Top 12 Accounts Receivable Analyst Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's crowded job market, an accounts receivable analyst needs sharp analysis, fluent systems knowledge, and a calm hand on cash flow. A resume that highlights real, working skills around billing, collections, and reporting can tilt the table in your favor—quickly.

Accounts Receivable Analyst Skills

1. QuickBooks
2. SAP
3. Excel
4. Oracle
5. Salesforce
6. Data Analysis
7. Forecasting
8. Reconciliation
9. Reporting
10. Collections
11. Negotiation
12. ERP Systems

1. QuickBooks

QuickBooks is accounting software for invoicing, receiving and applying cash, and keeping receivables tidy. It handles billing, statements, and reporting without a fuss when configured well.

Why It's Important

It streamlines invoicing and collections, matches payments fast, and produces clear reports that help you protect cash flow and reduce errors.

How to Improve QuickBooks Skills

To sharpen QuickBooks for AR work, zero in on:

1. CRM and workflow integration: Connect customer data and automate handoffs so invoices and follow-ups fire on time. Middleware or native connectors help align sales and AR.

2. Automated invoicing and reminders: Use recurring invoices, scheduled send, and automatic reminders. Keep templates tight and consistent.

3. Custom reports and fields: Build memorized reports with custom fields (terms, segments, risk tiers). Schedule delivery to stakeholders.

4. Tighter cash application: Use bank feeds, rules, and reference matching to reduce manual posting. Reconcile often.

5. Roles and security: Apply roles, close dates, MFA, and audit logs. Guard customer and payment data.

6. Ongoing training: Stay current on product updates and new features. Practice in a sample file before rolling out changes.

Do this well and you cut cycle time, reduce leakage, and get cleaner books.

How to Display QuickBooks Skills on Your Resume

2. SAP

SAP is a full ERP suite. In AR, the FI-AR module and tools like Credit Management, Dispute Management, Dunning, and Lockbox tie the order-to-cash story together with real-time controls.

Why It's Important

It automates invoicing, cash application, and dunning, gives real-time reporting across entities, and enforces process discipline that protects working capital.

How to Improve SAP Skills

1. Master core AR transactions: Postings, clearing, residual items, disputes, correspondence, and dunning configuration.

2. Use S/4HANA and Fiori apps: Faster reporting, better UX, and embedded analytics. Learn the tiles that matter to AR.

3. Credit and collections: Configure risk categories, scoring, limits, and rules. Track promises-to-pay and collector worklists.

4. Bank integration: Lockbox, electronic bank statements, and automatic matching reduce touch time.

5. Sandbox practice: Test new configs and posting logic safely before production.

6. Stay current: Follow release notes and adopt relevant features incrementally.

7. Certification and peer forums: Validate skills and learn shortcuts from practitioners.

How to Display SAP Skills on Your Resume

3. Excel

Excel is the workbench for AR analysis: aging, cash application checks, reconciliations, and reporting live here when systems fall short or data needs shaping.

Why It's Important

It lets you clean, analyze, and visualize receivables. You spot trends, build forecasts, and explain movements without waiting on IT.

How to Improve Excel Skills

1. Modern functions: XLOOKUP, FILTER, UNIQUE, SUMIFS, INDEX/MATCH, and dynamic arrays. Less brittle, more readable.

2. PivotTables and Power Pivot: Quick summaries, aging buckets, and slice-by anything. Add measures with DAX for richer KPIs.

3. Power Query: Automate imports and transformations from CSVs, databases, and exports. One-click refresh beats rework.

4. Data validation and conditional formatting: Keep inputs clean and highlight risk, disputes, or overdues instantly.

5. Macros or Office Scripts: Automate repetitive tasks. Record, then refine.

6. Dashboarding: Build concise visuals for DSO, CEI, aging trends, and collector productivity.

How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume

4. Oracle

Oracle offers Cloud ERP (Financials) and legacy suites that handle the invoice-to-cash process end to end—AutoInvoice, Collections, Dunning, Lockbox, reporting, and more.

Why It's Important

It centralizes customer billing, accelerates cash application, and gives finance leaders trustable, timely reporting for decisions that keep cash moving.

