Carrier Bill Audit and Automatic Payables

This article explains how the Tai TMS audits incoming carrier bills against the rate you agreed to, automatically approves the ones that match, routes the ones that do not to staff for review, and decides who a bill is payable to.

Overview

When a carrier sends you an invoice for a load, the Tai TMS checks that invoice against the rate already recorded on the shipment before it becomes a payable. If the carrier billed what was expected — within a small allowance for rounding and minor differences — the system approves and records the bill on its own, with no staff involvement. If the carrier billed noticeably more or less than the agreed rate, the system does not create the bill. Instead it flags the charges as a variance and puts the item on a review list so a person can look at it and decide what to do. The result is an exception-only workflow: bills that match flow straight through, and staff spend their time only on the ones that do not.

How it works

Carrier bills reach the Tai TMS through several channels — an electronic carrier freight invoice (EDI), a bill-processing or document service that reads scanned invoices, an electronic-pay feed, a bulk upload of bills from the Approve Bills screen, or a bill entered against an unmatched shipment. However the bill arrives, the audit works the same way:

Match the bill to the shipment. The system identifies which shipment and which carrier charges the incoming bill belongs to, using the shipment's reference and PRO numbers.
Compare totals. It compares the carrier's billed total to the agreed carrier cost recorded on the shipment (the sum of the amounts you expected to pay that carrier).
Decide within or outside tolerance.
- Within tolerance → the bill is approved and recorded automatically. When the billed amount differs slightly from the expected amount but stays inside the allowance, the small difference is absorbed into the shipment's carrier charges so the recorded bill matches what the carrier actually billed.
- Outside tolerance → no bill is created. The shipment's carrier charge lines are flagged as a variance, the discrepancy is noted in the shipment's activity history, and the item appears on the bill-variance review list.
Staff work only the exceptions. From the variance review list, staff can open a flagged bill, see how the billed amount differs from the expected amount, and then resolve the variance, send the bill on for payment, or mark it as do-not-bill. The same Approve Bills screen also lets staff approve bills by hand, update them, move a shipment to variance, and — with the Create Invoice option — create the customer's invoice at the same time.

By default the allowance is $2 when the carrier billed less than expected and $1 when the carrier billed more than expected. Each organization can set its own underbilling and overbilling allowance, and when it does those values replace the defaults. Bills that pass the audit also receive a due date, so approved payables are ready to be scheduled for payment.

Who a bill is payable to. A carrier's bill can be paid to a name and address that differ from the carrier's own, for example a factoring company. On accounts that use the carrier Remit To setting, you choose one of four options for each carrier: the carrier's name, the carrier's DBA (doing-business-as) name, the carrier's factoring company, or a company name and address you enter yourself. When the carrier is saved, the system copies the chosen option's name and address onto the carrier's remit-to details, and bills use those saved details:

Carrier name or DBA name uses the carrier's mailing address, or its primary address when no mailing address is on file. A DBA choice with no DBA on file uses the carrier's name.
Factoring company uses the factoring company's name and invoice address, and a factoring company must be selected to save. When the factoring company's details are edited, every carrier that remits to it is updated.
Entered company requires a company name, street address, city, two-letter state, and ZIP code before the carrier can be saved.

Choosing any option other than the factoring company removes the factoring company from the carrier. On accounts that use the Remit To setting, the pay-to name and address are saved on the bill when the bill is registered, and staff can change a bill's pay-to afterward; later edits to the carrier's Remit To setting do not rewrite bills that already exist. On accounts that do not use the Remit To setting, a carrier bill's pay-to address is the invoice address of the carrier's factoring company if one is assigned, otherwise the remit-to address entered on the carrier, and no separate pay-to name is saved on the bill.

Canadian tax. Canadian tax charges (GST, HST, and PST) belong to the customer side of a shipment. On accounts with Canadian tax handling turned on, a tax line carries no carrier cost: it is never part of a carrier bill, it is not part of the carrier total the audit compares, it is excluded from carrier cost totals and from margin, and it is hidden on carrier-facing documents such as carrier confirmations and the bill document. The customer's invoice still shows the tax.

Business rules & limits

Matching totals are approved automatically. A carrier bill that matches the agreed rate within the allowed tolerance is recorded as a payable without staff review. This is the normal, hands-off path for the majority of bills.
Out-of-tolerance bills are held, not paid. When the carrier billed more or less than the agreed rate by more than the allowance, the Tai TMS does not create the bill. It flags the charges as a variance so a person reviews the difference before anything is approved. The system never quietly pays a bill that disagrees with the agreed rate.
Underbilling and overbilling can be treated differently. The allowed difference for a carrier billing less than expected ($2 by default) can be set separately from the allowance for a carrier billing more than expected ($1 by default), and these allowances can be configured per organization rather than being one fixed number.
Small in-tolerance differences are absorbed. When an approved bill is a little off from the expected amount but still within tolerance, the minor difference is folded into the shipment's carrier charges so the recorded payable equals what the carrier actually billed.
An already-billed charge is not billed again. If a shipment's carrier charge has already been billed, the system treats it as settled and does not create a duplicate bill from a later incoming invoice.
A factoring company does not change the audit. The bill amount is still compared to the carrier's charges. A factoring company only affects who the bill is payable to: a bill is made payable to the factoring company named on the shipment only when the carrier's Remit To setting is the factoring company; otherwise the bill is payable to the carrier.
A bill that can't be matched won't auto-approve. If the incoming invoice cannot be tied to the shipment's carrier charges — for example, because the reference or PRO number does not line up, or the carrier does not match the shipment — the audit cannot complete automatically, a note is added to the shipment, and the bill will not be auto-approved.
Approved bills get a due date from payment terms. When a bill is approved, its due date is calculated from the bill date plus the carrier's agreed payment terms (30 days when no terms are on file), so it enters the payables workflow with a scheduled due date. If the bill's source supplies its own due date, that date is used instead.
The pay-to follows the carrier's saved Remit To details. The carrier screen will not save an entered pay-to without a company name and a complete address, or a factoring-company choice without a factoring company. A DBA choice with no DBA on file uses the carrier's name, and a carrier with no mailing address uses its primary address. Bill approval does not check the pay-to name. The Approve Bills list shows the carrier's own name, while the address shown is the carrier's pay-to address.
Canadian tax is customer-side only. Where Canadian tax handling is on, tax lines are not payable to the carrier, are not included in the carrier total or margin, and do not appear on carrier-facing documents. When a bill or invoice is later adjusted, tax lines are matched by their tax type and are not overwritten by ordinary charges.
Correcting an approved bill. Staff can modify an approved bill's details in place, or add a bill adjustment, which creates a new bill numbered after the original with an "R" and a revision number (for example, 12345 R1).

