Audit service could boost your bottom line

ALAN PEAT YOU COULD have thousands in overpaid customs duty in your shipping files, and an audit could help to gilt your bottom line. This is a the service offered by forwarding industry veteran, Pat Henegan Snr. - the founder of the Heneways Group. Now retired, and completely independent from Heneways, his new company, PD Henegan Freight Industry and Shipping Consultants, offers just such an audit function to the marketplace. “People are just not aware of the sheer size of overpayments,” he said, “and you can go back two years in your search for payment of excess duty.” What Henegan has found in the majority of companies is that the company directors mostly tend to leave the shipping business entirely in the hands of their shipping managers. “Nobody audits the shipping files apart from ensuring that the figures match those in the accounts,” he told FTW. “So any overpayments found in there are a pure bonus for the clients.” On the converse, any underpayments revealed can also be dealt with. And Henegan is offering his services only on a “payment for performance” basis. “There’s no fixed fee,” he said. “We only charge a finders fee of 25% of any overpayment found.” Henegan’s company also gives an undertaking of complete confidentiality, and has files insured while in its possession.