Top 15 Accounts Receivable Supervisor Skills to be Effective on the Job

This post provides the major skills and qualities to have as an accounts receivable supervisor to be effective in your job and career, which you can also apply in your resume to make it compelling.

Before diving into it, let’s get to know who this professional is:

Who is an Accounts Receivable Supervisor?

An accounts receivable supervisor is an expert in an organization who supervises or oversees the affairs of the accounts receivable department.

He/she ensures that the department keeps to the tenets of their operation and stays up to standard always.

Top 15 Accounts Receivable Supervisor Skills

Here are some of the important skills and qualities an accounts receivable supervisor should have to excel in their job and career:

1. Planning skills

The role of the accounts receivable supervisor goes beyond the confines of the department. This is why it is a job that requires your ability to look beyond the department and consider yourself as a vital part in the engine of the organization.

One of the responsibilities expected of you to share at the organizational level is the budgeting responsibility.

This is because, it is expected that as the accounts receivable supervisor of the organization, you should have sufficient information that should help in preparing the overall budget of the organization.

So, in the period of budget preparation, you are given the responsibility of providing useful information that should help the organization prepare a more positive and result oriented budget, and you can be part of the budgeting team if necessary.

2. Supervisory skills

Supervision is one of the major duties assigned to you as an accounts receivable supervisor.

It is your duty to ensure that things go as planned in the department with little or zero tolerance for incompetence.

This is because of how sensitive the accounts receivable department is.

As one of the notable leaders of the department, you are expected to be present, except you have greater responsibilities given to you by the owners of the organization to monitor the processes going on in the department and ensure that the department remains in top shape always.

This requires quite a good level of commitment for you to fulfill the tasks of the job.

It also requires good work ethics to avoid been found wanting by your employer.

It is not a job where you entertain mediocrity or incompetence, so you have to set the standard and ensure everyone follows suit.

3. Willingness to learn

The shortest route to long term failure in this job is failure to learn and prepare for the future.

This means that if you want to remain relevant and near irreplaceable in this job, continuous and meaningful/purposeful learning should be your thing.

It is said that failure to plan is equivalent to planning to fail. So true that we can look back at some giants in various fields in the past who are no longer relevant today simply because they failed to improve on what they knew.

If you don’t want to join the long list of people who faded in their jobs and businesses, then you must pay the ultimate price, which is keeping yourself in touch with reality through meaningful and purposeful learning to improve yourself.

4. Knowledge of finance related softwares

One of the things you must make up your mind to learn is the various financial softwares needed in this job.

It is no longer news that all businesses in the world today have one or two software tools that are suitable for them.

Therefore, your duty is to find the software you will be working with in this job and go for the relevant knowledge, as to how to use those softwares.

It is a way of boosting your capabilities and giving your employer a reason to retain your service in this job.

If you fail to learn how the software tools work and how you can apply their functionalities in your job, then you may end up handicapping yourself in this job.

Don’t put yourself in a situation where you waste time and energy on jobs that can be done easily using software.

5. Confidentiality

The issue of confidentiality is a matter of utmost importance to every organization.

Certain information is not meant to get into the possession of some people due to their sensitivity.

In view of this, confidentiality is seen as a necessary skill to have regardless of the organization you work for.

It is a very important skill you will need even in the department.

It is important to know that your colleagues in the workplace trust you better when they know their secrets are safe with you.

At the organizational level, it is important to handle classified information with utmost carefulness and integrity.

Never allow classified information to get into the hands of the wrong persons, be it in the organization or outside of the organization.

That could earn you a sack.

6. Forecasting

One of the things that show your expertise in this job is your ability to forecast what the organization should expect in the coming weeks, months, or even years, putting the current mode of operation and financial habits of the organization constant.

As you watch over the accounts receivable department and observe the general financial habits of the organization, you should be able to predict what the organization should expect in the coming weeks, months or years as the case may be.

When you are able to make accurate or near accurate predictions about the financial expectations of the organization, your employer will certainly see the need to listen to what you have to say concerning the financial behavior of the organization.

7. Thoroughness

The essence of learning more and more is to be more efficient in your job.

One aspect of this efficiency is thoroughness in your job, i.e. carrying out your job without leaving problems behind for anyone.

Thoroughness entails your ability to be clinical in your job.

There are many employees today that create some problems for their organizations (though that may not be their intentions) because they are not clinical enough in their job.

This, as you know can earn one a termination of his/her job in no distant time.

 So, one of the things you should strive to achieve every day in your job is the ability to solve a problem without creating another one in the process.

It is always a function of thinking outside the box and learning better methods of doing your job.

8. General math skills

General math skills can be seen as basic knowledge as well as basic skill.

Knowing what aspect of mathematics to apply in every given situation in this job shows you have the knowledge, however, applying the knowledge you have shows how skillful you are in this job.

Either way, the most important thing is for you to have this skill and apply it in the workplace.

Try hard enough to improve your math skills in this job because of greater responsibilities that may come to you either in the form of delegation or promotion.

