Sleuthing For Dollars

Officially it's called Post Audit Recovery. But a more accurate description may be "adding to Heinz Canada's bottom line." That's according to James McCulloch, National Manager of Credit & Customer Service, Heinz Canada . Post Audit Recovery is a two person operation reporting to Mr McCulloch since March 2001.

The duo of Stan Sanderson and Phillip Covshoff are sub-contractors for Heinz. But unlike a lot of suppliers, they work on-site and are considered a profit recovery centre.

James paints a typical scenario to help us understand Post Audit Recovery.

"Let's say we have a customer who goes back in time and states that a Heinz promotion of promised funds were never received, Post Audit Recovery acts as "sleuths" to try and determine whether that claim is valid. This Involves a great deal of investigation and data documentation so we, as a company, can present an argument that shows we acted properly."

Post Audit Recovery accesses financial archives, sales documentation and accounting files to prove the case that an invoice issued by Heinz was correct and took into account any discounts that were offered.

"We needed to have a dedicated team whose job was the relentless pursuit of monies owed to Heinz," explains James. To date, he estimates Post Audit Recovery has positively impacted the bottom line in the mid six figure range. He also estimates that potentially 85 per cent of customer claims are invalid and so it is imperative that Heinz defend and collect on monies owed.

He stressed the importance of Sales and Marketing actively participating in the post audit work. "We all should be aware that promotions and deductions periodically come full circle and end up in post audits. We're striving for better results but need the support of each functional area when it comes to validating our work. It's rewarding to know that every successful effort impacts the company's balance sheet in a positive way."

Claims Recovery Group Inc.

Sleuthing For Dollars