Meet DAVE, just one part of the smart checking team
DAVE, our proprietary DA Validation Engine checks more than 1,800 rules, including applicable discounts and rebates for your accounting disbursement process.
A big benefit of using DA-Desk is how we run a series of checks on 100% of your PDAs and FDAs.
We spend a lot of effort screening, checking and validating your disbursement accounts – so you don’t have to.
This smart screening is achieved using a combination of technology and people expertise, including:
- DAVE – our proprietary DA Validation Engine – checks 1,800 rules, including applicable discounts and rebates
- A further automated rule-based tool which checks for potential errors using predefined scenarios
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to validate and screen all invoices
- Smart logic which checks for unusual costs, invoice duplication, and historical cost variations
- Our specialist screening teams in DA-Desk who do multiple manual checks.
In really simple terms, describe DA-Desk smart screening
Our smart screening does the tedious – but vital – job of checking all your proforma disbursement accounts and final disbursement accounts for errors, issues and cost-saving opportunities. It is a digitalised process, combining IT tools, automation and human experts.
We do all these checks quickly, so there is a fast turnaround of DAs to ensure smooth and accurate results for you and your business.
After checks, screening and validation, all errors and issues are picked up by our expert team at DA-Desk, and we investigate and take them up directly with your agent to resolve.
As a result of all this, you’ll save money and time.
We’ve helped hundreds of shipping companies over the years and because of this, our checks are continually evolving and improving thanks to ongoing, regular feedback from our customers. We also do root cause analysis on each error with the aim of implementing preventative measures.
How does DA-Desk assist with Smart Screening and DA Management?
Our processes check 100% of FDAs and PDAs. We screen, check and validate costs and documents associated with 1,400 DAs on average every day. At DA Desk we offer screening, validating and checking across:
Checking over 1,800 rules
Does this make a difference?
Do you find savings?
We find issues in many FDAs and PDAs, and we investigate them all for you.
Many of these initial flags are then found to be valid, with justification given.
However, reductions/savings are secured in 4% of FDAs and 11% of PDAs.
| All DA-Desk customers - 2021 | |
Total value of credit notes issued for FDAs | $14,880,682 |
Number of FDAs where a credit note was issued | 4% |
Total value of PDA reductions | $101,122,592 |
Number of PDAs where a reduction was secured | 11% |
How many FDAs and PDAs do you check on behalf of your customers?
Our processes check 100% of them.
We screen, check and validate costs and documents associated with 1,400 DAs on average every day.
Where do you find errors and issues?
We find frequent calculation errors that must be corrected and where our customers own agreements have not been applied. Also, cost item misallocation requires correcting to ensure that all owners and charterers costs are correctly billed.
Any applicable rebates and discounts are highlighted to ensure they are applied within the PDA and the FDA.
Lastly, no cost will be accepted as per general accounting practice where it is not supported by the supplier’s invoice.
Using automated checks and human specialists to screen every detail
Do you find any significant savings?
As you would expect, savings range significantly in size.
However, we treat each one the same, in order the most accurate and correct PDA and FDA is presented to the customer.
Some recent PDA examples are where an agent quoted stevedore charges and the customer had direct billing contracts for stevedoring. Upon query, the agent agreed to exclude the quoted amount of USD 172,425.
Another example is where tonnage charges (basis flag of the vessel, NRT slab and number of days) and DAVE flagged the customer had already paid tonnage dues and opted for 30 days, therefore not chargeable. DA-Desk queried the agent and obtained a reduction in the PDA of USD 58,560.
In the FDA, savings come in the form of actual credit notes where errors are found. A recent example of this is when the Port Authority calculated tonnage dues using an incorrect gross tonnage. DA-Desk identified the discrepancy and obtained a credit note equivalent to USD 17,000.
We detected a similar incident where the port authority calculated the light dues basis vessel’s gross tonnage instead of net tonnage. A Credit note for USD 17,000 was raised for the excess amount charged due to the incorrect basis of calculation.
Disbursement Account Screening FAQs
What are some common errors and issues found in PDAs and FDAs?
Here are the most frequent issues and errors that we find, with the most common first:
PDAs – Savings category
- Incorrect basis of calculation
- Agreement not applied
- Direct billing to Owner / Charterer
- Light or other dues not payable
- Direct billing for port costs exists
- To be charged on FDA onlyOvertime estimation
FDAs – Savings category
- Agreement not applied
- Direct billing to Owner / Charterer
- Incorrect basis of calculation
- Rebates & discounts not applied
- Direct billing for port costs exists
- Vouchers missing / not matching
How many FDAs and PDAs does DA-Desk check?
Here at DA-Desk, our processes involve checking 100% of your FDAs and PDAs. On average, we screen, check and validate costs and documents associated with 1,400 DAs every day.
Read our comprehensive DA-Desk guide or request your demo using the form below.
Are you able to challenge and validate tariff and non-tariff port call costs for Estimated Disbursement Accounts (EDA) and Final Disbursement Accounts (FDA)?
Marcura will not process a payment that is unsupported by an invoice. We will closely scrutinise every invoice presented to its customer by the customer’s counterparties and will exercise every commercially reasonable effort to verify that the invoice is legitimate.
Without exception, if in the course of performing its functions, DA-Desk encounters an invoice or other relevant document containing the term “facilitation payment”, “facilitating payment” or “payment for facilitating [a particular transaction]”, DA-Desk will not process that invoice.
At no additional cost, our customers also avail of the risk-mitigating benefits of our proprietary sanctions-compliance system powered by Dow Jones Sanction Alert, which conducts an automated screening of vendors, agents, and transactions as previously described in this Proposal.
Can you track discounts applicable for environmentally recognised vessels and rebates for frequency of calls?
Yes, we have developed a tool to record and track most available discounts, including ESI, Green awards, Ice Class, bow thrusters, ISO, other Energy efficiency-based discounts, Hull structure, Flag based. We also track if there are compulsory charges or not, such as Watchmen, garbage removal, overtime costs and shipping associations. We also cover rotation/frequency-based discounts, activity-based, Port stay and of course any Port tariff-based rebates.
Do you validate DAs to ensure costs are correct as per published tariffs or agreements and include evidence of supply of services? And that no facilitation payments are accepted
For our customers’ compliance, DA-Desk views its role (i.e., its processes and its systems) as critically important. DA-Desk will closely scrutinise every invoice which is presented to its customer and will exercise every commercially reasonable effort to verify that the invoice is legitimate. Therefore, irrespective of the circumstances, DA-Desk will not validate a DA if: the transaction is not supported by an invoice; the transaction involves a third-party service provider but billed under the letterhead or invoice of the port Agent; and/or if the invoice involves an expense that is not in the tariff. Without exception, if in the course of performing its functions, DA-Desk encounters an invoice or other relevant document containing the term “facilitation payment”, “facilitating payment” or “payment for facilitating [a particular transaction]”, DA-Desk will not process that invoice
Are historical DA costs checked?
Every DA goes through multiple historical algorithm calculations to ensure estimated costs are aligned with historical calls. DA-Desk has a vast database of information such as number of tugs used, number of hours alongside, the likelihood of overtime being applied – these factors and more are used for every DA which is processed by DA-Desk.
This article was written by:
- Dionysis Tzelepis, DA-Desk Managing Director
- Alexander Tarasenko, Process Excellence Director
- Vijay Mishra, Process Excellence Manager
- Mark Franklin, DA-Desk Commercial Director
- Suchint Miglani, Content writer
- Deepthi Madupu, Content writer
- David Hardy, Group Marketing Director
