Senior Credit Controller

SUMMARY:

Take ownership of the debtors book and drive collections excellence!

POSITION INFO:
My client is seeking a proactive, analytical and results-driven Senior Credit Controller to take ownership of the debtors book within a professional legal services environment.

This role is ideal for someone who can drive collections, manage complex debtor accounts, resolve billing disputes and work closely with fee earners, department heads and clients to reduce overdue balances and minimise bad debts.

This role is based in Sandton.

Key Responsibilities: 
Debtors Management and Collections

• Take ownership of the debtors book across multiple legal departments, ensuring timely follow-ups and effective collection of outstanding invoices.
• Analyse debtor ageing reports, prioritise high-value and long-outstanding accounts, and identify potential bad debts.
• Drive the collection of outstanding legal fees and recoverable disbursements in line with agreed payment terms.
• Negotiate payment arrangements within approved limits and monitor adherence to agreed commitments.
• Manage invoice billing in accordance with service-level agreements.
• Investigate and resolve billing discrepancies, disputed invoices, unapplied receipts and outstanding credits.

• Work closely with fee earners, department heads, directors and the Finance Manager to improve collection outcomes.
• Provide regular updates on outstanding balances and collection performance by department and fee earner.
• Engage professionally with clients to resolve payment delays, account queries and billing disputes.
• Escalate high-risk accounts, persistent non-payment and unresolved collection matters to management.
• Promote accountability for timely billing and the recovery of outstanding fees.

• Perform debtor account reconciliations and ensure the accuracy of the debtors ledger.
• Investigate unidentified receipts, incorrect allocations and discrepancies between invoices, statements and accounting records.
• Prepare weekly debtor ageing analyses, collection reports and cash flow forecasts.
• Compile monthly debtor movement reports, payment arrangement reports and high-risk debtor analyses.
• Monitor long-outstanding balances, doubtful debts and bad debt write-offs, including reporting on movements and trends.
• Provide meaningful financial analysis, highlight collection challenges and recommend corrective action.

• Maintain and improve credit control policies, procedures and collection processes.
• Ensure appropriate authorisation for credit notes, settlement discounts, adjustments and write-offs.
• Maintain accurate records of collection correspondence, payment commitments and supporting documentation.
• Assist with month-end and year-end reporting, audit requirements and the assessment of doubtful debts.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting efficiency, strengthen internal controls and automate processes.

• Relevant qualification in Finance, Accounting, Credit Management or a related field would be advantageous.
• Experience in a legal firm or professional services environment, particularly with legal fees, disbursements and fee earner billing, would be highly advantageous.