Freight invoice audit ROI — estimate before you commit

A simple ROI sketch (benchmarks, not promises)

Take annual freight spend. Apply a 2–5% overcharge range as an industry benchmark for potential leakage. On $10M freight, that is roughly $200k–$500k of exposure to investigate — not a guaranteed recovery.

Subtract the cost of finding it: a full-time manual auditor or BPO often runs $80–150k/year, or about 40 hours/week of existing staff time. Contingency fees (e.g. 20% of recovered amounts) scale with results instead of headcount.

Worked example with a success fee

Suppose a pilot and first quarter recover $200k verified. At 20% contingency, the fee is $40k. Net to you: $160k — versus paying a fixed auditor whether recoveries appear or not.

If recoveries are near zero, contingency cost is near zero (after any agreed free pilot). That asymmetry is why CFOs prefer success fees when leakage is uncertain.

Get your number, not the industry’s

Benchmarks are for planning. Your contracts, carriers, and AP hygiene decide the real rate. Start with the free ROI calculator for a quick sketch, then upload 10 invoices to RecoverAudit for a free discrepancy report — that is the ROI input that matters.