Guides

Working guides to finding and preventing margin drift across service vendor spend.

29 pages

• Accessorial Charge Audit: Surcharges Nobody ValidatesAccessorial charges like fuel surcharges and detention fees escape three-way matching. See how an accessorial charge audit checks them against contract terms.
• Continuous Enforcement vs. Periodic Audit: CadenceHow to choose between continuous contract-to-invoice enforcement and periodic margin drift audits, and where the two cadences fit together on the calendar.
• Diagnostic or Software: What to Buy FirstBuying enforcement software before a margin drift diagnostic means configuring rules that don't exist yet. Here's the right order to buy in.
• EBITDA Protection Levers Ranked by Speed to CashWhich margin drift fixes pay back fastest: internal AP recoveries, contract compliance corrections, or structural controls. Ranked and explained.
• Explaining a Gross Margin Gap to Your BoardGuide on explaining an unexplained gross margin gap to a board or sponsor using invoice-to-contract audit evidence. Part of the ValueXPA margin drift library.
• First 100 Days for a New Manufacturing CFOWhat should a new CFO at a $100M+ manufacturer prioritize in the first 100 days? A practical sequence for spend visibility and controls. Read the full guide.
• Fuel Surcharge Persistence in FreightFuel surcharges outlive the diesel spike that justified them. Here is how the overcharge survives a rate review, and the three checks that catch it.
• Labor Rate Deviations Against MSAs: A Buyer's GuideGuide to identifying and fixing labor rate deviations against MSAs, covering rate cards, escalation clauses, NTE caps, and invoice-to-contract matching.
• Maintenance & MSA Invoice Audit GuideA practical guide to auditing maintenance and MSA invoices against contract terms, NTE caps, and rate schedules for US manufacturers above $100M in revenue.
• Managed Services vs. In-House AP: The Real Cost ModelCFOs comparing finance managed services to in-house AP need more than headcount math. Here is the full cost model, control by control. Read the full guide.
• Margin Bridge: Separate Inflation From Non-ComplianceHow to build a gross margin bridge that splits real cost inflation from vendor non-compliance, so finance stops writing off recoverable margin loss.
• Margin Drift Diagnostic for Infor CloudSuite SyteLineHow margin drift shows up in Infor CloudSuite SyteLine, what its controls catch, what they miss, and how a diagnostic finds the gap. Read the full guide.
• Margin Drift Diagnostic for PlexHow margin drift shows up in Plex ERP: what shop floor and MES controls catch, what they miss, and where invoice drift accumulates. Read the full guide.
• Month-End Close for Multi-Entity ManufacturersWhy multi-entity manufacturers close slow, where AP drift hides in the close, and what controls shorten the cycle without adding headcount. Read the full guide.
• N-Way Invoice Matching ExplainedN-way invoice matching guide explaining what it checks, what it misses, and how contract compliance auditing closes the gap. Read the full guide.
• Off-Contract Resources: People Billed Outside ItHow to spot people billed on service invoices with no matching contract rate, role, or approval, and stop the leakage it causes. Read the full guide.
• Price File Governance and the Cost of Annual UploadsAnnual price file uploads leave twelve months of margin drift unmanaged. Here is why that gap opens and how to close it. Read the full guide.
• Rate Card Enforcement: Why Approved Timesheets Still FailGuide explaining why approved timesheets miss rate card errors and what rate card enforcement requires, covering the mechanism gap between timesheet approval.
• Scope Creep in Professional Services SOWsA practical guide for CFOs and AP leads on spotting, pricing, and preventing scope creep in professional services statements of work. Read the full guide.
• Scope Drift on Maintenance Work OrdersHow scope drift accumulates on maintenance work orders, which contract terms stop it, and how a contract compliance audit finds it in your spend.
• SLA Credits You're Entitled to and Never ClaimedSLA credits sit unclaimed in service contracts because nobody checks vendor performance against the contract. Here is how to find and claim them.
• Substitution pricing: part changes, price doesn'tWhen a vendor substitutes a part or SKU, the invoice can keep the old price. Here's how substitution pricing drift happens and how to catch it.
• Surcharge Sunset Dating as a ControlGuide on using surcharge sunset dating as a contract compliance control for AP and procurement teams at industrial manufacturers. Read the full guide.
• The Quarterly Margin Drift Review: A Control PatternA design pattern for running the margin drift review as a recurring quarterly control instead of a one-time audit, with ownership, cadence, and escalation.
• Unapplied Volume Rebates in Staffing ContractsGuide explaining why volume rebates go unapplied in staffing agreements and how to recover them, for CFOs and AP leads at $100M+ manufacturers.
• Vendor Master Hygiene and the Duplicate Vendor ProblemDuplicate vendor records let one supplier bill under two identities. Here's how it happens and what a clean vendor master actually checks. Read the full guide.
• Warranty Work Billed as New Work: How to Catch ItLearn how vendors bill warranty repairs as new work, why standard AP review misses it, and how to audit repair invoices against warranty coverage terms.
• What an AP Recovery Audit Finds and MissesA CFO's guide to what an AP recovery audit finds, what it misses, and why contract compliance and indirect spend audits close the gap. Read the full guide.
• Why Indirect Spend Gets Ignored Despite Its SizeIndirect spend is a large share of operating cost but gets little audit attention. Here is why it drifts and how to control it. Read the full guide.