Accounts Payable Team Lead

Team Lead-Accounts Payable, GL & Master Data Management is responsible for leading end-to-end operations across three critical finance functions:Accounts Payable (AP), General Ledger (GL) accounting, and Master Data Management

(MDM).

The role requires deep functional expertise in SAP ERP, strong people-management capabilities, and the ability to ensure timely, accurate, and compliant financial processing in line with statutory and internal control requirements.

The incumbent will drive process excellence, support month-end and year-end closing activities, manage vendor relationships, oversee data integrity in master records, and partner with cross-functional stakeholders including procurement, treasury, tax, internal audit, and external auditors.

Key Responsibilities

Accounts Payable (AP)

• Lead and supervise the end-to-end AP cycle including invoice receipt, verification, three-way matching (PO, GRN, Invoice), posting, and payment processing in SAP.
• Ensure accurate processing of domestic and international vendor invoices, employee reimbursements, utility bills, statutory payments, and inter-company transactions.
• Review and approve payment runs (F110), wire transfers, NEFT/RTGS, and cheque payments within defined SLAs.
• Manage TDS, GST input credit, RCM, and other statutory deductions in line with applicable tax laws.
• Monitor vendor ageing reports, GR/IR clearing, and resolve open items and reconciling differences on a timely basis.
• Coordinate with the procurement team on PO discrepancies, blocked invoices, and pricing variances.
• Handle vendor queries, conduct periodic vendor reconciliations, and issue balance confirmations.
• Establish and continuously improve AP policies, SOPs, and internal controls to mitigate risk and prevent duplicate or fraudulent payments.
• Track AP KPIs such as invoice processing time, payment accuracy, on-time payment%, and discount capture.
• Ensure the MSME Compliance

General Ledger (GL) Management

• Own the integrity of the General Ledger and ensure all financial transactions are recorded accurately in compliance with Ind AS
• Manage month-end, quarter-end, and year-end closing activities including accruals, prepayments, provisions, reclassifications, and inter-company eliminations.
• Prepare and review journal entries, GL reconciliations, and schedules for balance sheet accounts.
• Ensure timely reconciliation of bank accounts, control accounts, suspense accounts, and inter-company balances.
• Liaise with statutory, internal, and tax auditors to provide required data, schedules, and explanations.
• Identify and execute GL clean-up activities, write-offs, and reclassifications with proper approvals.
• Drive automation and standardization of GL processes using SAP and reporting tools.

Master Data Management (MDM)

• Govern the creation, modification, blocking, and deletion of vendor, customer, GL, cost center, profit center, and chart of accounts master data in SAP.
• Ensure compliance with master data governance policies, segregation of duties (SoD), and approval workflows.
• Conduct periodic master data audits to identify duplicates, dormant records, and incomplete data, and initiate corrective action.
• Coordinate with business users, IT, and SAP support teams for resolution of master data issues.
• Maintain standardized naming conventions, data dictionaries, and validation rules to ensure data quality.
• Support data migration, system upgrades, and roll-out activities involving master data.
• Implement controls to prevent unauthorized changes and ensure traceability through audit logs.

People & Process Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of AP, GL, and master data professionals; set goals, conduct performance reviews, and drive capability building.
• Allocate workload effectively, ensure backup coverage, and maintain process documentation.
• Identify and implement process improvement initiatives, automation opportunities (RPA, workflow tools), and SAP enhancements.
• Drive a culture of accountability, accuracy, and continuous improvement within the team.
• Manage stakeholder relationships across finance, procurement, treasury, tax, HR, and business units.

Qualifications & Experience

Educational Qualification (any one of the following):

• M.Com / B.Com from a recognized university with 8 years of relevant post-qualification experience, OR
• CA Inter (Intermediate) with a minimum of 5 years of relevant post-qualification experience.

Experience Requirements:

• Hands-on experience in Accounts Payable, General Ledger accounting, and Master Data Management within a mid-to-large enterprise environment.
• Prior experience in a team lead or supervisory role managing a team of finance executives is essential.

Mandatory Skills

• SAP ERP Strong hands-on experience in SAP FI/CO modules, particularly in AP (FI-AP), GL (FI-GL), and master data transactions Knowledge of SAP S/4HANA will be preferred.
• Strong knowledge of accounting principles, Ind AS
• Proficiency in MS Excel and MS PowerPoint.