First step
Contract clause review
Before checking invoices it is worth knowing whether the errors found can be used at all. A few clauses of your contract decide that — usually the ones that were never discussed when the contract was negotiated.
The two clauses that decide more than all the others
The invoice dispute deadline
Most forwarding and carriage contracts contain a clause that an invoice is disputed within a certain number of days of receipt and is deemed accepted afterwards. That number is usually weeks.
If your deadline is ten days, checking invoices backwards will produce findings that can no longer be used. Not because there were no errors, but because the deadline has passed.
The itemisation requirement
If the contract does not require an itemised invoice, the other side may send a single line — „freight and related services“. Such an invoice cannot be checked.
It is also the cheapest possible improvement: one sentence in the contract enables thirty checks.
What you receive
Clause matrix. Twenty-five clauses per counterparty: present, absent, or present against you. Each with a verbatim quote and a section reference — not our paraphrase.
Audit scope. How many of your documents fall inside the window used and how many fall outside. Per counterparty, because the deadlines differ.
Which checks will not run, and why. With the clause named.
Effect in money where it can be calculated. For the exchange-rate clause — from your own invoices. Elsewhere we say it is not calculable rather than printing a zero.
Requested wording. Samples, for the next contract renewal.
Questions for your lawyer. Clauses that may conflict with mandatory rules, with a verbatim quote and a reference to the rule.
What we do not do
We extract and compare the clauses, calculate their effect in money and supply sample wordings. We do not interpret the legal meaning of the clauses and we do not assess their validity — that is your lawyer's work. Where we see that a clause may conflict with mandatory rules, we flag the question and quote the clause verbatim, so that your lawyer does not have to search for it.
We do not draft contracts.
A clause can be in the contract and still not apply
The CMR Convention provides that a clause derogating from the Convention is void. That means a contractual shortening of the limitation period or a restriction of jurisdiction may not work for CMR carriage.
The Late Payment Directive provides that grossly unfair terms are not enforceable.
We flag such clauses and put the question to your lawyer. We do not decide whether they are valid — and we calculate the audit scope on what is written, not on what might not apply. The stricter side.
Why this is the first step and not one of the modules
Without this data an audit is sold with a scope part of which has no value. We would find errors in invoices whose dispute deadline has passed and present them as a result.
That is why the contract review comes first. And that is why its price is credited if you move to an audit within 6 months — the profile is needed for the audit in any case, and we do not produce it twice.
Price
Fixed, based on the number of contracts reviewed. No success fee applies — there is no recovered amount, the result works forward.
- one contract — 390 EUR
- two to five — 990 EUR
- six to fifteen — 2 490 EUR
- more — on request
Annual review — 290 EUR, or included in continuous control if you have it. The price is the same in all markets.
Submit contracts for review
What is needed
- Carriage, forwarding or terminal contracts (required)
If you do not have it: Without the contract there is nothing to extract the clauses from, and without them we do not know whether the errors found can be used at all. - Contract amendments and correspondence (without it some of the checks will not work)
If you do not have it: Without them we assess the base version — if the deadline was changed by an annex, we will not see it.