Does Sarbanes-Oxley include Freight and Supply Chain management?

In these challenging economic times it is even more important to have a direct link between the transportation process, the payment function and that of an immediate in-depth post audit review. This is true whether you engage third party services or you audit, process and pay all freight invoices internally. 

We all are versed with the fact that publicly traded companies are required by the SEC to have an outside independent audit performed on their financial activities including the actual supply chain management process. However, here is the overlooked fact. An outside professional accounting firm will, as a priority, focus on the critical areas of accounting practices and systems. Rarely will Transportation and Logistics practices and their invoice process ever get audited. 

The SOX Act, which was signed in to U.S. law, is one of the most significant pieces of securities legislation since the formation of the SEC.  The end goal of SOX is to ensure additional corporate ethics, integrity, and transparency, in light of recent corporate financial malfeasance, in order to better restore public confidence in the American Securities Market. According to SOX Compliance, SCM-Logistics Management owns the responsibility for the audit of Supply Chain Management (SCM) financials. It is up to Supply Chain Management-Logistics management to correctly report on automated billing and payment systems, financial risks such as overcharges, billing errors, fuel surcharge variations, and errors.

As an independent transportation post auditor, based on over thirty years of experience and expertise, we can say with confidence that the need for a comprehensive follow up audit exists even today. Potentially a percentage of your total annual spend may be recovered through our unique audit techniques accomplished in a team environment. 

There are many benefits of having a third party conduct an audit. At Freight Revenue Recovery of Miami:

• We audit your freight bills for compliance with contracts, recover overcharges, and share recoveries with you on a contingency basis. No Recovery, No Charge! 
• We verify carrier compliance with the terms of your contracts. 
• We provide you with paid claim and outstanding claim aging reports, by carrier. 
• We confirm the effectiveness of your own internal audit and furnish you with information that can provide future savings, and also can be used to negotiate freight contracts with your carriers. 
• We also specialize in SECOND Post-audits to confirm the quality of your first Post-Audit (Our rule of thumb is an additional 50% recovery, as well as future savings).