Profit Search / Process

We follow a seven-step process to identify transactions where money was overspent. The immediate objective is to find and recover overpaid dollars; the long-range goal is improved payment accuracy for you. Here are the seven steps:

1. Research

We start an information-gathering process to learn about your company, its facilities, products and services sold, and other information about your business operations. The more we know about your company, the better we can evaluate individual transactions. Particular attention is given to the procedures the company follows to order, receive and pay for the goods and services consumed.

2. Analyze

We take an electronic file of vendor payment data and apply proprietary data analysis tools to identify potential discrepancies. We prepare various reports to highlight duplicated items and other suspicious entries.

3. Examine

We examine the paid invoices, supporting paperwork and other documents that describe the terms and conditions of the sale. Based on this information we evaluate whether the amounts paid are the correct amounts. We find duplicate payments, pricing overcharges, sales taxes, credits, deposits, merchandise returns, discounts and rebates and other items.

4. Document

When we find a potential overpayment transaction, we quantify the amounts and retain copies of relevant papers. Each overpayment is evaluated using existing information, documentation and other information before making any contact with a vendor.

5. Verify

There is a simple process of contacting the vendor¹s accounts receivable staff, using a non-threatening approach to explain what we found, asking for the vendor to validate the finding. We represent ourselves as part of your team, such as "I am calling from the accounts payable department at Client Company and I have a payment that I would like to ask you about." This approach is designed to elicit cooperation from the vendor and will engage the vendor¹s staff in a dialogue in which other useful information may be discovered. All discrepancies must be validated by the vendor before it becomes a claim item.

6. Collect/Recover

Where the vendor is active, we request a credit memo that will be entered and deducted from the next payment; otherwise we request a check which will be sent directly to the contact person in your office. A claim is collectible as soon at it is verified by the vendor. It is our experience that 98% of verified claims are eventually collected. Most claims will be collected during the audit fieldwork; others will be collected after the fieldwork has been completed. If a claim has not been collected during the audit fieldwork, we will continue our collection efforts afterwards to ensure final settlement.

7. Report

We are available for meetings periodically to discuss our findings and strategize about claim opportunities. At the end of the engagement we provide a Management Review Report which contains observations and suggestions to improve operational efficiency.