Frequently asked questions

How does the Tai TMS decide whether to approve a carrier bill automatically?

In the Tai TMS, an incoming carrier bill is compared to the carrier cost already recorded on the shipment. If the billed total matches the agreed rate within a small tolerance ($2 under or $1 over by default), the bill is approved and recorded automatically. If it differs by more than the tolerance, the bill is not created and is flagged as a variance for staff to review instead.

What happens when a carrier bills more or less than the agreed rate?

In the Tai TMS, a carrier bill that is over or under the agreed rate by more than the allowed tolerance is held rather than approved. The system flags the shipment's carrier charges as a variance, records the discrepancy in the shipment's activity history, and lists the item for staff review. A person then decides whether to resolve it, send it on for payment, or mark it do-not-bill.

Do staff have to review every carrier bill?

No. The Tai TMS uses an exception-only workflow: carrier bills that match the agreed rate within tolerance are approved and recorded automatically with no staff involvement. Staff only need to review the bills that fall outside tolerance and land on the variance review list, which keeps their attention on genuine discrepancies.

Is the tolerance the same for a carrier billing too much and a carrier billing too little?

Not necessarily. In the Tai TMS the allowed difference for underbilling (the carrier billed less than expected, $2 by default) can be set separately from the allowance for overbilling (the carrier billed more than expected, $1 by default), and each organization can set its own values rather than relying on a single fixed number.

What if a carrier bill can't be matched to a shipment?

In the Tai TMS, if an incoming carrier bill cannot be tied to the shipment's carrier charges — commonly because the reference or PRO number does not match — the audit cannot complete and the bill is not approved automatically. It will not become a payable until the matching problem is sorted out, which prevents a bill from being applied to the wrong shipment.

How is a carrier bill's due date set once it's approved?

In the Tai TMS, when a carrier bill is approved its due date is calculated from the bill date plus the carrier's agreed payment terms, using 30 days when no terms are on file. If the incoming bill source provides its own due date, that date is used. This gives every approved payable a scheduled due date so it can be planned and paid on time.

Does the system change the shipment's charges when it approves a slightly different bill?

In the Tai TMS, when an approved bill is a little off from the expected amount but still within tolerance, the small difference is absorbed into the shipment's carrier charges so the recorded bill equals what the carrier actually billed. Larger differences are not absorbed — they are treated as a variance and held for review.

Who is a carrier bill made payable to?

In the Tai TMS, a carrier bill's pay-to name and address come from the carrier's Remit To setting, which can be the carrier's name, the carrier's DBA name, the carrier's factoring company, or a company name and address that you enter. This lets a bill be paid to a factoring company or an alternate remit-to company without changing the carrier record itself. The pay-to name is saved on the bill when the bill is registered; staff can change it on an individual bill, and changing the carrier's setting later does not rewrite bills that already exist.

Does a blank "pay to" company name stop a carrier bill from being approved?

No. In the Tai TMS, bill approval does not check the pay-to name. On accounts that use the carrier Remit To setting, the carrier screen requires a company name and a complete address when you choose to enter the pay-to yourself, so a carrier saved there has one. A DBA choice with no DBA on file uses the carrier's name.

Why does the Approve Bills list show the carrier's name when the bill pays a factoring company?

In the Tai TMS, the Approve Bills list always shows the carrier's own name, while the address shown is the carrier's pay-to address. On accounts that use the carrier Remit To setting, the factoring company or entered pay-to name is applied to the bill when the bill is registered.

How are Canadian tax lines treated on carrier bills?

In the Tai TMS, where Canadian tax handling is turned on, GST, HST, and PST lines are customer-side charges only. They are not part of a carrier bill, they are not counted in the carrier total that the audit compares, they are excluded from carrier cost totals and margin, and they are hidden on carrier-facing documents such as carrier confirmations. The customer's invoice still shows them.

How do I correct a carrier bill that has already been approved?

In the Tai TMS, staff can modify the approved bill's details in place, or add a bill adjustment, which creates a new bill with the original number plus an "R" and a revision number (for example, 12345 R1) that carries the added or corrected charges. If the bill has already gone to your external accounting system, the adjustment is the version that syncs; edits made in place stay in the Tai TMS only.