Outsourcing the control of transport invoices: how to frame the mission?

Outsourcing the control of transport invoices involves entrusting part of the checks to a service provider. The right question is the work you want to delegate to them: reconcile lines, qualify discrepancies, prepare supporting documents or track responses. These tasks require different data and skills. Bringing them together under too broad a title makes the offers difficult to compare.

Choosing between three organizations

1. 01

   The one-off audit

   It answers a delimited question: check a period, a carrier or a new grid. It is suitable when you are looking for a documented diagnosis before making changes to your organization.

2. 02

   Recurring outsourced control

   It provides for regular batches, return frequency and monitoring responsibility. It requires stable exports and an internal contact capable of arbitrating exceptions. The capacity and terms of the service provider must be explicitly agreed.

3. 03

   Internally driven software

   Your team maintains qualification and discussions, while the tool repeats the configured checks. This approach requires actionable benchmarks and identified time to process the results.

These organizations can succeed one another. An initial assignment can put the rate schedules in order and define the controls, then software helps the team rehearse them. Choose based on the availability of your employees and the quality of your data, as well as the volume of invoices.

Write who does what

Designate a manager to transmit exports, another to confirm contractual rules and a person authorized to address disputes. The same person can fulfill several roles, but each decision must have an owner. Specify whether the service provider prepares the files or contacts the carriers itself, and within what limits.

• The customer confirms contracts and known commercial exceptions.
• The controller documents the calculations and flags insufficient data.
• The designated person validates the amounts to be disputed.
• The finance team reconciles the credit notes received with the files concerned.
• The transport manager decides what improvements to make to the process.

Compare proposals on the same scope

Ask for the number of carriers, grid versions and lines included. Specify the treatment of missing data, the initial preparation, the frequency of returns and the results review format. Also compare the time your team will have to devote to the mission. A low face price may correspond to a service that leaves much of the qualification up to you.

For remuneration linked to results, define the result retained and the documents which prove it. An identified discrepancy, an accepted request and a credit actually received are three different events. In all cases, agree on fees and terms before submitting a full scope for analysis.

Frame the transmitted data

Exports can contain recipient or contact details. Limit information shared to the mission and determine necessary access. The CNIL recommends framing subcontracting through a contract specifying in particular responsibilities, security as well as the results review and destruction of data. Check these points with the service provider before the transfer.

Evaluate the mission with useful indicators

Monitor the control coverage, the number of files without sufficient documentation, the qualified amounts, settlements and the internal charge. The savings are helpful, but so is a reduction in recurring errors and back-and-forths. A first scope is used to decide whether the method deserves to be extended; it does not guarantee the results of the following.

Setting up an invoice check with FretGuard

Prepare documents for a transport invoice audit