Logistics Back Office Support — finance, audit and reporting under one roof.
Freight invoice audit, AR / AP processing, vendor onboarding, job costing reconciliation and MIS reporting — delivered by trained logistics finance specialists.
Overview
The freight forwarding back office is where margin is quietly lost. Duplicate invoices, mis-applied accessorials, missed credit notes, late vendor onboarding and slow month-end close all combine to shave 2–5 points off net margin for the average mid-market forwarder. Operanta's logistics back office desks fix this. We deploy dedicated offshore finance and operations professionals trained in freight invoice audit, 3-way matching, AP processing, AR collections, vendor onboarding, KYC, job costing reconciliation and MIS / KPI reporting. Our specialists work inside CargoWise, Magaya, GoFreight, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero and most ERP environments, and are aligned to the accounting standards of the United States (US GAAP), United Kingdom (UK GAAP / IFRS), Canada (ASPE / IFRS), European Union (IFRS) and the GCC (IFRS).
Why outsource the logistics back office?
A modern freight forwarding back office is high-volume, deadline-driven and increasingly automated — but full automation is years away. Until then, the back office relies on a workforce that is hard to hire locally, expensive to retain and routinely under-staffed during month-end. Operanta solves this by providing a dedicated offshore back office desk that operates as an extension of your finance team. We do not replace your CFO or controller; we replace the noise that prevents them from doing strategic work. The result: faster month-end close, fewer duplicate or overcharged invoice leaks, faster vendor onboarding and a cleaner balance sheet — typically at 50–60% of the fully-loaded local cost.
- USD 250K–USD 1M annual savings recovered on freight invoice audit (typical mid-market client)
- Month-end close reduced from 9–12 days to 3–5 days
- Vendor onboarding cycle reduced from 21 to 5 business days
- Aligned to US GAAP, UK GAAP, IFRS and ASPE
- Integrated with CargoWise, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage and Xero
- Independent QC layer with daily scorecards and weekly trend reports
Back office scope of work
Freight invoice audit
- Three-way matching of carrier invoice vs. booking vs. contracted rate
- Accessorial validation (chassis, detention, demurrage, fuel, HBL fees)
- Dispute preparation, credit note follow-up and root-cause analysis
- Monthly leakage report and recovery tracking
AR / AP processing
- Customer invoicing with revenue recognition flags
- Cash application, dispute resolution and DSO management
- Vendor invoice intake, validation and payment scheduling
- Collections follow-up across email, phone and portal
Vendor onboarding & KYC
- New vendor onboarding with KYC, banking and tax form validation
- Carrier and co-loader onboarding with credit reference checks
- Sanctions screening against OFAC, HMT, EU and UN lists
- Vendor master data hygiene and de-duplication
MIS, reporting & job costing
- Job costing reconciliation and accrual posting
- Weekly P&L by lane, customer, mode and team
- Custom KPI dashboards (gross margin per shipment, exception rate, DSO)
- Month-end close support and balance sheet reconciliation
Back office onboarding process
Finance discovery
30-minute call with controller / CFO to scope volume, systems and pain points.
Process audit
We audit current month-end close, AR aging, AP backlog and vendor master hygiene.
SOP & controls build
SOPs co-authored with documented controls, approval matrices and segregation of duties.
Pilot
30-day pilot on one process area (typically freight invoice audit) to prove quality and savings.
Scale
Phased ramp to full team strength with a named offshore controller lead.
Monthly review
Recovery, leakage, DSO, close-cycle and scorecard review every month.
Industries we serve with Logistics Back Office Support
- Mid-market and enterprise freight forwarders
- NVOCC and shipping line agencies
- Supply chain and 3PL providers
- Contract logistics and warehousing operators
- Freight brokerage and digital forwarders
Frequently asked questions
Are your back office specialists qualified accountants?
Many are. Our specialists include semi-qualified and qualified accountants (ACCA / CPA / CA Inter) with 3–10 years of freight forwarding finance experience.
Can you handle our existing ERP?
Yes. We work inside your ERP using your user licences. CargoWise, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage, Xero and SAP are all common.
How do you handle data security?
Operanta operates from controlled-access facilities with no removable media, restricted internet, MFA, encrypted endpoints and ISO 27001-aligned controls. NDAs and data-processing agreements are signed at the entity and individual level.
Can you support our annual external audit?
Yes. Our back office teams routinely support PBC (prepared-by-client) schedules, audit confirmations, sample requests and ledger reconciliations during external audit.
What about SOX / internal controls?
Our back office desks are built with documented segregation of duties, approval matrices and a four-eyes review layer that supports SOX-equivalent internal controls testing.
Recover margin from your back office.
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We will audit a sample of recent invoices and quantify the recovery opportunity in your first 60 days.