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Bectran Product Team
I
February 17, 2026
7 minutes to read
The hardest part of the credit team's job often has nothing to do with assessing credit risk or negotiating payment plans. It's simply locating proof that the job was done. In a perfect system, a product is delivered, a signature is captured, and the document is automatically attached to the invoice. The customer receives the bill, sees the proof of delivery (POD), and processes the payment. In reality, this process is rarely that simple.
Paperwork gets lost. Scans are illegible. The invoice's billing terms don't match the Bill of Lading. Accessorial charges (fees for extra services such as detention or layovers) lack the required approval signatures. When these documents are missing or incorrect, the invoice stops. It sits in a queue, aging, while the credit team stops their core work to chase down the operations team, the logistics provider, or the warehouse manager. The result is friction that has nothing to do with the customer's ability to pay and everything to do with administrative friction.
The frustration is rarely about the complexity of the finance data—it's almost always about process gaps between departments. The credit team is responsible for collecting cash, but the evidence required to collect that cash sits with the operations or logistics teams. Missing documentation creates three distinct problems: increased manual workload, technical dispute rejections, and total revenue loss.
The first sign of a paperwork problem is a slowing of the billing cycle. Invoices cannot go out, or they go out and are immediately disputed because the customer requires a POD that isn't there. This forces the credit team to become investigators, tracing transactions back to the date of service, finding out who the carrier was, and reaching out to internal partners to physically locate a document.
Invoices get held up needing PODs. AR teams reach out to Operations to determine why so many invoices now require paperwork and what can be done in the system to reduce increasing manual workload. As the business grows and volume increases, the method of manually emailing Ops for individual PODs stops working. It creates a backlog where cash is trapped simply because a PDF is missing.
Even when paperwork exists, it's often rejected for being incomplete or inconsistent. Large customers, particularly those with automated accounts payable portals, have strict requirements for backup documentation. If the billing terms on the invoice don't match the terms on the Bill of Lading, the portal may automatically reject the submission. If an accessorial charge is added for wait time but the driver didn't get the specific sign-off on the dock receipt, the entire invoice might be kicked back.
Thousands of dollars in past due balances get rejected due to bad or incomplete backup paperwork, billing terms not matching bills of lading, or accessorials needing approval. This is a data quality issue—the goods were delivered, but the narrative told by the paperwork didn't match the narrative told by the invoice. Until those two stories align, the balance remains uncollected.
The most severe consequence of manual POD workflows is the inability to collect at all. If paperwork is physically lost—if a driver misplaced the signed copy and no digital backup exists—the debt becomes invalid in the eyes of many customers. Without proof of service, there is no obligation to pay.
When Operations cannot locate the necessary documentation, accounts become non-collectible. This is the worst-case scenario: revenue is recognized, costs to deliver the service have been incurred, but cash cannot be realized due to a filing error.
Why, in an era of digital scanners and mobile apps, do teams still struggle to match invoices with delivery proof? The problem usually stems from a combination of siloed systems, manual handoffs, and rigid customer portals.
Operations teams prioritize speed and delivery—their primary goal is to get the truck unloaded and back on the road. Collecting a clean, legible signature and scanning it immediately is often a secondary priority. If the driver hands the paperwork to a dispatcher, who places it in a pile for later scanning, a time lag is introduced. The credit team issues the invoice based on the ERP data saying "Shipped," but the customer receives an invoice without the attachment. By the time the customer disputes the invoice (30–45 days later), the paperwork may be buried in a box or lost entirely.
Rejections often happen because billing terms don't match the bills of lading. This occurs when the order-entry data differs from what actually occurred on the dock. Perhaps the sales team entered "Prepaid" terms, but the dock receipt was marked "Collect." Perhaps the address on the invoice is the corporate HQ, but the B/L shows the specific warehouse location. Automated AP portals match these fields strictly; any mismatch results in a rejection that requires manual intervention to correct data that should have been clean at the source.
Accessorial charges are a frequent source of friction. A carrier might charge for two hours of detention time, and if that charge is added to the invoice, the customer expects to see a time-stamped log signed by their receiving manager. If the invoice includes the line item but the backup documentation only includes the standard delivery receipt, the invoice is flagged. The credit manager then has to go back to Ops to ask if they have the detention log—and often, the answer is no.
Solving this requires more than just asking Ops to scan faster. It requires a structural change in how credit and operations teams interact regarding documentation.
The most effective way to prevent POD-related disputes is to ensure invoices do not leave the building without PODs. Many teams operate on a "bill then verify" model, sending invoices immediately upon shipment confirmation to keep DSO low, hoping the paperwork will catch up. Moving to a "Proof First" model means pausing invoice generation until the system confirms that a POD is attached. While this might delay the invoice date by 24 hours, it significantly reduces the 45-day delay caused by a dispute.
Implementation Steps:
To address issues with incomplete or inaccurate backup documentation, teams need a quality-control step before data reaches the customer portal. This involves a quick audit of three key matching points: Do the bill-to and ship-to addresses on the invoice and the B/L match exactly? Is the PO on the invoice clearly legible on the B/L? Did we bill for 10 pallets when the receiver only signed for 8? Catching these errors internally is cheaper than resolving them after a customer rejection.
To avoid disputes over extra charges, establish a rule that no accessorial charge is added to an invoice without its specific supporting document. If a detention fee is entered, the system should require a link to the detention log. If the document isn't available, the line item is removed or placed on suspense until Ops provides proof. This prevents the main invoice from being held up due to a minor dispute over a secondary fee.
Fixing the POD workflow stabilizes the entire financial operation. Proper documentation is the difference between revenue and a write-off—ensuring paperwork is captured at the point of delivery protects the company's earnings. When the credit team constantly fixes paperwork errors, Ops has no incentive to improve. By reporting on "Revenue at Risk due to Missing Docs," the credit manager shifts accountability back to the source, making it an operational metric rather than a purely financial problem.
Customers don't enjoy rejecting invoices—it creates work for their AP teams too. Sending clean, fully documented invoices builds trust and signals that your company is organized and professional, which often leads to faster processing times in their payment runs.
Reducing the manual workload of POD retrieval requires persistence and cross-departmental cooperation. Use this checklist to identify where your process is breaking down:
By closing the gap between physical delivery and the digital invoice, you allow the credit team to focus on high-value tasks rather than chasing paper trails.
Invoices held up needing PODs? Thousands in past due rejected for incomplete backup paperwork or billing terms not matching bills of lading? Bectran's invoicing platform includes automated document interlock workflows that prevent invoice release without PODs or bills of lading attached, pre-submission validation logic that checks billing terms match delivery documentation before portal submission, accessorial approval requirements that link detention logs and extra charges to supporting documents, and centralized document management with AI-powered validation to flag incomplete or inconsistent paperwork—ensuring invoices stay submitted and cash isn't trapped due to missing PDFs. See how invoice automation works.
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