Adding subcontracted carriers as suppliers
How a freight broker onboards subcontracted carriers onto one supplier list, which VAT-number checks apply in each country, and how bills post only once.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Logistics businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A broker's carrier base changes every week. A new owner-driver is recommended by another carrier, a small fleet answers a load board post, a cross-border operator is needed for one urgent run. Each gets set up as a supplier in a hurry, sometimes twice under slightly different names, sometimes with a VAT number copied from an old invoice, and occasionally by someone who never checked the business was real.
The supplier list is where carrier risk starts. Get the set-up right and paying, matching and auditing carriers becomes routine. Get it wrong and you will find duplicate suppliers, duplicate invoices and payments to people you never meant to pay. This article covers how to bring carriers onto Achekam's supplier list, the VAT-number checks that apply in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, and how a carrier's invoice is posted only once.
One supplier list with duplicate checks
Achekam keeps one supplier list for the business, with duplicate checks by name or VAT number. Quotations, purchase orders and bills all pick their supplier from that list, so a carrier set up once is the same carrier wherever it appears.
The duplicate check is your first line of defence, but it can only work with good data. Before adding a carrier:
- Search first. Look for the trading name, the registered name and any obvious variations, such as "Transport" versus "Logistics" or with and without "(Pty) Ltd", "Ltd" or "Limited".
- Use the registered name. Put the name on the company registration document in the supplier name, and the trading name in the notes if it differs.
- Collect documents before the first load. Company registration, tax and VAT registration, bank confirmation letter, proof of goods-in-transit insurance and the driver's or fleet's operating permits for the routes you will use.
A carrier that will not send these documents before the first load is telling you something.
VAT numbers in the South African format
For a South African broker, the VAT number does real work: it feeds the duplicate check, and it is what you rely on when claiming input VAT on the carrier's invoices. Enter it exactly as it appears on the carrier's VAT registration notice, and check it against the carrier's tax invoice.
Not every owner-driver is VAT-registered. Record that fact rather than leaving the field ambiguous, and expect their invoices to carry no VAT.
The limit for Nigerian and Kenyan VAT numbers
Here is the limit to plan around. Achekam currently requires a supplier's VAT number to be in the South African format, so Nigerian and Kenyan VAT numbers are refused.
For a broker in Lagos or Nairobi, that means the VAT number field cannot hold your carriers' numbers today, and the duplicate check falls back on the supplier name. Two habits make up for it:
- Be strict about names. Use the registered name from the company documents for every carrier, so the name check catches duplicates.
- Keep the tax documents in the carrier's file. Store the KRA PIN certificate or the Nigerian Tax ID and VAT registration evidence in the onboarding file, so anyone can confirm the carrier's details.
In Kenya, the paperwork matters for more than tidiness: since 1 June 2023, input VAT can be claimed only against TIMS or eTIMS invoices. A carrier that cannot issue an eTIMS invoice is a carrier whose VAT you cannot recover, which should be part of the price conversation.
Bills against the carrier
Once the carrier is on the list, its invoices are recorded as bills against it. Achekam records supplier bills line by line with VAT. A bill with no purchase order behind it waits for approval before it posts, which suits brokers who book carriers on a rate confirmation rather than a formal order: the approver checks the load and the agreed rate before the cost reaches the ledger. Bills can be paid in full or in parts from a chosen bank account.
Reconcile each regular carrier's statement to your records every month. ACCA's article on supplier statement reconciliations explains why a separate record of each credit supplier must be kept and how reconciling supplier statements to it uncovers errors, including invoices you have missed and ones you have counted twice.
Posting a carrier invoice only once
Carriers chasing payment often resend an invoice, sometimes with a new date, sometimes from a different e-mail address. Where an invoice is matched to an order, posting it puts it in the ledger as expense, input VAT and trade payables, and the supplier's invoice number stops the same invoice being posted twice.
That guard relies on the invoice number being entered exactly as the carrier wrote it. Agree a house rule: copy the number character for character, including any prefix, and never add your own suffix to "make it unique". If a carrier genuinely reissues an invoice with a new number, ask for a credit note against the old one first.
A new carrier, in words
A broker needs an extra truck for a weekly run. The operations manager finds a two-truck operator and asks for registration, tax, bank and insurance documents. The accounts clerk searches the supplier list, finds no match, and adds the carrier under its registered name with its VAT number. The bank details are confirmed by a call to the number on the registration documents, and a second person signs off the onboarding checklist before any payment is made. The first invoice arrives and is posted against the carrier; when the carrier resends it a fortnight later, the invoice number stops it going through again.
Where to go next
Write a one-page carrier onboarding checklist with the documents you require and who approves a new supplier, and clean up any duplicates already on your list. Paying those carriers safely is covered in paying many carriers without a payment file, and getting their invoices into the books in carrier invoices turned into suggested postings.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
