If you ever bought something, chances are that you’ve heard about post audit claims. However, people usually don’t have a clear understanding of what post audit is. They don’t understand the purpose of it, nor are they familiar with all the steps of the process and the whole procedure, generally speaking.
On the other hand, the ones that use this complaint to take advantage of their suppliers or partners in general, are more than familiar with all the aspects of this institute. This is why companies need to address post audit cases and make an effective strategy on how to handle them with ease.
As for any other claim (in most cases), this claim is a demand for something. In other words, a customer that is not happy with the product or service they have received can file a claim, in order to get what they should have in the first place. However, there are third parties that usually work as a bridge between the customers and the companies in question, and they are called post audit companies.
In reality, the demands, or the claims are usually being made by third parties rather than the customers or retailers themselves, and it’s almost always suppliers’ or manufacturers’ burden to prove if the claim is wrong or not, which is something that can really turn into a big problem for these companies, especially if there is not enough evidence to support the claim, but it has been filed anyway – or in other words, it’s hard to prove that manufacturers didn’t make any mistakes.
That being said, these claims are oftentimes being filed for purposes that are not really aligned with the unwritten (or even written) rules of business and partnership, which is how both suppliers and manufacturers can find themselves involved in claims that are completely wrongful.
When they get into that situation, it’s usually too late to start thinking about certain ways to solve the problem of wrongful claims, since the only focus is on proving what’s right and what’s not. However, there are certain ways you can prevent audit claims, which has been proven to be the best thing you can do about them (except for proving that they are wrong).
But what is problematic about post audit claims anyway? What makes them so complicated? Let’s dig into that.
1. Most of the time they are not truthful
This is apparently one of the biggest problems that everyone is experiencing. What does that mean in reality? According to many surveys and research, it has been proven that more than 50 or even 60% of post audit claims are not based on truthful information or statements, which is more than alarming!
How is this possible? Not only do these claims often don’t have a valid starting point, it doesn’t come as a surprise that many of them are being filed multiple times, or in other words – dipped multiple times, which logically – makes a big problem for the suppliers and takes away a lot of their time, energy and money.
In order to save themselves from these claims, manufacturers and suppliers need to go through a series of different strategies, and the first one is to hire professional claims recovery financial services to help them deal with third party auditors.
2. There’s often a lack of documentation
When everything is documented the right way, there is not much room for wrongful claims and other types of misapplication and misuse of facts. However, the problem is the fact that companies often lack documents that could help them handle these claims. And that grey area is a perfect place for claim auditors to try and take advantage of everything they can think of.
There are often cases where retailers or companies wouldn’t ever file a claim like that, but third party auditors take over and handle the whole process. This is why you should make sure that every step of the business transaction is documented, which is, except for the prevention of these claims, one of the best ways to solve problems of this kind. Make sure to keep in mind all the compliance you need to leverage, which will then help you have all the needed documents such as invoices, which can easily save you from future troubles that may occur.
Establish a system where your internal control of documents is on a high level, and don’t hesitate to turn every part of the deal into a written proposition or confirmation, that your customers and partners can sign. Why is this important? It’s important since it can instantly block them from filing unnecessary claims – making it impossible to try to manipulate you based on a promotional deal that they didn’t know about or they had a different understanding of, compared to the one in reality.
3. Deduction happen even before the investigation or after claims are resolved
Considering the fact that post audit claims are all about issues such as overpayments, credit and similar financial problems, it is clear that all this can be a subject of a wrongful trial. One of the most common facts that can be manipulated is logically – time frame in which these claims can be filed. How is this possible? The answer is simple.
It’s extremely complicated and hard to prove when the mistake took place, so that’s a card the audit companies usually have in their sleeve. However, you should be aware of this, and you should immediately reject all the claims that come your way and that have an unreasonable timeline. Don’t be scared to reject them with no consideration, since it’s more than clear that they are wrong, and you shouldn’t even bother with them.
On the other hand, the ones that are broad-based, shouldn’t ever be postponed, so make sure to check them immediately after you get them, since this can save you from potential bad outcomes. You can be sure that your customers or partners surely don’t want one thing, and that is – placing their deduction on hold. If both sides act professionally, then both sides will be satisfied in the end!