You can’t afford to be careless when dealing with figures or jobs that require calculations.

You must ensure that you know how to find your way round mathematical problems.

Better still, you have software tools that could help you achieve your mathematical goals.

9. Accounting skills

This is another basic skill you are expected to have and work with every day as the accounts receivable supervisor of the organization.

An accounts supervisor is expected to have sufficient knowledge of accounting, at least to a satisfactory level.

The reason behind this assertion is that, as an accounts receivable specialist, you don’t work alone.

You collaborate with a lot of people in the organization and one of the sets of people you are expected to work with is the accountants.

If you must establish good communication with the accounting department, then you will need to understand basic accounting principles, which should help you understand some financial reports coming from the accounting department.

That is where your accounting skills come into play.

10. Managing processes

A supervisor is not just someone who looks on and watches how things are done in the department.

Your role goes far beyond that.

Your role includes monitoring the processes and ensuring that you engage the department on what is expected of it and how to meet up with expectations.

This is where you are expected to manage the various processes in the department.

You ensure that the department is doing what is expected and make timely interventions where and when things go wrong, making corrections and imposing discipline when necessary.

So managing processes in the department is more of engaging the members of the department, both on one on one basis and at departmental level.

You don’t feign ignorance and watch things go wrong in the department.

That will be gross misconduct and negligence of duty.

11. Budgeting skills

As earlier seen in this article, the role of the accounts receivable may not end with the department.

It could be at the highest level in the organization.

The duty of the supervisor allows them to work with principal officers of the organization in financial matters.

One of the financial matters that the accounts receivable supervisor is expected to take part in is the budgeting process.

This is a responsibility that is secondary to them but not less important in any way.

That is another aspect of versatility expected of an accounts receivable supervisor.

Knowing too well that an accounts receivable supervisor might find themselves in this role, one of the things they should do is to develop budgeting skills.

Meaning that as an accounts receivable supervisor, you should be able to know the financial habits or behavior of the organization and can personally draw up a budget based on your knowledge.

Though it is not conventional for one person to draw up a budget but your knowledge of budgeting can help make the whole process a simple one.

12. Result oriented

As you walk through the doors of the organization every morning, it is expected that you should have drawn up your expectations and goals for the day.

It is not advisable that you come to work simply because you are afraid getting a query for not coming to work.

Results should be your driving force in this job.

You should be result oriented and shouldn’t entertain mediocrity in your job.

Ensure that whatever you do is geared towards achieving your specified results.

Failure to do this will soon expose you in a negative light of incompetence.

The more results you are able to achieve for yourself, the department and the organization at large, the more you are putting yourself in line for bigger responsibilities.

And as you know, this comes with a bigger pay.

So, it is up to you to determine how far you can go in this job in regards to results.

13. Team work

If you are not someone that values team work, then you are in for a long battle.

There is a quote that says, “If you want to walk fast, go alone but if you want to go far then walk with people”.

Come to think of it, how far do you think your own knowledge can carry you?

And how long can you last in this job if you refuse to work with a team?

The answers are bound to be negative. So you can see that teamwork should not be seen as light skill.

Your job demands that you work with a team of people who share the same interest, goals, and aspirations as you in the organization.

Their ideas and advice are of paramount importance if you are to do so well in your job.

14. Time management

With the fast pace at which the world is moving, one thing that is not entertained is time mismanagement or time wasting.

In the business world or workplace, time management is so important that it could define how long you can last in your job.

Whatever job given to you in the organization, it is the desire of your employer that you beat the deadline given to you to complete the job.

Understanding the principle of time management should help put you on the front foot in your job.

You just have to do the job and beat the deadline. How you are going to do it may not be the problem of your employer.

They just wants you to get the job done and at the proposed time.

15. Efficiency

Efficiency is the hallmark of professionalism and the attribute of every expert in any field.

Efficiency entails doing the desired job the way it is expected to be done.

This means that there is always an expectation from either your employer or the clients whenever you are given a job to do.

Those expectations are the least expected of you in the organization.

Anything less than that is classified as inefficiency and is unacceptable.

So, take note of the standard set before you and ensure you do your best to match it.

Your efficiency increases with time and there should be constant attempt to learn better ways of doing things.

For example, a typist who desires to be more efficient in typing must consider taking typing lessons and spending time practicing typing.

With dedication to the typing lessons, the typist should be able to type with less mistakes as well as increase their typing speed.

Accounts Receivable Supervisor Skills for Resume

If you are making a new resume or CV for the accounts receivable supervisor position, you can highlight some of the above skills and qualities that you have.

This will show to the employer that you have the right skills and qualities to be effectively in performing the duties and responsibilities of the role.

Conclusion

To manage the accounts receivable department is definitely not a light matter, you will need to have certain skills.

This post has provided the key skills and qualities you will need to have to be successful in carrying out the duties of your job as an accounts receivable supervisor and excelling in your career.

You can also make a compelling resume by applying these skills and qualities, which you have, in the skills section of your resume.