Analyst Freight Payment

Packaging Corporation of America•Lake Forest, IL

21h•Hybrid

About The Position

This position follows a hybrid work model, with 3 days per week onsite at our Lake Forest, IL office. The specific onsite schedule may vary based on team needs and individual responsibilities. This job is necessary to support 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, other 3rd-party factors needed to rate and pay carrier invoices; address carrier invoicing problems. Staff focus is to keep invoice payments through the system accurate and timely. 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 between the plants/corporate and the freight payment company for approximately 300 carriers for 80 box plants, plus warehouses, for the invoices of about 376,000 shipments per year. The annual freight spend through this process is $164mm. This process alleviates the review, preparation, approval and payment of invoices manually by the individual plants. The environment is constantly changing with new/changed rates, new/changed carriers, 3rd-party software updates, security requests, business rules, audits, and financial/process controls of the system. Controlling the resulting obligations and funding on a regular basis is critical. Having a small central corporate staff provides consistency and control on the environment that affects a significant cash expense for the Company. This position has the authority to communicate with carriers, Corporate Transportation, plant management, the freight payment vendor, other corporate management/departments as needed to identify issues, request resources, address and resolve disputes to support the relationship between our plants and their carriers on behalf of PCA’s customers. Issues that impact significant cash or contract standing are to be raised to management as soon as possible. The priority scheme is that issues affecting the whole Company are higher than issues affecting one carrier at one plant, which are higher than issues involving one invoice from one carrier for one plant. This position requires asking, listening, discerning skills for identifying root causes of problems so that carriers, plants, corporate and vendor staff are partnered with solving problems. Making best use of information affecting other people’s time is essential. This position values patience and follow-up, showing concern, understanding and respect for all parties. Communicating expectations, understanding, status and results is very important. Jumping to conclusions, before gathering the necessary facts to solve a problem, is to be avoided.

Requirements

Proficiency in Excel
Proficiency in Word
Proficiency in email

Nice To Haves

Equivalent to 4-years of college (Bachelor's degree preferred)
Business experience with freight payables
Experience working with remote locations and with various levels of staff/management

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.
Update control reports and logs with each funding.
Control contract rates from the plants/corporate to the freight payment company, including cataloging updates, accepting or rejecting them, and escalating as necessary.
Address payment disputes and issues using rates, policies, business rules, the freight payment website, and any other tools or contacts as required.
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.
Address or escalate payment issues with plant, corporate, or carrier staff as needed.
Audit a percentage 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.
Learn and use the full complement of the freight payment vendor’s invoice management and reporting/history tools.
Be able to train plant accounting staff/others as needed in the use of the system.
Know and follow policies and procedures of the Company.
Share information that would benefit other members of the team.
Find ways to improve the delivery of service to internal and external customers.
Continually strive to strengthen the business philosophy of meeting needs and exceeding expectations for customers, including supporting the Commitment to Service.