Happier Vendors

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Happier Vendors.

Big surprise…your vendors don’t like old recovery audit claims.  Many vendors are addressing their dislike by not accepting claims after their fund closes or after a stated amount of time from the transaction.  Nestle, for example, won’t accept recovery audit claims after six months from the transaction.  P&G won’t accept recovery audit claims after the close of the fund.

Taking 12-24 months to address your recovery audit claims isn’t good for your company either.  Of course you would prefer to have your funds now instead of later, but how?

The Answer is…

The near real-time error detection and correction solution that’s leading grocers across the country have adopted to perform monthly reviews.  RecoverNOW™ offers near real-time error detection and correction within 90 days of the transaction.  Not only do you accelerate cash flow and avoid losing funding from last year, you can improve your vendor relationships.

Weis Markets CFO Scott Frost said, “Moving the recovery audit closer to the transaction date has definitely improved the category manager/vendor relationship. And we get our money sooner.”

Better For Everyone

Every relationship has points of contention.  Just like marriages, finances are often at the root of vendor/merchant relationship challenges. Merchants will tell you that old claims are an aggravation to vendor relationships and interference to negotiating today’s deals.

Tops’ CFO Rick Mills reports, “In the spirit of vendor partnership, near real-time recovery audit is much better.  The situation is fresher in our minds and the turn-around time is faster for our cash.  Ultimately, this change improves our buyers’ margins and funding.”

Increased Recoveries.  Happier Vendors.

Near real-time reviews  increase recoveries  because errors are detected and presented as adjustments to individual invoices close to the transaction; this makes it easier for vendors to digest.

Now retired Hy-Vee Vice President of Purchasing and Marketing Mark McQuistan reported, “Implementing a near real-time recovery audit process is helping us eliminate the negative aspects of recovery audits.  Traditional post-annual audits were a disaster for vendor relations.  Buyers are now enjoying less recovery work.  The buyers and venders are happier. ”

NOW Can Make You Happy, Too.

ATG’s RecoverNOW™ reduces the human resources required to perform a recovery audit, so it is a cost-effective solution that both digs deeper and can do so more frequently. RecoverNow™ replaces the annual audit process with monthly reviews.  What does accelerated recovery mean to you?

• You recover your funds sooner!

• You recover more  because the errors are detected and corrected immediately as invoice adjustments while they are fresh in everyone’s mind.

• Your current year funds are not impacted by last year’s claims.

• You benefit with improved vendor relations and margins.

To learn more about getting faster recoveries and happier vendors with RecoverNOW™, contact ATG Vice President Paul Dinkins at pdinkins@atgaudits.com or (970) 672-4147.

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Error Detection and Correction is NOW

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Error Detection and Correction is NOW!

“Scan and bag” while you shop technology, smart phone loyalty cards, and Peapod’s “shop while you wait for your train” are improving the customer experience while requiring less of their time.  So while your customers are enjoying the benefits of real-time technology, why are you relying on last year information for your recovery audits?

Legacy recovery audits are literally last year (or the year before that).  And like VHS recorders, the days of expecting vendors to accept 12-18 month-old claims is coming to an end.

The NOW Generation

Forward-thinking grocers have tossed the legacy recovery audit process like a pair of worn out sneakers and replaced it with near-real time error detection and correction technology.  Weis Markets CFO Scott Frost adopted ATG’s RecoverNOW™ solution in 2009.  Frost stated, “I really don’t know why any retailer would want to continue with traditional recovery auditing.  I believe the traditional post-annual recovery audit will be non-existent in the next 10 years.”

“Moving the recovery audit closer to the transaction date allows Weis to address errors sooner. Our vendor partners can rectify inaccuracies in the same funding year, not one or two years later. It has definitely improved the category manager/vendor relationship. And we get our money sooner,” said Frost.

Bridging the Needs of Finance and Merchandising

HyVee also reports improvements on many levels.  Prior to his retirement, Hy-Vee then Vice President of Purchasing and Marketing Mark McQuistan reported, “Implementing a near real-time audit process is helping us eliminate the negative aspects of recovery audits.  Traditional post-annual recovery audits were a disaster for vendor relations.  Buyers are now enjoying less recovery work.  The buyers and venders are happier. ”

“We are getting all the money we deserve and getting it faster.  And that makes everyone happy. I see no negatives to near real-time error detection and correction,” said McQuistan.

Everyone Wins When You Get it Right Sooner.

