Overview
Since 2007, apexanalytix has partnered with one of the world’s leading shipping and logistics companies to protect billions in annual spend across a highly complex global supplier network. Over this long-standing engagement, apexanalytix has delivered more than $80M in recoveries, strengthening financial accountability and visibility across the organization.
As supplier relationships expanded and transaction volumes grew, managing disbursements across multiple systems, regions, and spend categories became increasingly challenging. The company needed a partner capable of identifying duplicate payments, capturing aged credits, and uncovering the underlying causes of recurring financial leakage.
Challenge
With more than 7 million invoices processed and $34B in auditable expenditures, the organization requires accurate insight into where errors occur, and which processes need improvement. The 2024 audit spanned North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean and included activity across a variety of ERP systems, adding to the complexity of achieving consistent oversight.
apexanalytix provides the intelligence needed to surface financial risks and systemic issues, enabling stronger controls and improved resilience across the enterprise. The 2024 audit was designed to deliver a comprehensive view of these challenges and support targeted remediation.
Solution
To address this complexity, apexanalytix executed a multi-layered audit approach that included a comprehensive disbursement review covering the period from January 1 to December 31, 2024. A supplier statement review focused on identifying 90-day aged credits and engaged more than 6,500 suppliers. Together, these efforts uncovered credits and discrepancies not visible through ERP data alone and enabled more complete and accurate coverage across suppliers, systems, and business units.
Results
The 2024 audit delivered strong financial impact and deeper operational insights:
- $8M in recoveries across 850 transactions
- Top three suppliers accounted for 34% of total recoveries, highlighting concentrated leakage
- Recovery performance was analyzed by division to identify unit-specific risks
- A multi-year trend analysis provided additional visibility into recurring supplier and process issues
One supplier with ongoing operational issues—primarily inconsistent billing and invoice errors—accounted for a disproportionately large share of recoveries, underscoring how a single vendor can materially impact financial accuracy and highlighting the importance of proactive monitoring of high-risk suppliers.
Top 6 Root Causes for Overpayment Recoveries
Inconsistent invoice coding
Example: Invoices are coded incorrectly or differently than expected, which can cause them to be routed, recorded, or paid incorrectly.
Recommendation: Be consistent through clearer processes, better personnel training, and stronger system checks.
Supplier Coding Error
Example: Invoices are paid to the incorrect supplier.
Recommendation: Strengthen vendor master controls and require verification of supplier details during invoice entry to ensure payments are routed to the correct vendor.
Different Payment Systems
Example: When duplicate payments are processed using multiple payable systems.
Recommendation: Standardize payment processes across systems and regularly reconcile transactions between them to catch duplicates before payment is issued.
Inconsistent Invoice Amounts
Example: When an invoice is processed with different amounts.
Recommendation: Ensure contract and PO pricing is consistently updated in the system and implement automated checks that flag mismatched invoice amounts for manual review before payment.
Cancelled Invoice, Contract or Service
Example: Unprocessed credits often occur when lines of business do not communicate cancellations or changes quickly, even though they typically know about these adjustments first.
Recommendation: Process or accrue expected credits as soon as they are identified and reduce blanket POs by adjusting available PO funds when changes occur.
Overpayment
Example: The company paid more than the correct amount due, often because of tax errors, billing mistakes, incorrect supplier selection, or system issues.
Recommendation: Implement stronger invoice validation checks—especially for tax, supplier selection, and billing accuracy—and requiring exception review for high-risk or unusual invoice amounts.
Conclusion
Across nearly two decades of collaboration, apexanalytix has helped this global shipping leader strengthen financial controls, recover millions in lost value, and uncover systemic drivers of supplier-related errors. The 2024 audit further advanced these efforts, delivering meaningful recoveries and providing division-level insight into where financial breakdowns occurred.
By revealing risks tied to invoice accuracy, supplier performance, and multi-system inconsistencies, apexanalytix equipped the company with targeted recommendations to reduce future leakage, enhance oversight, and build a more resilient financial ecosystem.
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