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other services. These touch on factors that fall, all too often, outside the awareness of even the most astute managers.
Bills can be so numerous and complex, and the factors affecting the execution of contracts so labyrinthine, that a forensic audit is required to uncover overpayments and missed savings opportunities. Some of the common billing errors include:
• inaccurate estimated meter reads;
• delivery and transmission cost miscalculations;
• taxation anomalies;
• cubic feet to cubic meter conversion errors;
• double billings;
• missed rebates;
• overcharges caused by faulty meters;
• misclassification of accounts;
• charges under inappropriate rate tariffs;
• illegitimate administration fees; and
• late-payment rates charged against on-time payments.
Normally, when such errors are identified, utilities and other service providers can be held liable for overcharges for retroactive periods of up to two years. In more serious situations, however, when a problem originates further in the past, liability may extend back much further.
If all of this strikes readers as implausible, this may be due to a misconception about utilities and other service providers. They cannot be counted upon to have the best interests of their customers in mind. Their billing staff may well act in good faith, but it is natural that energy suppliers and other service providers should advance their own interests, and that their employees should be paid to do the same.
Again, this is not to ascribe malice to these companies or their employees but rather, it is to state to the obvious and to observe that given the complexity involved, and given the admitted focus of billing staff, golf business owners would do well to question the accuracy of their bills. Numerous errors and issues can indeed affect them, and these will remain undetected if adequate, expert effort is not made to uncover them.
IS A FORENSIC AUDIT OF YOUR BILLS REQUIRED?
A full forensic audit of all your bills may not be required. But it should be borne in mind that significant errors do occur across many utilities and services, and business owners do sometimes end up perpetuating the effect of past mistakes by doing little more than to compare current charges to bills from previous years. The problem is that unbeknownst to them, those earlier bills may have been marked, already, by errors or inaccuracies that a mere year-to-year comparison will not illuminate. Trusting that one’s utility and service providers are always careful in their approach to your business, that they always propose the best, most competitive terms when offering new contracts, and that they always proceed in good faith, can lead to wasted savings opportunities and overlooked occasions to obtain refunds.
Unfortunately, many golf course owners and managers do not have the resources, time, or the expertise to verify and validate their expendi- tures in this way, or to identify billing errors and unintentional overcharg- es. Whether they have recourse to a third-party firm, or choose to undertake an “audit” internally, golf businesses should make the effort to detect and remedy factors—apart from consumption and efficiencies— that affect the cost of electricity, natural gas, water/sewer, industrial gases, waste and recycling, telecom- munications, and other services.
If an extensive audit of service contracts and bills, or detailed verifi- cation of past invoices, is required, to enlist the services of a specialist firm may well be worth the effort. There is a significant potential for refunds and savings for businesses that are willing and able to do this, especially if they follow up with ongoing monitoring at the same “granular” scale, with regular scrutiny of pricing and contract terms and conditions.
A strong contrast exists between the felicity of sculpted links, parkland, and heath, and the too often undetected, subterranean disarray that can sap the best efforts of a golf business, in control of its consumption and as efficient as possible, to manage in hard times. Golf is respite amid chaos and the course is still a haven. May Canadian golf business owners, cultivating and maintaining these placid spaces, have peace of mind as they weather these difficult days.
Golf Business Canada
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Golf Business Canada