Freight Audit & Pay

Problem class

Average 12% of freight invoices contain errors. Manual AP review can't catch rate misapplication, missed accessorials, or duplicate billing at scale. Recovery happens months later, if at all.

Mechanism

The platform ingests carrier invoices via EDI, OCR, or upload portals, normalizes data across formats and currencies, and runs multi-point audits (e.g., CTSI-Global's 45-point audit) against PO and rate table. Disputes trigger workflow; clean invoices route to payment.

Required inputs

• Contracted carrier rate tables with full accessorial schedules
• Carrier invoice feeds (EDI, OCR, portal)
• Original tender and shipment confirmation data
• Audit rule configuration

Produced outputs

• Audited invoice queue with exception flags
• Recovery claims for errors
• Carrier billing accuracy analytics
• Accrual reporting for Finance

Industries where this is standard

• Global CPG and consumer brands
• Industrial manufacturing with multi-mode freight
• Retail distribution networks
• Pharmaceutical and biotech
• Energy and chemicals with hazmat freight

Counterexamples

• Contingent-fee auditors with no incentive to fix root causes — they catch errors but never push carriers to bill correctly the first time.
• Provider insolvency risk — one FA&P firm filed Chapter 7 with $35M in client funds; due diligence on the audit provider matters.

Representative implementations

• Major enterprise tech manufacturer ($2B+ freight spend) — Trax Technologies; $101K saved per million dollars processed (10.01% savings rate).
• nVision Global — $1.5B+ cumulative customer savings, $7M loss-and-damage claim recovery in 24 months across 100M+ annual transactions.
• Cass Information Systems — 36M+ invoices/year processed; one client saved $5.1M over 3 years; Intelligent Audit reports 99% audit accuracy with 80% expense reduction.

Common tooling categories

Invoice ingestion layer + multi-point audit engine + dispute workflow + recovery claim management + Finance integration.