EPOS Cost Audit
for Finance Directors
Get a clear view of EPOS and card payment costs across your business. Build the evidence for renewal, renegotiation or a supplier change, with the cost of implementation included.
We agree the scope, report, timetable and any fee with you before work starts.
Bring your group’s costs together
An EPOS cost audit brings payment processing, hardware, software, support and integration costs into one agreed scope. It maps charges to sites, legal entities and channels, tests supplier options on the same activity, and separates potential savings from transition costs and unverified assumptions.
Look beyond the headline transaction rate
A lower processing rate is only one part of the decision. The audit scope should cover the services the business needs to trade, reconcile payments and support its locations.
| Area | What to examine | Finance question |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant acquiring and gateways | Actual card mix, channels, percentage and per-event charges, interchange and scheme fees where itemised, minimums, refunds and disputes. | Can the billed cost be explained by activity and the agreed tariff? |
| Hardware and licences | Active and spare terminals, rental and purchase commitments, software licences, users, add-ons and closed-site charges. | Are we paying for the estate we actually use? |
| Support and connectivity | Service levels, replacement cover, maintenance, SIMs, data, backup connectivity and overlapping support agreements. | Which costs are essential, duplicated or avoidable? |
| Integration and administration | Accounting, stock, ecommerce and booking connections; reconciliation work; implementation and ongoing integration fees. | Will a cheaper supplier increase internal work or remove needed functionality? |
| Contracts and renewal | Legal entity, supplier, minimum term, notice date, pricing review, exit quotation, device returns and linked agreements. | When can each part of the estate realistically change? |
| Settlement and working capital | Payout timing, reserves, reconciliation exceptions and any evidenced funding costs. | What happens to cash availability? Funds awaiting settlement are not themselves a fee. |
| Implementation and continuity | Pilot sites, migration, training, dual running, installation, testing, support ownership and rollback arrangements. | Does the net benefit survive a realistic rollout? |
The Payment Systems Regulator explains that merchant service charges have several components. An interchange cap does not cap the merchant’s total charge. Comparisons should therefore use the complete bill and the relevant card categories.
What your finance team can expect
The report brings together the following information for the sites and services covered by the audit. Missing records and any limits to the review are identified.
A record of current costs
Twelve months of relevant charges, linked to invoices, statements and finance records. Group totals with site, entity, supplier and channel breakdowns where the data supports them.
Charges and services to investigate
Unexplained charges, unused services and inconsistent terms, each with its source, estimated impact, confidence level and the action needed to confirm it.
A contract and renewal schedule
Notice dates, remaining commitments, exit costs and ownership of each agreement. Separate confirmed terms from items requiring supplier or legal clarification.
Costed supplier options
Retain and optimise, renegotiate, or change supplier. Compare the same activity and service requirements over the agreed period, including transition costs and downside assumptions.
A prioritised action plan
Actions, accountable owners, dependencies, target dates and a method for checking realised savings against later invoices.
Measures for comparing costs
Annual recurring spend, payment fees per £100 processed, separately labelled total EPOS and payment cost, cost per site or active terminal, and net benefit over the decision period.
Sample report and audit checklist
See the structure of a cost review and the records to prepare. Both PDFs are available without submitting an enquiry.
Illustrative EPOS cost audit
A worked example for a fictional 20-site business, covering current costs, supplier options, transition spending, payback and sensitivity checks. All figures are invented; this is not a client case study or supplier quotation.
Finance-team audit checklist
A practical checklist of statements, invoices, contracts and estate records, with the scope, responsibilities and decisions to agree before a review begins.
Separate an opportunity from a realised saving
Reprice the same transaction activity before attributing a difference to supplier pricing. Keep changes in sales volume, card mix, site count and service scope visible.
Use group totals to calculate a weighted cost ratio. Do not average branch percentages. Count centrally billed services once and document how shared costs are allocated.
Show invoiced cash reductions, avoided future expenditure and staff capacity released as separate benefits. Time saved is not automatically a reduction in payroll.
Build the case over an agreed period
Net cash benefit: the cost of continuing the agreed baseline, less the cost of the proposed arrangement and the incremental cost of changing.
Include exit charges, replacement equipment, setup, training, dual running and the actual rollout schedule. Report recurring annual savings separately from first-year net benefit.
If a payback point is shown, use cumulative cash flows. Show no payback where the proposal does not recover its implementation cost within the modelled period.
Use a consistent VAT basis agreed with finance. Keep cash expenditure separate from depreciation and accounting treatment.
Records needed for the audit
Costs, activity and the estate
- Ideally twelve months of merchant statements, gateway bills and EPOS invoices, including seasonal peaks.
- Sales and payment counts by site, channel and card category where available.
- An estate list linking legal entities, sites, merchant accounts, terminals and licences.
- Relevant ledger extracts, annual charges, credits and centrally billed services.
Agreements and the decision ahead
- Current agreements, tariff schedules, renewal dates and any written exit figures.
- Required features, integrations, support levels and business continuity needs.
- Alternative quotations, existing retention offers and planned openings or closures.
- The decision deadline, procurement owner and any acquisition or systems rollout plans.
Start the enquiry with a short business summary. Agree confidentiality, authorised access and the document-sharing method before exchanging records. This page does not request statement uploads, payment-card data, bank credentials or customer records.
From initial discussion to agreed actions
Define the scope
Identify the business entities, locations, channels, renewal timetable and the question finance needs answered. Agree deliverables, exclusions, timing and any fees.
Review current costs
Map the evidence, reconcile material charges and record missing information. Agree whether sampling is sufficient or a full-estate review is required.
Compare the options
Check the current arrangement and any written alternatives against the same requirements. Make uncertainty, implementation dependencies and retained commitments visible.
Agree the next steps
Set out the recommended actions for your approval. Any supplier engagement, implementation support or later savings verification is separately agreed.
An EPOS cost audit here means a commercial cost review. It is not a statutory financial audit, legal opinion, PCI certification or assurance engagement. A review can support retaining the current supplier as well as changing it.
Tell us about your EPOS estate
Tell us the scale of the business and the decision you need to make. Ian Brown handles initial enquiries for EPOS Savings, operated by Search And Submit Ltd.
Approximate figures are fine for the initial discussion.
Email an audit enquiry
+44 7852 247970
We explain any audit fee, supplier referral arrangement or relevant commercial relationship before you decide to proceed.
Your details are used to respond under our privacy notice. This enquiry does not subscribe you to marketing.
Questions finance directors ask
Can we review costs without replacing the EPOS system?
Yes. The scope can focus on current charges, licence usage, contract terms and retention options. Any change to payment processing must still meet your existing integration and operating requirements.
Can the audit cover several entities and suppliers?
That can be included in the agreed scope. Keep each legal entity’s agreements, merchant accounts and settlement arrangements identifiable rather than assuming the whole group can use one contract.
Is the detailed audit free?
The initial enquiry is a scoping discussion. The free initial bill review and a detailed company-wide audit are different levels of work. Any detailed audit scope and fees must be agreed in writing before work begins.
Do you guarantee a saving or recovery?
No. Findings depend on the records, service requirements and available options. A possible overcharge needs supporting evidence and supplier confirmation; it is not a confirmed credit or recoverable sum.
Can you work from a sample of sites?
A sample can help establish the scope. Its limits must be stated, and findings should not be multiplied across the estate unless the relevant tariffs, activity and contracts are comparable.
Will you contact our existing provider?
Not from this enquiry alone. Any supplier contact, introduction or sharing of records needs an agreed purpose and your authorisation.