I’m looking for some tips on how to close out my business year more effectively that won’t spoil my holiday mood. Can you help me out?
Sure thing, shoestring. (And by the way, nice Christmas sweater!)
Over the past month, our transportation experts have been making a list of several end-of-year best practices that they think every shipper should engage in, including these five festive suggestions. Happy reading – and happy holidays!
- Review any invoices that are on “hold status.” Clearing up as many of your exceptions as possible before year’s end will give your accruals an amazing and heart-warming holiday tinsel sparkle.
- Take a thorough look at your business rules, carrier selections and data collection. Then make a New Year’s resolution to streamline, optimize and gain actionable data.
- Now that the carriers have provided you with a huge lump of coal in terms of their annual rate increases, double-check your budgeting processes to make sure all of these impacts have been fully taken into account. And if you’re not sure what these impacts are, the busy elves at AFS will be happy to assist you.
- Consider doing a post-audit to help reclaim some of the money that’s due to you from years past. AFS has helped deliver a sleigh full of refunds back to our clients this year, which was Claus (oops, we meant “cause”) for great celebration.
- Don’t rely too much on Rudolph. He may be good at navigating by air. But he’s hopeless on water. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the latest ocean container surcharges and capacity challenges and make double-sure they’ve been factored into your landed cost and transportation timeline. Your accounting and shipping departments will thank you.
On a final note, thank you to all of our AFS clients for a wonderful year. We’re grateful for your business, and we’re looking forward to working with you in 2022. See you after the ball drop!
