We learned you need to do what you are good at. We are great at processes and issuing payments, but we didn’t have the resources, the skill set or the technologies to take a holistic view and identify issues. We needed to partner with someone who knew how to do that. Once we engaged with apexanalytix, it was staggering what our recoveries were.”

– Senior Director, Procure-to-Pay Shared Service

Overview

This global telecommunications company provides millions of subscribers with wireless voice and data, cable services, and broadcast, digital and print media. It has more than 25,000 employees and nearly $14 billion in annual revenues. The company chose apexanalytix as its partner for a “next generation” Recovery Audit.

 

Challenge

The firm processes 11.8 million payments annually—98 percent of them electronic—but its shared services team lacked the tools needed to identify missed credits, duplicate payments and other costly errors. They tried auditing manually using massive spreadsheets, but found it time-consuming, burdensome and ineffective. They engaged a traditional statement audit services provider for two triennial reviews, but achieved little in the way of recoveries. Shared services personnel looked for a partner who could bring technology to the unmanageable process and produce faster, better results—without burdening their internal team.

Solution

The company chose apexanalytix as its partner for a “next generation” Recovery Audit. The process was led by highly skilled auditors equipped with predictive analytics, proprietary micro-targeting algorithms and robotic process automation. They used technology to power each step of the process—from data extraction and reconciliation to uploading credits to the firm’s ERP. There were minimal demands on the shared services team. An online portal provided up-to-the-minute status on every aspect of the process, including schedules, recoveries and pending claims.

 

Results

Auditors delivered breakthrough results that far exceeded the shared services team’s expectations. As a result, they now have adopted annual statement reviews. Examples of the outcomes include:

 

• Achieved more than $2 million in recoveries during the first audit—double the amount forecast and nearly four times the recoveries captured by their former audit provider. On track to exceed those recoveries with a second audit, now underway.

• Significantly shortened the audit process/time to recovery and met all deadlines. Second audit is ahead of schedule.

• Identified and remediated duplicate supplier records in the firm’s vendor master.

• Analyzed areas of exposure to determine root causes of errors and recommended changes in processes and controls to reduce future risks.

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