A Category 4 hurricane barrels toward the Texas Gulf Coast. Forecasters predict a direct hit near Galveston, with 140 mph sustained winds and a 15-foot storm surge. Local governments issue evacuation orders. Critical infrastructure operators brace for impact. As someone who works for a major utility provider serving millions, you play a critical role in the response. While others evacuate, you and your team are bracing for impact.
For utility companies, a hurricane isn’t just a weather event; it’s a high-pressure operational and financial stress test. Within hours of landfall, the focus shifts from routine operations to full-scale crisis management. Emergency protocols kick in. Communications falter. Systems slow down or go offline. And amid the scramble to protect people and property, financial controls begin to fray.
In Accounts Payable (AP), approvals accelerate, exceptions pile up, and emergency invoices flood in. Every minute of delay becomes an open door for costly errors, duplicate payments, overcharges, and mismanaged cash flow. If your company is unprepared, these breakdowns lead to regulatory scrutiny, lost vendor trust, and millions in avoidable losses.
At Revenew, we’ve worked alongside finance teams in the middle of hurricanes, wildfires, and cybersecurity breaches. One lesson we’ve learned again and again: when disaster strikes, the first 48 hours can define whether your organization regains control or loses millions. It’s not hyperbole. It’s the difference between financial resilience and financial chaos. That’s why real-time audit support isn’t a luxury. It’s your strongest line of defense.
This article outlines what your company must do to stay in control during the crucial 48-hour window after a hurricane strikes. It compares two scenarios: your company is prepared and has proactive systems and protocols in place, vs. your company being caught flat-footed and unprepared. The difference? Financial resilience versus financial regret.
The First 48 Hours: Every Hour Counts
When a natural disaster strikes, the first 48 hours separate the financially resilient from the financially regretful. Let’s examine how two utility companies navigate the post-storm chaos—one prepared, the other overwhelmed. The decisions made in these two days will shape financial exposure, regulatory standing, and public trust for years to come.
Hours 0–6: Freeze, Focus, Communicate
In the immediate aftermath of a storm, timing is everything—the first six hours demand rapid stabilization across both operational and financial fronts. For companies like Company A, this means activating disaster recovery protocols and freezing all non-essential AP activity. Emergency procurement needs are triaged, while communication becomes a vital control mechanism, ensuring that vendors and internal teams are aligned on revised approval processes and documentation expectations.
Conversely, Company B finds itself reactive and uncoordinated. With no prior alignment between emergency response and financial teams, AP continues unchecked, and vendor engagement is inconsistent. The absence of structure in these early hours creates vulnerabilities that compound quickly, setting the stage for chaos.
Company A: Financially Ready
- Disaster recovery protocols are immediately activated across all departments.
- The AP team freezes non-essential payment activity to prevent overpayments and errors.
- Emergency procurement requests are identified, logged, and triaged.
- Communications are proactively issued to vendors and internal stakeholders, outlining temporary protocols such as verbal approvals, with immediate documentation procedures in place.
Company B: Unprepared
- Emergency teams are scrambling. No unified plan. No prior coordination with audit partners.
- Confusion over vendor access, mutual aid agreements, and payment protocols.
- Vendor onboarding begins ad hoc, creating a risk of duplicate records and missed terms.
- Non-essential AP continues unchecked.
Hours 6–12: Triage the Financial Fallout
As the storm's immediate physical danger passes, the financial storm begins to take shape. Company A appoints a financial triage lead who takes centralized control of all disaster-related AP activity. This leader ensures situational awareness, prioritizes requests, and coordinates escalation points. External audit experts like Revenew provide rapid-response oversight and help secure the financial perimeter.
Meanwhile, Company B descends deeper into disorder. With no central oversight or escalation structure, emergency purchases continue without checks and balances. Duplicate vendors are onboarded in haste, and early invoices, many with inflated rates, start to accumulate. The absence of early-stage controls makes it impossible to distinguish legitimate costs from financial risks.
Company A: Operational Alignment in Motion
- A dedicated financial triage lead takes command to oversee all disaster-related AP activity.
- External audit experts like Revenew are activated, arriving remotely or onsite for rapid deployment.
- Disaster-specific documentation begins with emergency approvals, PO logs, vendor communications, and verbal authorizations.
- Early warning systems are triggered to flag anomalies before they escalate.
Company B: Chaos Grows
- No central financial point of contact. Decisions are made inconsistently.
- Emergency purchases occur without price checks or documentation.
- Duplicate vendors are onboarded, and early invoices begin arriving—some at inflated rates.
- Internal teams are too overwhelmed to track or validate spend effectively.
Hours 12–24: Validate, Verify, Shadow the Process
Real-time financial governance becomes the difference between resilience and regret. Revenew’s experts are embedded within Company A’s operations, either on-site or remotely, providing live validation of vendor charges and initiating a “shadow review” process. These parallel reviews act as a second set of eyes, flagging duplicate payments, inflated pricing, or billing outside the agreed—upon scope without disrupting the urgent pace of storm recovery.
