ADB FREIGHT COST AND SPEND AUDIT
Find Out Exactly Where Your Freight Money Is Going
Introductory fee £1,495 (standard fixed fee £3,500). Covers up to 150 shipments across up to 6 months of activity. See a sample report →
Is This Audit Right For Your Business?
If your business ships regularly by air, sea, road or multimodal, works with one or more freight forwarders or carriers, and has never had an independent, specialist review of what you’re actually being charged — this audit is built for you.
- You use freight forwarders or carriers regularly
- You have freight/spend data available — invoices, reports, spreadsheets or system exports
- You don’t currently have a sophisticated freight-audit system in-house
- You want an independent, expert view of where your freight spend is going
- You suspect there may be room to reduce costs — or simply want confirmation your freight spend is being well managed
What The Freight Cost & Spend Audit Covers
Scope
Up to 150 shipments, covering up to 6 months of activity.
Primary Data Sources
The audit works best from structured freight/spend data that you export or provide yourself. Suitable sources include:
- Excel spreadsheets
- CSV files
- TMS (transport management system) exports
- ERP exports
- Accounting or freight-spend exports, where suitable
- Freight reports you already produce internally
- ADB’s own standard Freight Data Template (available on request)
Invoices Are Optional
Freight invoices, rate cards, quotations and other supporting documents are not required to get started. You’re welcome to supply them where you’re comfortable doing so, or where they would help validate a particular finding — but detailed invoice-level validation can only be carried out where sufficient supporting evidence is supplied. If our initial analysis identifies something worth investigating further, we may come back and ask for specific supporting invoices or documents at that point.
You remain in control of your data. ADB can work from standard freight reports, spreadsheets or exports from your existing systems. Freight invoices are not required for the core freight-spend analysis. Where deeper validation would be useful, we may ask whether you’re comfortable providing selected supporting documents.
What ADB Analyses
Where supported by the supplied data, the audit may examine:
Spend & Cost Patterns
- Total freight spend
- Spend by carrier/freight forwarder
- Spend by transport mode
- Spend by lane/origin/destination
- Shipment frequency
- Shipment size/weight/volume patterns
- Cost per shipment
- Cost per kg/CBM or other appropriate unit where meaningful
Comparisons & Trends
- Carrier/forwarder comparisons
- Lane-cost comparisons
- Rate trends
- Surcharge patterns where present in the data
Opportunities & Anomalies
- Outliers/anomalies
- Consolidation opportunities
- Potentially avoidable premium freight
- Other evidenced cost-reduction opportunities
Every audit is grounded in your own data. ADB does not promise a specific percentage saving in advance — savings and findings are only quantified where the evidence you supply supports doing so.
What You Receive
- A professional ADB Freight Cost & Spend Audit Report
- A Management Executive Summary
- Prioritised Cost-Reduction Opportunities
- A Freight Spend Analysis
- Relevant charge/invoice findings, where supporting evidence permits
- A 30/60/90-Day Action Plan
- A 30-minute results consultation to talk through the findings
How It Works
- Enquiry — request your audit and tell us a little about your business and freight activity
- Review of data and scope — we send secure instructions to share your freight/spend data (invoices are optional) and review it to confirm the scope
- Written proposal — you receive a written proposal setting out the scope, fee and delivery timeframe
- Approval — nothing starts until you have reviewed and approved the proposal
- Payment — once you approve, we send a secure payment link
- Delivery — we complete your audit and you receive your full report, followed by a 30-minute call to talk through the findings
The delivery timeframe is agreed in your written proposal after we review your data and scope.
What’s Outside This Audit
The Freight Cost & Spend Audit is intentionally scoped. It does not include:
- Unlimited shipments
- Customs-duty or tax audits
- Legal or tax advice
- Full freight tenders or procurement exercises
- Direct carrier negotiation on your behalf
- Implementation projects
- Ongoing freight-spend auditing
- Unlimited follow-up consulting
Larger or more complex requirements — higher shipment volumes, longer periods, ongoing auditing, or full implementation support — can be quoted separately.
Pricing
£1,495
Introductory fee of £1,495 (standard fixed fee £3,500). Covers the full scope above: up to 150 shipments across up to 6 months of activity, a complete written audit report, and a 30-minute results consultation.
Independent Freight-Cost Expertise
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I don’t have every item on the list?
That’s fine — send what you have. We’ll confirm whether it’s sufficient to proceed, or let you know what else would help. For a fuller walkthrough of how to gather and organise freight-spend data before you start, see our guide: How UK SMEs Should Prepare Freight-Spend Data for an Independent Cost Review.
Do I need to provide freight invoices?
No — invoices are not required for the core audit. We work from structured freight/spend data such as spreadsheets, exports or reports. We may ask whether you’re comfortable providing specific supporting invoices later, only if that would help validate a particular finding.
Is my data kept confidential?
Yes. Your freight and shipment data are shared through a secure, access-controlled link — never as an open email attachment — and are only used to carry out your audit. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
What happens after I submit my enquiry?
We’ll confirm the audit is a good fit for your business, normally within one business day, and send secure instructions to share your data so we can review it and confirm the scope. You then receive a written proposal; a secure payment link follows once you approve it.
What if my business is bigger than the standard scope?
Let us know in your enquiry — larger volumes, longer periods and ongoing auditing can be quoted separately.
Do you work with businesses outside the UK?
Get in touch and we’ll confirm — the audit is designed primarily for UK-based importers, exporters and manufacturers.
How long does the Audit take?
The delivery timeframe is agreed in your written proposal after we review your data and scope.
Is this audit independent, or do you have ties to particular carriers?
ADB has no commission, referral, or reseller arrangements with any carrier, supplier, or software vendor. Findings are based solely on your own data.
Request Your Audit
Tell us a little about your business and freight activity. We’ll confirm whether the audit is a good fit, normally within one business day, and explain how to share your data so we can review it and confirm the scope. You then receive a written proposal; a secure payment link follows once you approve it.
How an Engagement Starts
- Enquiry — you get in touch via the contact form, email or phone with a brief description of what you’re looking for
- Review of data and scope — a free, no-obligation conversation and a review of your freight data to confirm whether this service is the right fit and agree the scope
- Written Proposal — if it’s a good fit, you receive a written proposal covering what’s included, the fee and the delivery timeframe
- Approval — work begins only once you’ve reviewed and approved the proposal — nothing starts before that
- Payment — once you approve, we send a secure payment link
- Delivery — the audit is delivered as agreed in your proposal, with findings and recommendations provided in writing
Not every enquiry is a good fit, and that’s fine — the review of data and scope exists to establish suitability honestly before any fee is proposed.