Recovery audit
A recovery audit is a review of past payments to find money a company overpaid or was owed and never received.
Recovery audits typically look back over a set period and test payments for errors such as duplicates, wrong rates, and unapplied credits. They are often carried out by specialist firms, by internal teams, or with software.
Worked example
A distributor's carrier contract caps fuel surcharges at 18%, but $400,000 of linehaul was billed with a 22% surcharge.
Surcharge billed above the cap: 22% − 18% = 4%
Overpayment: $400,000 × 4% = $16,000
The audit identifies a $16,000 claim against the carrier.
Illustrative example with sample figures.
How it shows up in finance and procurement
Finance usually sees a recovery audit as a one-off or periodic project, with the results arriving as supplier credits or refunds. Procurement often has to manage the supplier conversations that follow.
Where AllCaps fits
AllCaps audits invoices against contracts, for finance teams directly or as the backend for specialist audit firms. Recovery audit firms and AllCaps