How to Improve Oracle Skills

1. Learn core AR features: AutoInvoice, AutoCash, Lockbox, Receipts Workbench, Dunning, Customer Profiles, and receipt write-off limits.

2. Tune configurations: Set matching rules, receipt application priorities, payment terms, and aging buckets to fit your business.

3. Use OTBI and dashboards: Build scheduled reports and role-based views for AR aging, at-risk accounts, and collector workload.

4. Strengthen controls: Roles, segregation of duties, approval workflows, and audit trails.

5. Subledger Accounting: Align accounting rules with policy and reporting needs.

6. Practice and iterate: Test new setups in a non-prod pod. Measure impact before go-live.

How to Display Oracle Skills on Your Resume

5. Salesforce

Salesforce is a CRM, not a full AR ledger, but it’s the command center for customer details, deal status, and conversations. When integrated with billing or ERP, it gives AR instant visibility and tighter follow-up.

Why It's Important

It keeps account data in one place, aligns sales and finance on commitments, and automates reminders or escalations so invoices don’t drift.

How to Improve Salesforce Skills

1. Dashboards for AR: Outstanding invoices, predicted days to pay, disputes, and promise-to-pay tracking—front and center.

2. Automations with Flow: Trigger invoice notifications, task assignments, and escalations from status changes. Retire legacy Process Builder where possible.

3. Integrations: Connect to accounting, billing, and payment processors so invoice and payment data stays fresh.

4. Data quality: Validation rules and duplicate management keep contacts and addresses trustworthy.

5. Analytics: Use CRM Analytics/Tableau to spot risk patterns and forecast receipts.

6. A/R apps: Consider marketplace apps that add invoicing, collections, and credit workflows.

How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume

6. Data Analysis

Data analysis means converting raw AR data—payments, disputes, credits—into patterns and signals that guide action and reduce risk.

Why It's Important

You see who pays late, why balances grow, and where procedures fail. Actionable insight turns into better cash and fewer surprises.

How to Improve Data Analysis Skills

1. Excel and Power tools: Become fluent with Power Query, PivotTables, and dynamic formulas to reshape data quickly.

2. SQL basics: Pull exactly what you need from source systems without waiting. Filter, join, aggregate.

3. Know the accounting: Credits, write-offs, revenue recognition, and allowance policies shape accurate conclusions.

4. BI dashboards: Build visual stories for DSO, CEI, roll rates, dispute aging, and cohort behavior.

5. Data quality routines: Profiling, deduplication, and outlier checks. Bad data breaks good decisions.

6. Experiment and iterate: Test hypotheses; compare forecast vs. actual; refine models.

How to Display Data Analysis Skills on Your Resume

7. Forecasting

Forecasting in AR predicts cash inflows using history, current aging, promise-to-pay data, seasonality, and customer risk—so finance plans accurately.

Why It's Important

It anchors liquidity decisions, staffing, and credit strategy. Miss it, and working capital gets whiplash.

How to Improve Forecasting Skills

1. Segmentation: Forecast by customer segment, terms, risk tier, and region. One-size forecasts mislead.

2. Method mix: Combine heuristics (roll rates), time series, and probability-weighted scenarios.

3. Driver-based inputs: Disputes, deductions, discounts, and approvals all affect timing—model them.

4. Feedback loops: Compare forecast vs. actual weekly. Adjust for drift and structural changes.

5. Scenario planning: Best/base/worst cases for macro swings, policy shifts, or large-customer events.

6. Transparent assumptions: Document rules so others can trust—and challenge—the model.

How to Display Forecasting Skills on Your Resume

8. Reconciliation

Reconciliation matches AR subledger activity to payments, bank statements, and the general ledger. It catches leaks and cleans noise.

Why It's Important

Accurate books, fewer write-offs, and faster close. You spot discrepancies before they pile up into headaches.

How to Improve Reconciliation Skills

1. Automate matching: Use bank feeds, lockbox files, and rules to auto-apply receipts. Reserve analyst time for exceptions.

