Analyst Freight Payment

PCA • Lake Forest, IL

16h • Hybrid

About The Position

As a Fortune 500 company, Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) is an ideas and solutions company. Our corrugated packaging business seeks to be the leader in helping our customers — large and small — package, transport and display products of all kinds. Our white paper business delivers Paper With Purpose by providing the highest level of customer service and operational excellence. We have approximately 15,000 team members in more than 100 locations in the United States that strive to meet the local needs of our customers. Our mission is to serve the needs of our customers, today and tomorrow, with products and services that exceed expectations for performance and environmental responsibility. This position supports the automated freight payment process for the Corrugated Division. Staff is required to control the quality and flow of carrier contract rate documents, bills of lading, invoices, funding, business rules, financial controls, and other 3rd-party factors needed to rate and pay carrier invoices, and address carrier invoicing problems. The focus is to keep invoice payments through the system accurate and timely, and to support plant accounting staff with system training and use. The automated freight payment process involves controlling the quality and movement of a few thousand carrier contract specifications for approximately 300 carriers across 80 box plants and warehouses, for about 376,000 shipments per year, with an annual freight spend of $164mm. This process alleviates manual invoice review, preparation, approval, and payment by individual plants. The environment is constantly changing with new/changed rates, carriers, 3rd-party software updates, security requests, business rules, audits, and financial/process controls. Controlling resulting obligations and funding regularly is critical, and a small central corporate staff provides consistency and control over this significant cash expense.

Requirements

• Computer and software knowledge: Excel, Word, email are essential.

Nice To Haves

• Education: equivalent to 4-years of college preferred.
• Business experience with freight payables is preferred.
• Experience working with remote locations and with various levels of staff/management is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Reconcile the freight payment funding requests (obligations) to actual carrier invoice processing results prior to authorizing funding to be released from PCA’s bank account. The obligation from the freight payment vendor needs to be compared to the G/L feed sent to PCA, to the control reports sent to the vendor’s database, to the history of regular fundings from Corporate twice per week. This reconciliation assures that funds can be moved timely to allow subsequent ACH and check transactions to carriers to be released on time, and that PCA G/L entries for expenses and accruals are current. Update control reports and logs with each funding.
• Control contract rates from the plants/corp to the freight payment company. The rates are essential to the calculation process, but in lieu of GM approval of locally paid invoices, the rate approvals and rate specifications need to be clear. Rate updates are cataloged at corporate, either accepted or rejected, with escalations and tracking done as necessary. This procedure helps prevent unilateral rate increases from being instituted in the system directly by carriers. Knowing exactly what rates are in the system is essential for accurate invoice payments.
• Address payment disputes and issues. Using rates, policies, business rules, the freight payment website, and any other tools or contacts as required for defining and resolving not just single invoice concerns but problems that have carrier-wide or Company-wide impact.
• Monitor the payments and pending/holding status for the “top 20” carriers at least twice per week, looking for payment backlogs or gaps in payment flow that could result in a carrier declining to do business with PCA. Address or escalate with plant, corporate, or carrier staff as needed.
• Audit a percentage (quantity subject to auditor guidelines) of invoices each week to assure the system is working consistently and accurately. Deconstruct payments through rates, zones, miles, fuel, accessorial or any other charges on the invoices against the rate contracts. Document the calculations and file for reference; escalate as needed in case of questions or errors.
• Develop and implement business rules and/or tolerances for the freight payment company to use when calculating payments on behalf of PCA. Document the rules for approving/holding/denying invoices for the plants and corporate management to refer to. Rules define the conditions or limitations under which payments may be made. Complete documentation of the requests, the reasoning for, submittal and implementation of, are required in order to address carrier disputes.
• Learn and use the full complement of the freight payment vendor’s invoice management and reporting/history tools for efficient navigation of problem definition, resolution, reporting to plants, carriers, and management. Be able to train plant accounting staff/others as needed in the use of the system.
• Knowing and following policies and procedures of the Company; for sharing information that would benefit other members of the team; finding ways to improve the delivery of service to our internal and external customers.
• Continually strive to strengthen our business philosophy of meeting needs and exceeding expectations for our customers. This includes supporting our Commitment to Service which involves doing what’s right for our customers, focusing on strategies that add value and support growth, and keeping the promises that we make.

Benefits

• Paid Holidays.
• Within the first 30 days of employment, an employee (and their dependents) is eligible to enroll in certain benefit coverages -- medical, dental, and vision – and are automatically enrolled in life, AD&D, and disability coverages.
• Upon hire, an employee is automatically enrolled in the 401k plan. The plan offers both pre-tax and Roth contribution options along with employer provided matching contributions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees