, vendor management, and process-improvement responsibilities. The ideal candidate will detect and resolve discrepancies, enforce billing policies, support audits, and partner closely with procurement, treasury, and business units to mitigate financial risk.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Accounts Payable Specialist / Invoice Processor
  • Billing Analyst / Billing Coordinator
  • Junior Accountant or Accounts Clerk

Advancement To:

  • Senior Invoicing Inspector / Senior Billing Analyst
  • Accounts Payable Supervisor / AP Team Lead
  • Financial Controls Analyst / Internal Audit Associate

Lateral Moves:

  • Vendor Management Specialist
  • Revenue Assurance Analyst
  • Procurement Analyst / Supplier Compliance Coordinator

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Conduct thorough line-by-line invoice inspections to verify accuracy of quantities, unit prices, tax calculations, discounts, and total amounts before authorization for payment, ensuring invoice-to-purchase-order and invoice-to-receipt matching.
  • Perform systematic invoice audits to detect duplicate, fictitious, or fraudulent invoices using established controls, automated duplicate detection tools, and manual review techniques.
  • Reconcile vendor statements and accounts payable aging reports to resolve outstanding discrepancies, unapplied credits, and payment variances, documenting root causes and corrective actions.
  • Validate GL account coding, cost center/department allocation, and project codes on invoices to ensure correct expense recognition and compliance with chart of accounts policies.
  • Review and verify tax treatment (VAT/GST/sales tax) and withholding tax on supplier invoices, escalating complex tax exceptions to tax or legal teams for guidance and ensuring supporting documentation is retained.
  • Execute three-way matching (invoice, purchase order, goods receipt/service acceptance) and manage exceptions by liaising with procurement, receiving, and requesting business units to secure approvals or receiving confirmations.
  • Investigate and resolve invoice disputes, short pays, credits, and chargebacks by coordinating with suppliers and internal stakeholders and ensuring timely resolution and documentation.
  • Authorize or recommend invoice payment based on defined approval matrices and company policies, and prepare invoices for batch processing in ERP systems.
  • Maintain and enhance invoice review checklists, workflow rules, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistent inspections and to reduce processing errors.
  • Use ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and AP automation platforms (e.g., Coupa, Ariba, Basware) to perform invoice validations, exception handling, and payment readiness checks.
  • Operate optical character recognition (OCR) and invoice capture solutions to validate extracted invoice data against source documents and perform manual correction as needed.
  • Monitor and report on key invoicing KPIs such as invoice processing cycle time, invoice exception rate, days payable outstanding (DPO) impact, and on-time payment rate; recommend improvements based on trend analysis.
  • Support month-end and quarter-end closing activities related to accounts payable accruals, cut-off verification, and invoice posting validations to maintain financial accuracy.
  • Coordinate with internal and external auditors, providing invoice samples, audit trails, control evidence, and explanations for audit inquiries related to billing and payment processes.
  • Enforce compliance with internal controls, SOX requirements, company policies and external regulations by performing control tests, identifying control gaps, and implementing remediation plans.
  • Conduct root cause analysis for recurring invoice errors and lead cross-functional initiatives to drive process improvements that reduce exceptions and expedite approvals.
  • Maintain an organized filing and documentation system (electronic and/or physical) for invoices, approvals, correspondence and reconciliation records to support auditability and retrieval.
  • Manage vendor onboarding validations for billing requirements, invoice templates, tax withholding forms (W-9/W-8 or local equivalents), and ensure proper vendor master data hygiene.
  • Review contracts and purchase orders to interpret billing terms, pricing schedules, and invoice submission requirements; ensure invoices comply with contracted terms before approval.
  • Provide training and guidance to junior AP staff, business requesters, and vendors on invoicing policies, acceptable supporting documentation, and common causes of rejections.
  • Support payment hold decisions when invoices fail validation, ensuring appropriate escalation and communication to stakeholders and tracking release when issues are resolved.
  • Participate in testing and roll-out of new AP systems, invoice automation tools, and workflow configurations, providing subject-matter expertise on real-world invoice exceptions and validations.
  • Escalate chronic or high-value issues to the Finance Manager or Procurement leadership with recommended remediation and risk mitigation actions.
  • Maintain confidentiality of financial records and vendor information, ensuring compliance with data protection policies and secure handling of sensitive documents.

