Catching bank overcharges is an old problem, but the tools are getting better–and not just because of vendor breakthroughs. Multinational corporations like General Electric Co. and a handful of the world's largest banks are pushing a new global format known as BSB, for bank services billing, which allows treasuries to import statements from all their banks into a single software system. The BSB complements a standardized domestic format known as 822. Along with electronic transmission, it was also the product of lobbying by GE and other companies and banks. The same coalition is now working with TWIST, an organization of treasurers from Europe's largest companies, vendors and global banks, to push BSB as an international XML reporting format. The XML format is a standard reporting language that companies like GE and Microsoft have been promoting for use by the SWIFT organization and all bank reporting.

Seven global banks are now committed to supporting BSB and are testing it for an imminent rollout, Strategic Treasurer's Jeffery reports. Account analysis software like that offered by Weiland will accept both the domestic 822 and the global BSB once it goes into actual use. He predicts that BSB will follow the same path of gradual adoption as the 822, which was originally adopted in 1990 and is now supported by all major cash management banks–and many midsize ones, too.

But while the USPS has embraced best-practice account analysis, Jeffery reports it is not by any means close to a standard operation–even among the Fortune 1,000. In fact, companies of all sizes are disbursing large amounts of money with less scrutiny than they would for any comparable expenditure, partly because these bills don't go through accounts payable. Instead, busy treasury staffs eyeball paper statements or punch the numbers into a spreadsheet. Equally busy bank staffs have already automatically debited the company's accounts, he explains. Some are still settled with compensating balances instead of cash, Jeffery adds. "Frankly, it is amazing how many corporations simply accept whatever the bank bills them," says Dan Gill, director of customer support at Weiland Financial.

Yet, not monitoring bank fees is less defensible in the world of Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls audits, insists Mike Gallanis, corporate treasury consultant and partner in the Chicago office of Treasury Strategies Inc. "Treasury staffs should be paying close attention to bank account administration, including fees. If automation can assure that this occurs, that's a good thing," he observes.

Until 15 years ago, banks used creative language and structure in their paper bills to differentiate–or obfuscate–how they classified services and calculated charges. Statements were often 10 to 20 pages long, full of nickel-and-dime line-item detail. Checking them could take days of tedious manual labor. Finally, corporate treasuries pushed to standardize terminology and format.

Now, paper statements are somewhat standardized, but the real breakthrough has been the 822 electronic transmission, a standard originally developed and administered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and now fully documented by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).

The paper standard is advisory, but the electronic standard has definite rules that senders must follow. In fact, most large corporations get both paper statements and 822 transmissions, which often don't agree, Weiland's Gill reports. "The 822 is machine-to-machine communication with fixed rules," he explains. "It permits less interpret- ation than the print version." About 110 banks now send standardized 822s. "Some do it better than others, and you still find a little creative math, but most banks cooperate," he notes.