In contrast, Company B’s AP team is overwhelmed. Lacking external audit support and clear internal protocols, they process invoices blindly. Documentation is patchy or nonexistent, leaving the company exposed to audit risks and potential insurance claim denials. Every missed detail adds to the growing gap between financial control and exposure.
Company A: Real-Time Oversight
- Revenew staff are fully embedded, initiating real-time validation of incoming transactions.
- Vendor invoices are compared against historical rates and contract terms.
- Shadow reviews are launched, running parallel to AP teams to catch duplicate payments, price escalations, and scope creep—without slowing operational response.
Company B: Errors Escalate
- AP teams are inundated with volume and ambiguity, flying blind.
- There’s no system for validating charges or rates—errors go unchecked.
- Critical documentation is missing or incomplete, compromising future audit readiness and insurance claims.
- Mismanaged cash flow starts to ripple across departments.
Hours 24–48: Control Points and Recovery Trends
By the final stretch of the first 48 hours, Company A is stabilizing. Payment checkpoints are in place to prevent high-risk transactions from slipping through. With Revenew’s guidance, the finance team begins tracking early trends that might indicate things like unexpected vendor rate hikes or duplicate billing attempts. These insights don’t just safeguard current spend; they shape the next phase of recovery with clarity and accountability.
For Company B, however, the situation deteriorates. Vendors push for quick payments without verification, and the AP team, now operating without functional controls, succumbs to pressure. The lack of preparation becomes obvious to regulators, including the Public Utility Commission. Cost recovery efforts are jeopardized, and reputational damage becomes a second crisis.
Company A: Control Secured, Recovery in Motion
- Real-time payment checkpoints are implemented, especially for high-dollar or high-risk transactions.
- Recovery forecasting begins: trends in spend, vendor rate shifts, and invoice anomalies are tracked in real time.
- All interim processes are formally documented to support regulatory compliance, internal audits, and insurance filings.
- Storm damage assessments begin, backed by confidence in financial integrity and documentation.
Company B: Breakdown and Backlash
- Contractors request immediate payments, but there’s no way to verify work performed.
- With no oversight, financial controls collapse under pressure.
- The company’s lack of preparation becomes public, drawing scrutiny from regulators like the Public Utility Commission.
- Reputation damage compounds the financial hit, and trust, once lost, proves hard to recover.
Why Speed Is Non-Negotiable
Disasters don’t wait for approvals—or align with quarterly schedules. But in those moments of urgency lies a powerful opportunity: the chance to respond with agility and control. When new vendors are onboarded quickly and processes are accelerated, there’s an opening to strengthen financial responsiveness—if the right oversight is in place.
Speed isn’t the problem—it’s the untapped potential that comes from not pairing that speed with real-time visibility. Traditional audits done weeks after the fact can’t change outcomes, but early oversight offers a chance to prevent errors, avoid overpayments, and preserve every dollar.
That’s why Revenew’s real-time review capabilities are a game-changer. Instead of reviewing transactions weeks after they’ve cleared, we validate and flag issues as they happen. That means incorrect payments can be halted. Emergency price gouging can be caught before funds are released. Our proactive approach turns a reactive moment into a controlled, measurable recovery process.
When Protocols Break Down, Priorities Must Shift
In a disaster, no internal team can do everything. Your procurement and finance professionals are focused on ensuring the business can keep moving, keeping the lights on, equipment running, and teams safe. They’re navigating urgent purchases, logistics coordination, and leadership updates. That’s exactly why adding a third-party audit team isn’t just helpful—it’s strategic.
Revenew allows your internal team to prioritize what only they can do, while we safeguard what often falls through the cracks: financial accuracy, vendor accountability, and cost recovery. Our process doesn’t require hand-holding or long lead times. We’re built for rapid deployment, embedding seamlessly into your existing workflows with minimal lift from your team. It’s financial triage, handled by experts who’ve done this before.
Rather than operating in fear of what might be missed, we give you confidence that what matters most—cash flow, contract integrity, supplier trust—is being protected, monitored, and recovered where possible. When your team doesn’t have to split focus between operations and oversight, both improve.
The Final 48-Hour Takeaway
In the critical window following a disaster, time isn’t just money—it’s recoverable money. The first 48 hours are your best (and sometimes only) opportunity to catch issues before they escalate, prevent erroneous payments, and ensure emergency decisions don’t snowball into long-term financial regret.
All it takes is one bad storm to put your reputation on the line. We’ve seen it happen— without a financial response plan, you face significant delays, public scrutiny, and pressure from regulators. It’s not necessarily a failure of effort—but a gap in readiness. Disasters move quickly, and expectations don’t wait.
The most effective leaders don’t treat audit response as an afterthought. Revenew’s embedded audit teams are designed to activate instantly, but we’re most impactful when already aligned with your internal processes. By preparing in advance, our protocols, systems, and people become an extension of your team, enabling faster action and stronger protection when it counts.
A fast, intelligent response doesn’t just safeguard your budget—it strengthens confidence across your organization, stakeholders, and community. Let’s talk about how to get ahead of the next storm.