A month‑end billing checklist for 3PL controllers
Before the month's invoices go out, compare four things: the work your clients asked for, the work your floor recorded, the contract terms that apply, and the lines on the draft invoices. The checklist below covers the extra work, alongside your existing billing process — adapt it to your agreements and billing periods.
Before you draft invoices
- Review open work orders, record their status, and decide which billing period each belongs to under the agreement. Keep incomplete work marked incomplete.
- Collect the month's client requests that came by email, phone or through a supervisor, and match each to a work order or a note.
- Collect recorded hours for hourly projects. Flag missing hours, and check the agreed billing basis before proposing a charge.
- Check returns against the final returns log, not the first count.
- Note any rush or same-day requests, and whether the service was actually delivered.
On the draft invoices
- Each reviewed request has a matching line — or a recorded reason there's no separate charge (included in a rate, waived, not done, or missing evidence).
- Quantities on the line match the proof (units, pallets, hours).
- The rate and billing basis match the agreement, rate card or amendment that applied to that work and period.
- Each goodwill waiver is recorded with who approved it and which work it covers, so it can be told apart from a missed charge.
Questions to ask the floor
- Which client asks came in outside the system this month?
- Was any work done that isn't on a work order?
- Did any job take longer, or use more labor, than quoted?
- Is anything still open that started this month?
After invoices go out
- Keep a short list of anything you chose not to bill, and why.
- Look for gaps that recur, and consider whether a process change would help.
- When a client's contract comes up for renewal, check whether the work they ask for most is priced in it.
If you'd rather have this checked for one closed month, that's the Unbilled Work Review: each item shows its supporting records and what's missing, a Miko reviewer checks every item, and your controller decides every charge. See a sample review →
By Eric Yun, Miko Labs · October 2, 2026 · All guides
Twenty minutes. No records on the call.