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In today’s global economy, volatility isn’t an exception—it’s the new operating condition. Trade tensions between major powers, shifting tariffs, rising inflation, and persistent supply chain fragility have all collided to create a challenging environment for multinational businesses. For many CFOs and finance leaders, the instinctive response to these pressures is to look at the revenue side of the equation. But there’s another technique for handling supply chain volatility that deserves equal attention: better profit recovery, control, and optimization of supplier spend through smarter accounts payable and supply chain operations.
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Illumis Global works with Fortune 1000 companies across the world, and we’ve seen firsthand how financial discipline in vendor management can result in significant profit recovery and create a meaningful difference in times like these. Let’s explore the hidden impacts of inflation and tariffs, the strain on AP and procurement teams, and the overlooked opportunities that accounts payable recovery audits can unlock.
Tariffs are reshaping global supply chains in real time. From U.S.-China friction to EU-UK policy adjustments and fluctuating duties across Asia, North America, and the Middle East, it’s harder than ever to maintain a stable cost baseline for international purchases. Tariffs don’t just raise prices—they create unpredictability. And with long lead times on capital goods, raw materials, or specialty components, invoices are often due months after a purchase order was cut. This lag, combined with shifting fee structures and regional pricing changes, creates fertile ground for mismatches.
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Then there’s inflation. While core inflation has cooled from its 2022 peak, prices are still elevated, particularly for categories like fuel, shipping, and essential materials. In our experience, the single largest impact of inflation has come from the rising cost of physical goods required to operate our clients’ businesses. While surcharges and fees do appear on invoices, the bigger challenge is understanding whether those increased prices reflect contractual compliance or whether they’ve crept in unnoticed. This distinction is where many organizations fall short.
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These aren’t one-off issues. They compound over thousands of transactions, across hundreds of suppliers, and in multiple currencies. In our experience, volatility almost always correlates with increased leakage—not because companies are careless, but because their systems and processes weren’t built for today’s pace of change.
Why AP and Procurement Teams Can’t Do It Alone: The Value of an Accounts Payable Recovery Audit During Supply Chain Volatility
When Tyler VanWormer, Director of EMEA Audit and Global Head of Consulting at Illumis Global, talks about the challenges our clients face, he compares AP and supply chain to “two teams digging from opposite sides of the same tunnel.” In theory, they should meet in the middle. In practice, the day-to-day demands of each function often make deeper collaboration difficult.
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Procurement is focused on sourcing, negotiating, and ensuring the continuity of supply while handling supply chain volatility. AP is focused on processing high volumes of invoices quickly and accurately. There’s little bandwidth to scrutinize individual line items or reconcile them with global contract terms, especially when each supplier might operate under a unique agreement.
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Tyler shares an example in the video above: a healthcare client processing over 100,000 invoices per month with a team of 10 people. Even with automated systems, the ability to detect nuanced billing errors or enforce special pricing clauses is limited. This isn’t a failure of talent or effort—it’s a structural limitation.
Techniques for Handling Supply Chain Volatility: How Profit Recovery Through AP Recovery Audits Creates Value
Accounts payable recovery audits are not audits in the traditional sense. They don’t measure compliance for regulatory filings or assess internal controls. Instead, they examine the flow of money from contract to invoice to payment, with the express purpose of identifying overpayments, missed credits, and terms violations.
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In today’s market, the opportunities for profit recovery are growing, not shrinking. Our team frequently uncovers issues such as:
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Recovery audits typically run 8 to 12 weeks, don’t require CapEx investment, and can be completed with minimal disruption to internal teams. The gains are real, documented, and provide tangible value for the business.
Among the most underutilized cost recovery levers are service level agreements (SLAs). These contract provisions stipulate penalties or refund mechanisms when supplier performance falls short—whether it’s response times, uptime guarantees, or even cleanliness standards in facilities management.
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According to Tyler, SLAs are written into contracts frequently but enforced infrequently. The reasons vary: some companies want to preserve supplier relationships, others simply forget the clauses exist. But enforcement doesn’t have to be confrontational. A third-party recovery audit can surface SLA violations professionally and factually, allowing companies to recoup losses without damaging strategic partnerships.
One Illumis client, a large healthcare provider, asked us to audit a supplier relationship governed by a Most Favored Nation clause—a rare contract structure that guaranteed equal or better pricing than the supplier’s other customers. To assess compliance, we had to examine contracts between the supplier and the client’s direct competitors.
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The result? A high-visibility discovery that went all the way to the C-suite and led to a strategic renegotiation—in addition to significant profit recovery. It’s a prime example of how organizations often don’t even know what they’re entitled to, or how to go about getting it.
The best companies don’t just recover money and move on. They use audit findings as a diagnostic tool for improving financial and operational discipline. In our work, we often find:
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By identifying root causes, companies can reduce future leakage, improve forecasting accuracy, and strengthen supplier governance. These are changes that continue to pay dividends long after the audit concludes.
Volatility doesn’t just test your systems—it tests your partnerships. Illumis Global has earned the trust of global enterprises by going beyond templated audits to deliver tailored insights across diverse industries and geographies.
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Our multilingual, multi-regional team is built to handle global complexity, from tariff-driven pricing shifts in APAC to contract compliance in North America and the EU. We’ve recovered millions in overcharges for clients in healthcare, oil & gas, manufacturing, retail, and logistics—not by pointing fingers, but by helping them close costly gaps they didn’t know existed.
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If your organization is in search of techniques for handling supply chain volatility, your finance strategy should evolve with the new, increasingly dynamic market. A recovery audit may not be the loudest lever to pull—but it could be the smartest.
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Working for Illumis for 21 years, Brush has been instrumental in the growth of the company. Brush served as Vice President at Illumis before stepping into the role of President / CEO and has been involved in all aspects of the company’s business throughout his career.
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Brush’s approach to his role centers on the motto of Illumis, Bright Ideas for Better Profits. Known for his loyalty, team building, and tough but fair expectations, he empowers employees to deliver, therefore fostering a company culture that ensures customers can count on people.