> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.owlery.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Freight Audit and Pay Settings
> Automate invoice approvals and disputes, batch approved invoices into payment statements, and set carrier payment terms.
If you are an Enterprise customer with individual subsidiary organizations, remember that **shipper settings are organization specific**. Settings must be configured at the individual subsidiary organization level to ensure each subsidiary's operations work as expected.
**Where to find it:** `Dashboard → Shipper Settings → Freight Audit and Pay`
Freight invoices routinely don't match what was quoted. These settings automate the checking that's mechanical, so your team's attention goes to the invoices that actually need it.
If Freight Audit and Pay isn't active on your account, these settings are visible but read-only, with an unlock prompt at the top — request access from there.
One term to know: the **awarded rate** is the price you agreed when you booked. Most of what follows compares the invoice against it.
## Invoice Auto Decision
**Value:** On / Off
**What it does:** The master switch. When on, invoices that meet your rules are approved or disputed automatically instead of waiting for someone to review them.
**When you'd turn it on:** Once you've set up your rules and you're comfortable with what they'll do. Define the rules first, then enable.
## Invoice Auto Decision Rules
**What it does:** Defines the actual rules. There are two, and they're independent — use either or both.
* **Approve rule**: when *all* of its conditions are met, the invoice is approved automatically.
* **Dispute rule**: when *any one* of its conditions is met, the invoice is sent back as disputed.
That difference is deliberate. Approving needs everything to check out; a single problem is enough to justify a dispute.
If neither rule applies, the invoice stays in **Needs Review**. If both match, the dispute wins.
To create a manual-review range, set a low approve threshold and a higher dispute threshold. Invoices that land between the two stay in **Needs Review** for a person to look at.
### What Each Rule Can Check
Every rule has an on/off switch and can combine a threshold with three conditions.
**Threshold** is a dollar amount, plus a **Compare mode** for how it's measured:
* **Overage**: looks only at how much the invoice is *above* the awarded rate.
* **Absolute difference**: looks at the gap in either direction, so an invoice that's unexpectedly *under* the awarded rate also gets caught.
On the approve rule the threshold means "at or below this amount" — or "exactly", if you set it to zero. On the dispute rule it means "above this amount".
The three conditions read differently depending on which rule they're on:
| Condition | On the approve rule | On the dispute rule |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| **POD** | Require POD on the load | Dispute when POD is missing from the load |
| **ERP rate** | Require the awarded rate to match the ERP rate | Dispute when the awarded rate does not match the ERP rate |
| **Order match** | Require every invoiced load to match an order | Dispute when any invoiced load does not match an order |
POD is proof of delivery — the signed confirmation the freight arrived.
Turning on a rule without a threshold or condition doesn't automate anything. Configure at least one check for each rule you enable.
### The Live Preview
As you configure a rule, Owlery describes in plain English exactly when it will fire — for example *"Invoices will be auto approved when all of the following are true: the invoice overage is at or below \$50.00; POD is on the load."*
Read this before saving. It's the clearest check that the rule does what you meant.
### Carrier Overrides
Pick a carrier integration and you can override the **approve rule**, the **dispute rule**, or both, just for that carrier. Anything you don't override falls back to your default rules.
**When you'd use it:** Tighter rules for a carrier whose invoices are frequently wrong; looser ones for a long-standing partner whose invoices are reliably accurate.
Start conservative — a small threshold, POD required — and loosen once you've seen it work. An auto-approve rule that's too generous pays overcharges silently, which is the one failure mode you won't notice.
See [Invoices](/shippers/invoices) to review statuses and decision reasons after your rules run.
## Approved Invoice Auto-Batching
**What it does:** Automatically gathers your approved invoices into payment statements on a weekly schedule, instead of someone assembling them by hand.
| Setting | What it does |
| --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Enable auto-batching** | The on/off switch. |
| **Run day** and **Run time** | When it runs each week. Times are in your own time zone, which the page shows you. |
| **Invoice filter** | Either **All approved invoices**, or **Approved invoices due within** a number of days you specify. The second option is how you pay only what's actually coming due. |
| **Split payment statements by GL Code** | When on, each GL code gets its own statement; when off, everything eligible goes on one. GL codes come from your ERP directly or from [tagging rules](/shippers/tagging-rules/overview) you may have set up. |
As you configure it, a line underneath describes in plain English what the run will do.
**When you'd use it:** If you have a regular payment cycle, set the run to land just before it. Turn on GL splitting if different departments approve their own freight spend.
Who receives these statements is set by **Payment Statement Contact** in [Contact Settings](/shippers/contacts). Set that first, or the statements have nowhere to go.
## Disputed Invoice Digest
**Value:** On / Off
**What it does:** Sends a once-a-day summary email, to your carrier account manager and accounting contacts, of the invoices that were sent back as disputed.
**When you'd turn it on:** So disputes get chased rather than sitting. A daily digest is usually the right rhythm — frequent enough that nothing ages badly, infrequent enough that people read it.
## Carrier Payment Terms
**What it does:** Works out when each invoice is actually due, so you can review, filter, and export by due date.
You set a **default rule** and, optionally, **per-carrier overrides**. A rule has two parts:
* **Net days**: how many days you have to pay.
* **Base date**: what those days count from — the **Invoice Date** (the date on the carrier's invoice) or **Invoice Received** (the date it reached Owlery).
They display as, for example, `Net 30 from Invoice Date`. The current values are shown with the default first, then each carrier override.
**Why the base date matters:** An invoice dated the 1st that reaches you on the 15th is due at very different times under the two options. Match whichever your carrier contract specifies.
**When you'd set overrides:** Payment terms are negotiated per carrier, so they often differ. Set the term you use most as the default, then override the exceptions.
Saving your terms recalculates the due date on existing invoices — you don't need to update anything manually. If a carrier has no override and you've set no default, their invoices have no due date.
If the carrier's own stated due date differs from the one Owlery calculates, the invoice detail drawer flags it. Neither date overwrites the other, so you can spot the discrepancy.