Don’t Leave Your Company’s Money On The Table

Is your company leaving Its money on the table?

In today’s intricate corporate world, managing unclaimed property—like old payroll checks, vendor payments, or customer credits—is a significant challenge. With each U.S. state having its own unique and ever-changing laws, businesses face a complex compliance burden that can lead to fines and missed opportunities. Many companies struggle with the time, personnel, and specialized knowledge required to effectively track and recover these assets in-house.

The Recovery Maze: Why Companies Struggle

While states hold billions, recovering your own company’s escheated property is fraught with challenges:

• Varying State Laws: Each state has different rules for dormancy periods, reporting, due diligence, and claiming procedures, creating an administrative nightmare for multi-state businesses.
• Difficulty Identifying Property: Tracing historical records, especially after mergers or acquisitions, is challenging. There’s no single national database for all unclaimed property, requiring searches across hundreds of disparate state and agency sources.
• Documentation Demands: States require specific, often historical, documents to prove ownership, which can be hard to locate.
• Time and Resource Intensive: The process of researching, compiling, and following up on claims is labor-intensive and can take months or even years.

The Strategic Solution: Outsource Recovery

Over 50% of companies already outsource their unclaimed property recovery. Here’s why:

• Cost Reduction: Outsource providers can significantly lower labor and overhead costs, converting fixed expenses into flexible, variable ones.
• Focus on Core Competencies: Free up your internal teams to concentrate on strategic initiatives by offloading non-core functions.
• Access to Expertise: Gain immediate access to specialized knowledge, advanced technology, and dedicated professionals who understand the nuances of multi-state laws.
• Increased Efficiency & Productivity: Outsourcing firms have refined processes and technology to perform tasks more efficiently.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Easily scale recovery efforts up or down without internal hiring or layoffs.
• Risk Management: Transfer some operational risks, like compliance and technology obsolescence, to the expert provider.

Is Outsourcing Right for Your Company?

Outsourcing is particularly beneficial for companies with:

• Multi-state operations or numerous subsidiaries.
• A long history or a history of mergers and acquisitions.
• Limited internal resources or specialized expertise.
• Potentially high-value or high-volume unclaimed property.
• A desire to improve cash flow and financial performance.

Industries like manufacturing, insurance (without independent agents), utilities, energy, pharmaceuticals, hospitals, non-franchised restaurant chains, retailers, auto manufacturers, large banks, and telecommunication companies are often excellent candidates for outsourcing.

Choosing the Right Partner: Maximizing Recovery, Minimizing Cost

When selecting an outsourcing firm, prioritize those that can maximize your recovery while minimizing costs. Look for:

• Transparent Fee Structure: Reputable firms work on a contingency basis with no upfront or hidden fees.
• Proven Experience & Reputation: Look for a long track record, positive client references, and industry affiliations (like UPPO).
• Specialized Corporate Focus: Ensure they specialize in corporate unclaimed property, which is more complex than individual claims.
• Advanced Technology & Data Sources: Inquire about their proprietary databases, search methodologies (e.g., machine learning, fuzzy logic), and the number of data sources they search (Boomerang Asset Recovery, for example, searches 750M+ records from over 500 unique sources).
• Efficient Process & Communication: Understand their end-to-end process, communication frequency, and whether they offer a client portal for transparency.

Don’t leave your money on the table. By strategically outsourcing your unclaimed property recovery, you can transform a compliance burden into a valuable asset recovery opportunity, enhancing your company’s financial health and operational efficiency.

Learn more in our comprehensive “Guide to Outsourcing Corporate Asset Recovery”.