Secondary Functions

  • Assist with ad-hoc financial data requests, invoice-related reporting, and ad-hoc audits to support business units and leadership decision-making.
  • Contribute to cross-functional process mapping workshops to translate invoice inspection pain points into engineering or automation requirements.
  • Participate in project sprints or implementation teams when deploying invoice-processing enhancements or ERP upgrades.
  • Support periodic supplier performance reviews by providing invoice accuracy and dispute metrics to procurement and vendor management teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep expertise in invoice auditing, three-way matching (invoice-PO-GR), and accounts payable lifecycle management.
  • Hands-on experience with ERP and AP systems such as SAP, Oracle EBS, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Coupa, Ariba, Basware or similar.
  • Proficiency with Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, advanced formulas), and familiarity with SQL for data queries and reconciliation tasks.
  • Knowledge of OCR/invoice capture technologies and AP automation workflows; ability to validate and correct OCR-extracted data.
  • Strong understanding of tax rules affecting invoices (VAT, GST, sales tax, withholding tax) and the ability to flag tax exceptions.
  • Experience with vendor master data management, GL coding, cost center allocation, and project accounting principles.
  • Familiarity with internal controls frameworks (SOX, COSO) and experience supporting SOX compliance testing for AP controls.
  • Ability to perform root cause analysis, design remediation plans, and implement process controls to reduce invoice exceptions.
  • Experience with audit support: preparing working papers, maintaining audit trails, and responding to auditor queries.
  • Basic knowledge of contract terms interpretation, pricing schedules, and service level agreements as they relate to invoice validation.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional attention to detail and a methodical, investigative approach to resolving discrepancies.
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills for vendor interaction, cross-functional coordination, and audit responses.
  • Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize large volumes of invoice and transactional data into actionable insights.
  • Customer-service orientation when dealing with vendors and internal requesters while enforcing policy and controls.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to handle high invoice volumes and tight month-end deadlines.
  • High ethical standards, integrity, and confidentiality when handling sensitive financial data.
  • Collaborative team player who can work across finance, procurement, operations, and IT teams.
  • Adaptability to changing processes and new automation tools; continuous improvement mindset.
  • Problem-solving focus with the ability to escalate strategically and propose sustainable solutions.
  • Training and coaching capability to uplift junior staff and non-finance stakeholders on invoicing best practices.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field; OR equivalent practical experience in accounts payable and invoice auditing.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Accounting/Finance with additional certification such as Certified Accounts Payable Professional (CAPP), CPA (preferred for audit-heavy roles), ACCA, or other relevant professional credentials.
  • Training or certification in SAP/Oracle, AP automation tools, or process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma) is a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Business Administration
  • Economics
  • Supply Chain / Procurement (beneficial)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–6 years of progressive experience in accounts payable, billing, invoice auditing, or related finance roles.

Preferred:

  • 3–5+ years specifically in invoice review, AP reconciliation, vendor dispute resolution, or revenue assurance in mid-to-large organizations.
  • Prior experience working with global vendors, multi-currency invoices, or in highly regulated industries (telecom, healthcare, utilities, government contracting) is advantageous.
  • Demonstrated experience supporting external and internal audits and implementing AP control improvements.

Keywords: invoicing inspector, invoice auditing, accounts payable, billing compliance, vendor reconciliation, ERP (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite), AP automation, three-way matching, invoice validation, SOX compliance, tax verification, GL coding, duplicate invoice detection, dispute resolution, vendor management, invoice capture, OCR, payment processing, accounts reconciliation, financial controls.

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