16 August 2013 Edition

Before SOX compliance and $4+ per gallon fuel, how much energy did your organization put into fleet fueling transactions? For most companies, the challenge has been to efficiently fuel your vehicles. Today, we face many more challenges with fewer people to administer procurement processes. What is required for your organization to efficiently manage fuel procurement for hundreds or thousands of assets? Do you currently receive Duplicate Billings? Are your fuel transactions Accurately Priced? Are you paying for the Right Quantity? Do you receive Odometer Readings for each asset? Can you reasonably verify MPG to minimize possibilities of Theft or Fraud prior to approving payment?

Your responses may vary. According to industry sources, many large fleets are reporting mixed audit results. One particular company paid $200K+ in duplicate billings. Another company reported fueling vehicles from other carriers on their property. Others were overcharged rates well beyond agreed upon contracts. These occurences were most likely due to human error, lost tickets, hard-to-read manual capture of fueling events. There are probably as many lost or mis-billings in favor of the Buyer as there are the Seller.

Manual Transactions

Upon examination of common methods used to capture transactions, gathering tickets, reconciling gallons, keying in data, manually pricing tickets, and uploading files: it’s clear the culprit is too many manual touch points.

Manual Intervention

Less than 20% of mobile refueling companies make deliveries that post directly to payables without manual intervention. Buyers want as few service providers as possible but it’s difficult to find suppliers that over national coverage. As a result, transactions are passed

back and forth between entities several times before they finally reach perceived consolidated billings. The lack of a true digital thread from most fueling trucks means transactions cannot stand up to the scrutiny of SOX compliance and security audits.

Advanced Technology

Many progressive fuel suppliers have millions in their respective transaction platforms. Do buyers always consider transaction integrity in their selection process? Do buyers switch providers for a penny a gallon even though the lower cost provider is performing the service without digital technology to insure transaction integrity?

Many buyers are now requiring onboard truck technology that TRULY captures digital fueling events with the highest integrityto support a security audit trail. That way verified transactions are posted to web portals to scrub transactions with virtually NO MANUAL intervention real-time.

Technology Solutions Already Exist

Imagine you are able to capture these critical data points from the first click of the meter flowing gallons into your vehicles:

• Asset Number

• Odometer

• Weights and Measures accurate totalizers and gallons

• GPS Locations

And in real time provide Buyers and Auditors visibility to digital transactions as they occur. Plus, what would be the value of the data sent to pricing engines automated to generate and scrub pricing and sent to your Payables system. Will you consider these points the next time you select a supplier or buyer? How will your next audit look now?

By Dan Warren

Fuel Audits: How Is Your Next Audit Looking?

Fleet Fueling Special Supplement • Best Practices and Strategies for Fueling Your Fleet Smarter and More Efficiently 17