Freight Billing 101: A Guide

Freight Billing Process

Each company has a system for freight billing, but generally, each company’s process should include the following basic steps.

• Both shipper and carrier agree to the contract.
• When the goods are delivered, the carrier issues an invoice to the shipper.
• The invoice is then validated to make sure it has not been paid previously.
• Data is retained from the invoice for analysis.
• The payment amount is audited against the services for verification.
• A ledger code is added for accounting purposes.
• The invoice is paid and stored for records.

The above steps help the billing process run effectively. However, many errors can and do occur in billing.

The most common discrepancies, including incorrect fuel pricing documentation and failure to remove waived charges, are due to human error.

Optimize Your Freight Billing

Freight billing is essential to the shipping process since it protects all parties involved and lays out specifics for delivery.

Due to the importance of freight billing, in the past, most companies, had found it was worth the extra money to hire an auditing company to help with the process.

In the past, outsourcing billing to one of those auditing companies was the only option to ensure freight billing was done well.

In recent years, as most industries have gone digital, many logistics companies have found success and improved efficiency by employing certain types of freight auditing software.

Not only does auditing software safe time and money while decreasing errors, but it can even help locate logistical issues.

For more information on freight billing - including common challenges and seven common scenarios that waste time and money - download Freight Building 101: A Guide.