Who Audits Your Bills of Lading

One of the biggest mistakes that companies can make is to not pay attention to their bills. Who is charging what and for how much is one of the basics of accounting for companies trading goods and services and international shippers are no different. International logistics requires different aspects of shipping and bills of lading for each leg will need to be correctly added to a freight forwarder’s freight bills. Even if the invoices are billed separately, there should be a person who is able to audit the process and check for correct freight charges.

Shippers both small and large can have the same issues with their international bills of lading. It is not always practical to have an accounts payable person auditing freight bills so many companies use the import and export analyst positions to handle audits. Auditing is an important step in keeping your freight shipping costs in order. With missed keystrokes and other types of mistakes, you may be paying more than the agreed upon rates for your international freight.

If for some reason your company is unable or unwilling to have an in-house person handle auditing your freight bills, there are companies who will audit them for you. Usually these companies will ask for the past 6 months of bills and will recover your lost funds should they find discrepancies. While this may seem unnecessary, some companies are losing thousands of dollars each year by not looking further into your bills.

Whether in-house or outsourced it is important to have someone keeping track of what you are being billed from your freight services.