NO MORE FREIGHT BILLS ?

What do freight-bill auditing and payment firms do for their
clients? Basically, these companies simplify the shipper's task
of paying carriers. They take over the processing and paying of
freight bills and collecting the data so that, in essence, the shipper
has nothing to do with freight bills. Typically, a freight bill payment
company performs the following activities: Professional
transportation auditors check the bills submitted by the carrier
before approving payment. This pre-payment audit ensures that
the carrier has applied the correct rate and discount to the invoice,
as well as the proper classification. It also double-checks to make
sure that the invoice has not already been paid. Where an overcharge
is determined, the audit company either collects the bill and pays
short or contacts the carrier for a corrected invoice. Because
current regualtions only give shippers six months to recover
overpayments, pre-auditing of freight bills and elimination of
overpayments is now more advantageous than ever to the shipper.
In addition to handling all data entry related to the invoice transaction,
the service assigns the account numbers that the client wants in its
general accounting ledger.
The actual arrangements vary from company to company, but in a
typical case the freight-bill service notifies the shipper of the amount
needed to pay its carriers. The client then wires the necessary funds to
cover the freight bill payments to the service provided, which in turn
issues checks for payment to carriers.
The provider issues reports on freight activity to allow shipper
executives to get a better handle on shipping needs and demands.
On top of that, many providers now have software that allows clients
to load data into their computers for further analysis. The cost of this
service depends on the specific requirements of each shipper, with
many possible variations. However, charges are ususally levied on
a "perbill" basis, with specialized accounting or reporting requirements
usually adding to the basic price. In general, however, the reductions
in the freight bills made by discovering and eliminating overcharges
before they are paid usually exceeds the cost of the services. As a
result, a professional pre-audit of the freight bills will normally save
the shipper much more than the total monthly cost of the service.