Accounts Payable Recovery Auditing

Companies with a high volume of transactions are likely to experience occasional processing errors along the way.   We work with companies to identify those errors, and we work directly with the payee to recover funds that we have confirmed are the result of an overpayment or over-deduction. For each issue identified, we determine both the root cause and any systemic control issue that needs to be addressed.  If a control weakness exists, we work with your organization to identify a practical remediation plan to strengthen controls going forward, mitigating the risk of future errors.

Our methodology is proven, and allows for flexibility to meet the specific needs of our Clients. Our projects typically include one or more of the following areas of expertise.

Duplicate Payment Review

Our Duplicate Payment Reviews involve analyzing high-volume transactional data based on key criteria to identify potential duplicate payments for further investigation.  Upon identifying a duplicate payment, we first perform an internal vetting process, and then work directly with our client and the vendors to recover lost profits and remediate any control weaknesses.

Vendor Statement Reviews

Vendors often apply credits directly to customer accounts without informing the customer.  We see frequent occurrences where this practice leads to the credits remaining unrealized by the customer for extended periods of time.  Consequently they are often moved to a suspense account, escheated to the state, or possibly taken back as revenue.  Our detailed Vendor Statement Review process will help to identify those outstanding credits. Through our experience as CPAs and forensic accountants, we have a unique ability to identify credits that have been improperly removed from your account and statement.

Missed Discount Analysis

Vendors often have complex discount and payment terms.  We find that companies that do not routinely review compliance with these terms are not realizing all available discounts.  Our Missed Discount Analysis involves applying data interrogation techniques to transactional detail to identify inconsistencies in discounts taken for the same vendor.  Additionally we review vendor invoices to ensure discounts are taken in accordance with stated terms.  For identified missed discounts, we work with you as an intermediary to recover the related funds.

Vendor File Analysis

Vendor master files typically contain duplicate accounts for the same vendor and dormant accounts that should be moved to an inactive status.  Both situations increase the risk of erroneous and/or fraudulent payments.  In our Vendor File Analysis process, we use data analytics to identify potential duplicate vendor entries, ghost or fictitious vendors, and unused active vendors.  We also develop solutions and controls to improve your organization’s vendor file management.

Using an internal control approach, we are able to identify gaps that allow errors to occur.  Further investigation quantifies the errors, and then we work on your behalf to not only recover the funds, but to strengthen controls to minimize future losses.