2. Standardize: Clear procedures, cutoffs, and templates. Consistency beats heroics.

3. Cadence: Daily or weekly mini-recons beat month-end scrambles.

4. Exception queues: Triage by amount, age, and risk. Document resolution steps.

5. Data controls: Validation checks on customer IDs, invoice references, and amounts to prevent misposts.

6. Root cause fixes: Address recurring issues—bad remittance, missing PO numbers, ambiguous credits—at the source.

How to Display Reconciliation Skills on Your Resume

9. Reporting

Reporting turns AR data into clear narratives—aging, trends, risk, and actions—so leaders can steer, not guess.

Why It's Important

It exposes what’s stuck, what’s improving, and where cash will land. Good reporting moves collections and policy in the right direction.

How to Improve Reporting Skills

1. Standard AR pack: DSO, CEI, aging by customer/risk, top 20 exposures, write-off trends, dispute aging, collector productivity.

2. Automation: Scheduled refreshes and distribution. One source of truth, on time.

3. Data dictionary: Define metrics and filters so numbers aren’t debated every meeting.

4. Visual clarity: Clean layouts, consistent color for risk, minimal clutter. The point should jump off the page.

5. Feedback loop: Ask stakeholders what they used, what they ignored, and tighten the set.

6. Drill paths: Summary first, then drill to invoice or dispute detail for action.

How to Display Reporting Skills on Your Resume

10. Collections

Collections is the art and grind of securing payment—timely, tactful, and persistent.

Why It's Important

Cash flow lives here. Done well, you reduce bad debt while protecting customer relationships.

How to Improve Collections Skills

1. Risk-based segmentation: Priority to high balance, chronic late payers, and short-term spikes. Tailor tactics and tone.

2. Cadenced outreach: Pre-due nudges, day-1 reminders, escalating intervals. Mix email, phone, and statements.

3. Invoice accuracy: Fewer disputes equal faster cash. Tighten POs, tax, freight, and backup docs.

4. Payment options: Credit card, ACH, portals, QR codes. Friction kills speed.

5. Negotiation playbooks: Payment plans, early-pay discounts, conditional waivers. Clear boundaries.

6. Credit holds and escalation: Apply fairly and document. Loop in sales early.

7. Agency or legal last resort: Define triggers, fees, and communication protocols.

8. Analytics: Track promise-to-pay reliability, dispute categories, right-party contact rates, and collector throughput.

How to Display Collections Skills on Your Resume

11. Negotiation

Negotiation sets payment terms that work for both sides—firm but fair—so invoices don’t linger and relationships don’t sour.

Why It's Important

It supports steady cash, reduces write-offs, and keeps customers engaged rather than evasive.

How to Improve Negotiation Skills

1. Know the account: History, disputes, contacts, and leverage points. Preparation sharpens your edge.

2. Listen first: Understand constraints, then propose terms that still protect your position.

3. Structure trade-offs: Earlier payment for fee waivers, partial settlements for immediate cash, staged plans with milestones.

4. Anchor clearly: State expectations and dates. Silence makes terms fuzzy.

5. Escalate wisely: Bring in sales or credit management when needed, not as a threat but as a path to resolution.

6. Put it in writing: Document agreements, update CRM/ERP, and monitor compliance.

7. Practice: Role-play tough scenarios. Confidence is a muscle.

How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume

12. ERP Systems

ERP systems are the backbone platforms that run finance, supply chain, and more. For AR, they centralize customers, invoices, receipts, and reporting with controls baked in.

Why It's Important

They cut manual work, increase accuracy, and give real-time visibility from sale to cash.

How to Improve ERP Systems Skills

1. Automate the routine: Recurring invoices, reminders, matching rules, and dunning cycles. Let the system carry the load.

2. Integrate end to end: CRM, e-commerce, payment gateways, banks, and tax engines. Fewer rekeys, fewer errors.

3. Right-size customization: Use configuration first. Keep custom code lean and well-documented.

4. Analytics: Embedded dashboards and alerts for risk, disputes, and KPIs. Push insights to the people who act on them.

5. Security and compliance: Roles, audit trails, data retention, and regulatory alignment.

6. Mobile access: Approvals, customer info, and quick actions on the go.

7. Training and change management: Clear playbooks, refreshers, and super-user networks keep adoption high.

How to Display ERP Systems Skills on Your Resume