Accounts Payable (AP) Recovery Audit: What You Should Know

What is an Accounts Payable (AP) Audit?

An Accounts Payable (AP) Audit is a comprehensive review of a company’s financial records, and payment processes to ensure that all payments made to vendors and suppliers are accurate, valid, and in compliance with the company’s policies and procedures. The audit typically involves a detailed examination of invoices, purchase orders, contracts, and other negotiated documents to identify errors, overpayments, and discrepancies in the AP process, as well as verify that all negotiated vendor funding is received correctly.

The purpose of an AP audit is to identify any weaknesses or inefficiencies in the AP process, prevent fraud and misuse of company funds, and recover any overpayments or duplicate payments that may have been made. The findings and recommendations from an AP audit can help a company improve its financial processes and reduce the risk of financial losses due to errors, fraud, or weak process controls.

Key Benefits of an Accounts Payable (AP) Audit

Some key benefits of an Accounts Payable (AP) audit include:

• Cost savings: An AP audit can help identify overpayments, duplicate payments, missed discounts, and other errors that can result in inflated costs for the company. By addressing these issues, an AP audit can help save money and improve financial performance.
• Improved vendor relationships: An AP audit can help identify vendor issues, such as late payments or disputes, and address them in a timely manner. This can help improve vendor relationships and ensure that the company receives all negotiated pricing and terms.
• Improved efficiency: An AP audit can help identify process inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the AP process, allowing the company to streamline operations and improve efficiency. This can help save time and resources and enable the company to focus on other areas of the business.
• Better decision-making: The findings and recommendations from an AP audit can provide valuable insights into the company’s AP processes and vendor partner cooperation, enabling better decision-making and helping the company to improve its overall performance.

Errors that a Accounts Payable (AP) Audit Typically Uncover?

An Accounts Payable (AP) audit typically uncovers a range of errors and issues that can impact a company’s financial performance. Some common errors that an AP audit may uncover include:

• Overpayments: AP audits often identify cases where a vendor has been overpaid due to errors in invoicing, incorrect pricing or quantity, or other issues.
• Duplicate payments: Duplicate payments can occur when invoices are paid more than once due to errors in processing or lack of proper controls.
• Under deductions: AP audits may uncover instances where debits for vendor incentive funding were calculated incorrectly or missed altogether.
• Vendor misapplied payments: Payments that are applied incorrectly by the vendor can cause overpayments and accounting discrepancies that snowball over time.
• Payment timing errors: Late payments or early payments can occur due to process inefficiencies or lack of visibility into payment timing and terms.

By identifying and addressing these errors, an AP audit can help companies improve financial performance, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with contractual obligations.

Key Benefits of an Merchandise Audit

Some key benefits of a merchandise audit include:

• Improved inventory accuracy: A merchandise audit can help identify any discrepancies between the physical inventory and the inventory records, allowing the company to make adjustments and improve the accuracy of its inventory management.
• Prevention of inventory losses: By identifying any weaknesses or inefficiencies in the inventory management process, a merchandise audit can help prevent inventory losses due to theft, damage, or other causes.
• Improved financial performance: By ensuring that the inventory is accurately reflected in the financial statements, a merchandise audit can help improve the company’s financial performance and reduce the risk of financial losses.
• Better decision-making: The findings and recommendations from a merchandise audit can provide valuable insights into the company’s inventory management processes, enabling better decision-making and helping the company to improve its overall performance.
• Compliance with regulations: A merchandise audit can help ensure that the company is in compliance with any relevant regulations and standards related to inventory management and financial reporting.

Errors that a Merchandise Audit Typically Uncover?

A merchandise audit typically uncovers various errors and discrepancies, including:

• Stock discrepancies: A merchandise audit may reveal discrepancies between the physical inventory and the inventory records, such as missing or misplaced items, inaccurate item counts, or unrecorded items.
• Pricing errors: A merchandise audit may identify pricing errors, such as incorrect pricing, discounts, or promotions, that could result in financial losses for the company.
• Process inefficiencies: A merchandise audit may uncover inefficiencies in the inventory management process, such as poor stock rotation, overstocking or understocking, or inadequate inventory controls.
• Fraud: A merchandise audit may detect instances of inventory theft, fraud, or other types of inventory losses that could result in financial losses for the company.
• Compliance issues: A merchandise audit may reveal compliance issues related to inventory management processes or financial reporting requirements, such as inaccurate inventory valuation or inadequate financial controls.

By identifying and addressing these errors and discrepancies, a merchandise audit can help improve the accuracy and reliability of the company’s inventory management processes and financial reporting, reducing the risk of financial losses and improving overall performance.

