A Day in the Life at Neiman Marcus

Spent an exciting day working on the quarterly import audit. Open file...pull out 7501 Customs Entry Form...document entered tariff numbers for classification audit...verify declared value and quantity...pull out vendor invoices...verify value and quantity...match?...if yes, great...if no, not so great because that means a whole other level of work...cross check vendor payment to entry...verify required documents...move on to next file. You get the point! It's like milking a cow! Only you have to insert multiple interruptions...associates asking questions...phone calls about Canadian customers that are mad because it takes 10 days for us to export a fur (unfortunately, the only way to get it out faster would mean an illegal export and I have six months of U.S. Fish and Wildlife clearance data to back that up).

The whole deal with import / export processes is that it is not enough to identify and fix the problem. Rather, you need to assess why the problem happened in the first place and the compliance risk associated with it. How are you going to address the source of the problem? Have you documented everything to prove you addressed the source of the problem? Does the problem warrant additional evaluation of the parties involved in the problem? Is ignorance truly bliss?

I would be more energetic about the whole process if only I wasn't up against a deadline. But then again, I work better under pressure so perhaps it is a good thing. I love compliance work!!