Industry:
Public Sector
Discovering duplicate payments and missed credits with a spend recovery audit.
Industry:
Public Sector
Regions:
Europe
Solutions:
Audit and Recovery
Our client is a large UK-based Shared Service center for a public body. Focused on innovation to drive efficiency, they deliver a wide range of high-quality, professional, technical, and administrative services to their customers.
They provide services for the public sector, including Accounts Payable, Audit and Assurance Services, Procurement Services, and Legal & Risk Services, managing a significant volume of services across the UK daily from over 12 locations.
£1M+
total recoveries
£2,200
average recovery value, per item
70%
conversion rate of items put forward
Having previously undertaken a spend recovery audit, this large UK Shared Service Center identified the need for a further project as part of an ongoing process improvement.
For organizations processing large volumes of invoices, conducting an external audit is best practice for recovering historic overcharges, gaining insight into processing efficiency, and uncovering other Procure-to-Pay (P2P) opportunities.
Despite having recently conducted an audit with another agency, the client found it necessary to undergo a secondary audit, which needed to encompass:
Basware undertook a secondary audit which operated on a performance-related fee basis, i.e., ‘no recovery, no fee’ and focused on many core areas of the client’s current processing practices. Regular external reviews were then agreed upon to minimize risks and confirm the benchmark for processing efficiency.
Their expertise in this type of project was quickly apparent. Their strong project management and a client-focused approach created a platform for this highly successful project.
Head of AP, Shared Service Center
The secondary audit took a deep dive into the client’s data to uncover duplicated payments and credits not yet processed.
Recoveries were in line with the original projections, and the ‘Net benefit’ (after payment of fees) was significantly higher than for the previous project.
The nature of the secondary audit enabled the client to discover and plan other recovery opportunities within their purchase ledger transactions. This empowerment facilitated further improvements to their P2P processing.
The relationship established has been one of the best and most effective I can recall, having worked with many suppliers.
Head of AP Shared Service Center
Both the client resources and suppliers were engaged in the recovery process with a “low touch” approach, resulting in extraordinarily little disruption to their day-to-day activities during and post the secondary audit.