What is a Freight Audit?

A freight audit is a review of a company’s freight or transportation-related expenses, typically conducted by an internal or external auditor. The purpose of a freight audit is to identify and recover any overcharges or billing errors related to transportation and logistics services.

A freight audit can help ensure that a company is only paying for the services it has received and that the charges are accurate and in compliance with the terms of the carrier contracts. This can include reviewing bills of lading, carrier invoices, and other documentation to verify that the rates, fees, and accessorial charges are correct.

In addition to identifying billing errors and overcharges, a freight audit can also help companies to identify opportunities for cost savings and process improvements. By analyzing transportation data and trends, companies can optimize their transportation strategies and negotiate more favorable rates and terms with carriers.

Key Benefits of a Freight Audit

There are several key benefits of conducting a freight audit for a company:

• Cost savings: A freight audit can identify billing errors and overcharges, which can result in significant cost savings for the company.
• Increased accuracy: By ensuring that carrier invoices are accurate and in compliance with the terms of the contract, a freight audit can increase the accuracy of transportation-related expenses.
• Improved contract compliance: A freight audit can help ensure that carriers are adhering to the terms of the contract, including rates, fees, and accessorial charges.
• Process improvement: By analyzing transportation data and trends, a freight audit can help identify opportunities for process improvement and cost savings.
• Carrier performance monitoring: A freight audit can provide insights into carrier performance, including on-time delivery, transit time, and service quality.

Overall, a freight audit can help companies to better manage their transportation expenses and optimize their transportation strategies, resulting in improved efficiency and cost savings.

Errors that a Freight Audit Typically Uncover

A freight audit can uncover various errors and discrepancies in transportation-related expenses, including:

• Overcharges: Freight bills may contain errors, such as incorrect weight, class, or distance measurements, which can result in overcharges for shipping.
• Duplicate charges: It is not uncommon for carriers to bill for the same shipment multiple times, resulting in duplicate charges.
• Accessorial charges: Additional charges for services such as lift-gate delivery, inside delivery, or re-delivery may be added to the freight bill inaccurately.
• Incorrect rates: Freight carriers may charge incorrect rates for transportation services, resulting in overpayments or underpayments.
• Carrier compliance: A freight audit can identify instances where carriers have not complied with the terms of the contract, such as failing to provide proper documentation or not adhering to service level agreements.

By identifying these errors and discrepancies, a freight audit can help companies recover overpayments, improve cost management, and enhance their overall transportation strategies.

How often should a Retail Recovery Audit be performed?

The frequency of a retail recovery audit can vary depending on the size and complexity of the business. Typically, a retail recovery audit is performed every 2-3 years, but it may be done more frequently for businesses with higher transaction volumes or more complex operations. It is also common for companies to perform a recovery audit after a significant change in their business, such as a merger or acquisition, or after implementing new systems or processes. Ultimately, the decision of how often to perform a retail recovery audit should be based on the specific needs and goals of the business.

How to perform a Recovery Audit Assessment?

Performing a recovery audit assessment involves several steps:

Define the scope: Determine the areas of the business that will be covered in the recovery audit. This may include contracts, accounts payable, merchandise, freight, or other relevant areas.

Gather data: Collect and analyze relevant data, such as contracts, invoices, purchase orders, and payment records, to identify potential discrepancies and errors.

Conduct fieldwork: This may involve interviewing key personnel, reviewing processes and procedures, and examining documentation to gain a deeper understanding of the business operations.

Identify potential recoveries: Analyze the data and documentation to identify potential overpayments, duplicate payments, pricing errors, or other discrepancies.

Develop recommendations: Based on the findings, develop recommendations for recovering overpayments, improving processes, and preventing future errors.

Present findings: Communicate the findings and recommendations to the relevant stakeholders in the business, such as finance, procurement, or operations teams.

Implement recommendations: Work with the relevant teams to implement the recommended improvements, such as updating processes or recovering overpayments.

By following these steps, a recovery audit assessment can help businesses identify and recover overpayments, improve cost management, and enhance their overall operations.

Retail Recovery Audit Cost

The cost of a retail recovery audit can vary depending on factors such as the size and complexity of the business, the scope of the audit, and the service provider. Typically, recovery audit firms charge a percentage of the identified recoveries or a fixed fee for the audit. The percentage or fee can range from 10% to 50% of the identified recoveries, depending on the agreement between the business and the service provider. It’s best to consult with recovery audit firms to get a more accurate estimate of the cost based on the specific needs of the business.