Basic requirements for document review
1) Timeliness
Timely review of relevant documents can timely discover and correct errors in some documents, thereby effectively avoiding the passivity of various tasks caused by untimely review.
2) Comprehensiveness
The review of documents should be taken seriously from the perspective of safe collection of foreign exchange and comprehensive performance of contracts. On the one hand, each document should be carefully reviewed against the letter of credit and the contract, and no discrepancies should be missed; on the other hand, we should be good at handling the problems found, strengthen contact and connection with relevant departments, so that the problems found can be handled in a timely and proper manner.
3) In accordance with the principle of “strict compliance”, “documents are consistent with each other”
“Documents are consistent with each other, and documents are consistent with each other” is the premise and basis for safe collection of foreign exchange. Any discrepancies in the submitted documents, even small errors, will cause irreparable losses.
2. Basic methods of document review
The methods of document review can be summarized as follows.
1) Vertical review method
Vertical review method refers to the review of each document specified based on the letter of credit or contract (under non-letter of credit payment conditions), requiring the content of the relevant documents to strictly comply with the provisions of the letter of credit and ensure that the documents are consistent.
2) Horizontal review method
Horizontal review method refers to the review of other specified documents based on the vertical review, with the commercial invoice as the center, so that the relevant contents are consistent with each other and the documents are consistent.
The above review is generally conducted by the document preparer or reviewer, which is the first review. For safety reasons, the relevant documents should be reviewed again.
3. Key points of document review
(1) Check whether the specified documents are complete, including the number of copies of the required documents.
(2) Check whether the name and type of the provided documents meet the requirements.
(3) Check whether some documents have been authenticated in accordance with regulations.
(4) Check whether the description, quantity, amount, weight, volume, transport mark, etc. of the goods are consistent between the documents.
(5) Check whether the date of issuance or submission of the documents meets the requirements.