Shippers find greatest savings when working with both Freight Payment & Audit and Freight Post Audit companies.
Freight transportation is complex. Multiple parties are often involved and a large amount of data is transferred between various groups, which can lead to mistakes. To ensure that all aspects of the supply chain are efficient, accurate and cost-effective, companies turn to freight auditing services. There are two main types of freight auditing services: Freight Audit & Pay (FAP) and Freight Post Audit (FPA). While both services aim to improve the freight transportation process, they have different approaches and objectives.
Freight Audit & Pay is a comprehensive service that takes full responsibility for your freight invoices. The FAP provider assumes responsibility for all the time-consuming and complex tasks involved in the freight payment process. They manage rates, EDI setup, exception handling, accruals, GL coding, carrier support, invoice automation, and more. The goal of the FAP is to simplify the payment process and accelerate results. With an FAP partner, companies can focus on higher-value projects, such as new carrier contracts and network optimization, while the FAP provider handles the day-to-day tasks.
Freight Post Audit is a comprehensive evaluation of the freight transportation process after payment to carriers. The goal of the post audit is to discover errors and billing overcharges that might have been missed in the pre audit process. Post audits provide a deeper analysis of the terms and rates of the contracts, payment details, shipment data, and all other elements of the final freight bill. The post audit uses cutting-edge analytical tools to provide insight into your freight spend, processes, and partners. The audit is conducted on a contingent fee basis, which means there’s no fee if no overcharge is recovered.
To conduct the post audit, ConData requires copies of all carrier contracts, rates, and payment/shipment data. We work with clients who have an internal process or outsource to a freight audit and payment provider. ConData has taken the time to data map the outputs of Cass, Data2 Logistics, US Bank, and CTSI and many others. This allows a very simple process to add a Freight Post Auditor to your existing FAP provider.
In conclusion, Freight Audit & Pay and Freight Post Audit are two distinct services that complement each other. FAP simplifies the payment process, saves time and resources, and allows companies to focus on high-value projects. Post audits provide a deeper understanding of the freight transportation process, identify errors and billing overcharges, and provide valuable insights into the spend, processes, and partners. ConData integrates seamlessly with clients internal payment systems and processes as well. Companies can choose to use both services, opt for an internal process, or select the one that best fits their needs. Since Freight Post Audit is done on a contingency basis, it could be said it’s a no brainer to conduct one. By the time ConData gets your data to review it, every error that could be caught, already has been found. Using ConData sends a message that a company is doing everything they can to drive freight cost savings.
