Trade Finance – Distribution & Receivables

About Company

The company operates in the beauty and personal care industry, focusing on developing and marketing consumer products through digital-first and direct-to-consumer channels.

Job Description

About the Role

As we expand into offline distribution across zones/states in India, we are building a strong Trade Finance function to manage distributor financing, receivables, credit control, and commercial hygiene.

This role will anchor the financial control layer between Sales, Supply Chain, and Distributors ensuring tight governance over receivables, credit notes, schemes, claims, and working capital.

The candidate must be comfortable handling both offline trade debtors (distributors, super-stockists, retailers) and online channel receivables (marketplaces, quick commerce, D2C platforms).

Key Responsibilities

1. Distributor & Trade Finance Management

• Evaluate and set distributor credit limits based on financial strength and risk profiling
• Monitor:
• Ageing
• DSO
• Zone-wise receivable trends
• Ensure timely collections and follow-ups with sales teams
• Manage debit/credit notes related to:
• Schemes
• Damage
• Rate differences
• Claims
• Reconcile distributor accounts periodically
• Track secondary sales impact on receivables

2. Credit Notes & Trade Schemes Governance

• Review and validate primary and secondary trade schemes
• Control issuance and accounting of:
• Trade discounts
• Quantity discounts
• Damage claims
• Expiry returns
• Rate difference adjustments
• Incentive payouts
• Ensure proper documentation and approvals for credit notes
• Prevent revenue leakage through strong internal controls

3. Online Channel Debtors Management

• Manage receivables from marketplaces and quick commerce platforms
• Reconcile:
• Sales vs settlement reports
• Claims
• Returns
• Penalties
• Marketing spend adjustments
• Ensure accurate revenue recognition
• Monitor platform deduction patterns

4. Working Capital & Risk Control

• Drive reduction in DSO
• Identify risky distributor accounts and escalate early
• Monitor credit exposure by geography
• Support development of structured distributor financing model (if applicable)
• Coordinate with banks/NBFCs for channel financing structures

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work with Sales to align on:
• Credit policies
• Collection targets
• Scheme rollouts
• Partner with Supply Chain for dispatch hold/release decisions
• Collaborate with Accounting for:
• Revenue
• Provisions
• Audits

6. Controls, Audit & Reporting

• Ensure compliance with internal financial controls (IFC)
• Prepare trade receivable MIS including:
• Ageing analysis
• Collection efficiency
• Credit exposure
• Provisioning
• Support statutory and internal audit requirements
• Assist in drafting trade finance policies

Ideal Candidate Profile

Qualifications & Experience

• Chartered Accountant with 24 years of experience
• Prior experience in:
• FMCG / Consumer / Retail / Distribution business (preferred)
• Trade receivables / credit control

Technical & Functional Knowledge

• Strong understanding of:
• Revenue recognition
• Working capital cycles
• Credit risk assessment
• Strong Excel and financial modelling skills

Behavioral Attributes

• High ownership mindset
• Comfortable working in a fast-scaling environment

What Success Looks Like

• Clean distributor reconciliations
• Reduced DSO and ageing buckets
• Strong credit note governance
• No revenue leakage through schemes
• Clear receivable visibility across online and offline channels