We understand that companies may have an accounts payable audit firm already in place and the question arises, “should our company do another audit for the same time frame?” The answer is a resounding “yes!”
Many companies engage the services of a secondary audit firm. What they have found is that different accounts payable audit companies vary in resources assigned: time, technology and people. Many times a secondary audit can yield significant results.
If you have not had an audit performed within the last 3 to 4 years, we recommend audits going back 4 years. Once you have been brought current, we recommend an audit be performed every 6 months.
Most audits average between two to three months, depending on the volume of your business, the format and organization of your records, and the amount of information available.
AP Auditors commits to completing a thorough audit review within your time constraints. Our audits typically include both off-site data mining components and an on-site examination of physical documents that may not be available electronically. Our staff works efficiently and smart, so that there is a non-intrusive approach to your operation.
We will support the good rapport with your vendors as follows:
You authorize requests for recovery of over payments. You approve forms of communication with your vendors. We pride ourselves in maintaining productive relationships with supply-chain partners.
You can expect us to act with integrity, respect, honesty and high ethical standards. We know that we ultimately must answer to you.
Our fee is solely based upon our success. We get paid only when the funds are recovered from the vendor. If we do not recover any over payments, no fees are due.
Your only time investment occurs during the Audit Planning Meeting. Normally this involves Accounts Payable, Purchasing, and IT Representatives so that we can orient ourselves to your systems, files and business processes. During the audit, AR will need to be on hand to enter the credit memos and refund checks, usually 30 minutes or less once a week . At the completion of the audit, we would ask for the same group of people to review the amount recovered and to review our future recommendations for your company.
Duplicate payments, Pricing errors, over payments, Debit balances, payments to wrong vendors etc.
Client Confidentiality is a key priority for AP Auditors. We understand that the recovery audit business is built on references and repeat business, and to attain those apart from successful audit results, strict confidentiality is a must. We are happy to sign a confidentiality agreement upon request.
We bring great expertise in the field of accounts payable auditing and IT to each client engagement. We pride ourselves with knowing that we are able to provide professional, efficient, painless service to clients. We understand that respect and trust are earned and we work hard to ensure that by the end of the audit we will have earned both and more from our clients.
This is based mainly on each client and how thier AP department is, However, The Institute of Internal Auditors estimates an average of .1% of payments are duplicates. This equates to an estimated $1,000,000 in duplicate payments for every $1B in spend or $100,000 for every $1,000,000 in spend.
All companies, large or small, are not immune from payment errors. Besides human errors, there are system weaknesses, changes in staff, overlooked credit memos, discounts not taken, unrecorded changes to contracts and pricing errors.