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Shipping & Logistics Accounting Outsourcing Services - BI-Outsource

The shipping and logistics industry will continue to face significant challenges in 2025. Fuel prices have risen by more than 12% since last year, and global logistics spending is predicted to top $12 trillion by 2026. With narrower margins and increased competition, organizations must rely largely on accounting efficiency to stay successful. BI outsourcing helps to simplify that aspect of the equation.

BI manages everything from freight audits to order monitoring and financial reconciliation, so you can focus on freight flow. Whether you're managing a fleet, organizing international shipments, or running a local distribution chain, our outsourced accounting services are designed to cut costs, improve visibility, and provide actionable insights.

BI-Outsource offers customized shipping and logistics accounting outsourcing services based on your company's specific needs.

Our Shipping & Logistics Accounting Outsourcing Services

  • Freight bill processing using the bill of lading (BOL), rate contracts, and cargo details.
  • Auditing invoices at the transaction level to catch problems such as duplicate entries or exaggerated freight charges
  • Entering orders and shipping information into ERP/accounting systems.
  • Claiming overbilling rebates from carriers
  • Issuing invoices, monitoring delivery exceptions, and tracking late shipments.
  • Posting purchase orders, fuel stubs, driver records, and timesheets.

  • Three-way invoice matching with purchase orders and rate contracts.
  • Automated invoice routing, exception handling, and approvals according to set budgets
  • Posting of invoices, purchase orders, and goods receipt notes
  • Detailed vendor reconciliation and aging reports.
  • Processing vendor payments to improve cash flow and provide early payment discounts
  • EFT (electronic fund transfer) requests and cash management

  • Bank reconciliation: lockbox, EFTs, credit card, and check payments.
  • Inter-company and clearing account reconciliation.
  • Reconciliation of merchant and agency accounts to confirm cash movement.
  • Driver log reconciliation for trip-based cost analysis.
  • Audit trails are conducted on a regular basis to ensure financial accuracy.

  • Recording payments made with credit cards, cheques, and cash deposits
  • Monthly AR aging reports with variance analysis
  • Identifying and resolving unpaid or partially paid invoices
  • Reconciliation of agent reports, merchant payments, and bank deposits.
  • To prioritize collection efforts, group receivables based on risk and recoverability.
  • Create AR summaries for internal teams.

  • Custom reports with KPIs like delivery timelines, freight volume, and fulfillment rates.
  • Full set of financial reports: profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, and dated receivables.
  • Technical insights are supplied regularly or quarterly, depending on customer preference.
  • Customized reporting packs that meet investor or compliance needs

  • General ledger upkeep and monthly accruals
  • Closing entries and reconciliation activities.
  • Travel and expense reporting, classified for tax and audit ease.
  • Manage fixed asset registers, depreciation schedules, and disposals.
  • Posting inter-company transactions to ensure internal transparency.

Accounting for shipping, freight and logistics

Freight forwarders, shipping agents, transporters and warehouse operators deal in many currencies, pass-through charges and long payment cycles. Profit per job or shipment is often unclear until long after the job is done.

We provide accounting and CFO support to logistics businesses in the US, with job-level costing and close control of receivables.

What we handle

  • Job or shipment costing, matching every revenue line to its freight, port and handling costs
  • Multi-currency invoicing, payments and exchange differences
  • Agent and carrier statement reconciliations
  • Receivables ageing and follow-up, and credit control by customer
  • Fleet and equipment costs, depreciation and maintenance tracking
  • Reimbursable and pass-through charges kept out of your revenue figures
  • sales tax, payroll tax and federal and state income tax compliance, including treatment of international transport services

How we work with logistics businesses

  1. We review your operating system or job files and how they reach accounting.
  2. We set up job-wise costing so every job shows revenue, cost and margin.
  3. Each month we reconcile agents, carriers and banks, and close the books.
  4. You get a report of margin by job, customer and route, and receivables at risk.

Get a proposal

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