APEX Analytix Applauds New Law Governing 'Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery'

GREENSBORO, N.C., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Executives at APEX Analytix are applauding passage of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (S1508) – legislation that places a newfound emphasis on auditing the payments the federal government makes to its vendors.  

APEX Analytix is a global leader in software and services to safeguard disbursements, identify fraud, waste and abuse, and improve performance throughout the full lifecycle of the government contracting process.  The company is a market leader in recovery audit services for the manufacturing and service sectors and a leading provider of software to Fortune 500 companies for detecting fraud, risk and abuse.

"Government agencies face the same fiscal challenges of any large corporation," says Steve Yurko, CEO of APEX Analytix. "They work with invoice volumes of hundreds of thousands to multiple millions annually.  In even the best-run organization, fraud and waste occurs, and the costs can add up quickly."

The new legislation requires agencies to adopt best practices now used in the commercial sector, including regular audits to detect overpayments and to recover lost revenues.  Importantly, the law also calls for the head of each federal agency to conduct financial management improvements to address the problems that cause improper payments.  APEX Analytix has helped many of the largest private-sector organizations in the United States meet this requirement through the implementation of its FirstStrike® Commercial Accounts Payable Performance Platform.

"Commercial companies know prevention is one of the most efficient ways to manage overpayments," Yurko said.  "It's far less costly and time-consuming to prevent an overpayment in the first place than to recover the dollars after they've been paid."

To continuously monitor accounts payable and halt payment errors in their tracks, many businesses have turned to sophisticated software solutions such as FirstStrike®.  Complex algorithms detect duplicate payments and help cash-strapped organizations improve their bottom line.  Using the data the software captures, they also can improve invoice and payment efficiency, ensure compliance with contract prices and discounts, analyze procurement card data, manage cash flow and clean up master vendor files.

"The new law puts government agencies on the path to improved fiscal responsibility and encourages the same prevention-oriented mindset adopted by the world's largest private sector organizations," Yurko said.  "This is great news for the nation's taxpayers."

The Act requires agencies to report on the nature and consequence of improper payments and the Inspector General of each agency to determine compliance with the Act.  Robust reporting capabilities are provided as part of every APEX Analytix recovery audit service engagement via FirstStrike® software.  These include over 100 available reports and an unlimited number of custom reports and variations that can support the Act's reporting requirements.

Specific S1508 Mandates and How APEX Analytix Addresses Them

The specific mandates included in S1508 reflect many of the same financial controls established for businesses by the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.   Agency heads and their Inspectors General are compelled to identify programs and activities that represent a financial risk and may be susceptible to significant improper payments.

Among the requirements of the legislation are following:

• Risk factors must be considered when conducting improper payment reviews, such as the newness and complexity of the program, the volume of payments made, etc.  APEX Analytix offers Disbursement Risk Analysis services, as well as software for isolating and reporting high-risk vendors and transactions in a continuous monitoring framework.
• Agency heads must conduct recovery audits for programs that expend $1 million or more annually if such audits would be cost-effective.  APEX Analytix FirstStrike® Accounts Payable software reduces recovery audit costs by automating procedures formerly handled manually.  The application quickly and affordably identifies overpayments, such as duplicate payments, paid credit memos, cash discounts, pricing errors and more so they can be corrected prior to disbursement.
• Agency heads must conduct financial management improvement programs to address problems that contribute directly to improper payments. FirstStrike® produces reports that isolate process weaknesses so agencies can shore up their internal controls.  It also can be used to provide continuous monitoring and protection of accounts payable disbursements.  

About APEX Analytix

APEX Analytix helps companies unlock their potential by maximizing their profitability and safeguarding disbursements against fraud, waste and abuse globally.  Our innovative people, processes and technology have transformed the audit recovery industry – led by FirstStrike®, our family of standards-based software.  For more than 15 years, FirstStrike® has been used by some the largest accounts payable teams on the planet to detect and prevent errors, halt fraud in its tracks and improve procure-to-pay performance.  APEX Analytix also is the world's leading provider of recovery audit and risk analysis services for the manufacturing, retail, government, services, healthcare and insurance sectors, where we help firms recapture lost profits and protect trillions of disbursements each year.  For more information, visit www.apexanalytix.com or call 800.284.4522.

APEX Analytix's business identification numbers related to government contracting are:

DUNS: 80-763-6766 and CAGE: 1WEG4

SOURCE APEX Analytix