what is a bill of lading 
a bill of lading bl or bol is a legal document that s issued by a transportation company to a shipper it details the type quantity and destination of the goods being carried a bill of lading also serves as a shipment receipt when the carrier delivers the goods at a predetermined destination this document must accompany the shipped products no matter the form of transportation it must be signed by an authorized representative from the carrier shipper and receiver jiaqi zhou investopediaunderstanding bills of ladingthe bill of lading is a legally binding document that provides the carrier and the shipper with all the necessary details to accurately process a shipment 2 it has three main functions say a logistics company intends to transport gasoline from a plant in texas the shipper to a gas station in arizona the recipient by way of a heavy truck a plant representative and the driver sign the bill of lading after loading the gas on the truck the truck driver requests that the station clerk also sign the document when the carrier delivers the fuel to the gas station in arizona every business should have internal controls in place to prevent theft one key component of internal control is the segregation of duties which prevents one employee from having too much control within a business no two internal control systems are the same but most follow a standard set of core philosophies that have become standard management practices implementing internal controls can help streamline operations and prevent fraud a bill of lading is one of several key documents that must be properly managed and reviewed to prevent asset theft types of bills of ladingsome of the most common types of bills of lading include choosing the appropriate bill of lading is essential doing so can either prevent delivery delays or help locate goods that get lost during transport bill of lading exampleassume that xyz fine dining receives shipments of fresh meat and fish five times a week the restaurant manager determines the type and the amount of meat and fish the restaurant needs to order they then fill out a purchase order po xyz s owner reviews and initials each po before it s emailed to the food vendor the vendor gathers the meat and fish and signs a bill of lading along with a representative from the overnight carrier the carrier delivers the food to the restaurant and the manager compares the information on the bill of lading to what was requested on the po the po and the bill of lading are sent to the owner if the information matches the owner reviews the documents and makes payment to the food vendor the owner doesn t pay the vendor without first reviewing the purchase order and the bill of lading this step ensures that xyz pays only for what it ordered and received the manager will ask the vendor about the exception if the two documents don t match when they compare them a third employee reconciles the bank statement and makes company deposits all these steps must be in place to prevent theft 