Credit Matters

Providing consumers with the information need to manage their Credit Matters

Credit Matters header image 2

No More Boring Slides?Upgrade to PowerPoint Presentations

October 12th, 2008 · No Comments

by Hugh Roberts

It is a fiscal fact that companies that do well increase in complexity over time, which also boosts the margin for error. It is also a present fiscal fact that companies are finding it more and more critical to discover new ways to strengthen profits during these financially challenging times. For both these reasons, a regular recovery audit employing recovery audit software has become an ever more integral part of normal business methods. The overall result of a recovery audit is an instant improvement in profit margins as it spots missing profits and acts to secure their recovery and this acts towards keeping the ‘bottom-line’ healthy.

Although the chief role of a recovery audit is to recover missing monies through payment errors, a notable by-product is its role in enhancing business methods and therefore assisting to reduce outgoings. In the investigation of businesses accounts processes, a recovery audit will also discover why an overpayment was made and how it was allowed to be made. This is the initial part in enhancing efficiencies in the finance chain. Enhanced efficiency leads to minimized costs and increased profit margins for companies.

There are a range of issues that recovery audit software and a recovery audit can uncover that contribute to payment errors. For many companies, it’s simply a result of increasing transaction volumes and having a multitude of clients. The problems of scale mean that even a 0.1% error rate can cause thousands and even millions in lost monies for a corporation. Other problems can also be a result of recent, specific events that have happened for the company such as rapid growth or business mergers, which can lead to, for example, many systems that don’t integrate correctly and which can lead to mistakes. In this case, the issue is a simple one and has the distinct advantage of only needing a simple fix in order to resolve.

A recovery audit team using professional recovery audit software can also discover deeper, on-going factors that can lead to continued payment errors. These are usually factors concerning a corporation’s business processes such as inadequate controls, unreliable communication, a lack of standardized procedures and insufficient employee training. All of these are causal issues to a growth in payment errors and will necessitate a workplace to reflect on its workplace culture and potentially a permanent transformation in regular business methods and processes in order to tackle it.

A recovery audit is usually started through the addition of a piece of recovery audit software. This can be the most economical and simplest way to discover duplicate payments, especially for small-to-medium companies. A range of recovery audit software is available on the market, with differences in cost and size in order to accommodate every business.

For those businesses with complicated pricing processes, a notable amount of customers or are just looking for a more conclusive and thorough audit in the hands of professionals, a qualified recovery audit team will demonstrate the greatest value for money. These professionals, together with their software, will carefully analyze where payment errors are happening and can go one step further by suggesting solutions to any named errors.

When deciding on your recovery audit software, it’s crucial to consider a number of problems. The first factor is whether the audit software is compatible with your accounts software. This is a critical consideration in order to sidestep unknown PC problems that can sometimes cause problems. Additional problems to think about is whether the costs of the program demonstrates good value for a business of your size, how the program aims to reach its goal and what its drawbacks are. If you decide to go with a recovery audit specialist, you will find that they regularly use particular software that has been developed by the audit company itself. Therefore, the analysts should be completely knowledgeable about the progamme and can implement it smoothly into a business system while an audit is being conducted. A recovery audit team will also employ data technicians and analysts who can advise what the software can not and, most helpfully, advise a business on solutions to address any errors that were contributing to more duplicate payments.

About the Author:

Tags: Finance

0 responses so far ↓

  • There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

You must log in to post a comment.