ATG’s RecoverNow™ technology provides near real-time error detection and correction within 90 days of the transaction.  Near real-time recovery audits can increase recoveries by as much as 30 percent because errors are detected and presented as adjustments to individual invoices close to the transaction.  Rather than old, larger aggregated claims, vendors are presented with timely individual invoice adjustments eliminating age-related rejection by vendors.

Tops Friendly Markets took “now” to a new level as ATG’s first client to adopt monthly recovery audits.   Its merchandise managers, vendors and accounting firm are seeing impressive benefits.  Tops’ CFO Rick Mills reports, “Since moving our recovery audit process in-house to existing staff with near real-time technology, we are on track to reduce our recovery expense by almost half.  These changes will accelerate our recovery by at least one year.  The faster turn-around time for our cash is extraordinary.”

How Does NOW Work?

ATG’s RecoverNOW™ reduces the human resources required to perform a recovery audit, so it is a cost-effective solution that both digs deeper and can do so more frequently. RecoverNow™ replaces the annual audit process with monthly reviews.

RecoverNOW™ can be implemented in a few as eight weeks.  It is available as both an outsourced and in-house solution.

What Do We Know About NOW?

ATG was founded as a recovery audit firm for the grocery sector. Today, ATG is a technology company providing recovery audit and analytics solutions for all large retail entities.

ATG continues to be the only demonstrated, near real-time audit service provider to retail. We leverage technology to do 12 times a year what our competitors  do once or twice a year.  Of yeah, and we do it without offshoring jobs.

So…I guess you can say we perfected NOW.

Out with the old (ways).  In with the new (money).

Legacy recovery audits are passé.  Why wouldn’t you want your money today rather than 18 months later?

If you want to explore joining the NOW generation, contact ATG Vice President Paul Dinkins at pdinkins@atgaudits.com or (970) 672-4147.

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Do You Know

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Do You Know?

Legacy recovery audits review transactions and seek recoveries 12-24 months after the original transaction date.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best we could do with the technology available.

But now, in addition to losing the use of the cash for more than a year, some recoveries are lost completely as it is becoming more common for vendors to place limits on the age of claims they will accept.  Nestle, for example, is now telling many grocery clients they won’t accept recovery audit claims more than six months from the transaction.  Other vendors don’t accept claims after the close of the fund.

The Math

Do you know how much money you have lost in:

• unrecovered overpayments?
• taking old claims out of current funds?

What if you could eliminate your losses, and instead, increase your recoveries by as much as 30 percent?

Adopted By Other Leading Grocers

There is a solution that offers near real-time error detection and correction within 90 days of the transaction.  RecoverNOW™ has already been successfully adopted by leading grocery chains to perform reviews monthly.

Weis Markets CFO Scott Frost states, “Moving the recovery audit closer to the transaction date allows us to address errors sooner. It has definitely improved the category manager/vendor relationship. And we get our money sooner.”

Hy-Vee’s retired Vice President of Purchasing and Marketing Mark McQuistan stated, “I see Hy-Vee making more money because of this important change. In the past when we found a problem from one or two years back, the ‘recovered funds’ were often taken from this year’s promotional funding.  Because we are addressing issues within the same fiscal year, we are able to maximize the best possible deals for our customers.  That makes everyone happier.”

Tops’ CFO Rick Mills reports, “The faster turn-around time for our cash is extraordinary.”

And, in the spirit of vendor partnership, near real-time recovery is much better.  The situation is fresher in our minds and the turn-around time is faster for our cash.  Ultimately, this change improves our buyers’ margins and funding.”

Recover Overpayments

Stop losing money.  Replacing legacy recovery audits with near real-time error detection and correction means increasing recoveries and accelerating cash flow.

RecoverNow™ technology provides near real-time error detection and correction within 90 days of the transaction.  Near real-time audits can increase recoveries by as much as 30 percent because errors are detected and presented as adjustments to individual invoices close to the transaction.  Rather than old, larger aggregated claims, vendors are presented with granular, timely individual invoice adjustments eliminating age-related rejection by vendors.

It Is The Future NOW

We think Weis’ CFO Scott Frost said it best, “I don’t know why any company wouldn’t do what we are doing. I really don’t know why any retailer would want to continue with traditional recovery auditing.”

To learn more about how near real-time error detection and correction can benefit your company, contact ATG Vice President Paul Dinkins at pdinkins@atgaudits.com or (970) 672-4147.

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Improve Your of Cash and Improve Vendor Relations

And did we mention the one-time windfall?