Before you examine a single statement, you read one clause, and it sets the ceiling on everything you can recover.

A rightsholder forwards you three years of statements that feel light. Your instinct is to dig into the numbers. Stop. The first document to open is the audit clause in the underlying contract, because it defines what you are even allowed to look at, how far back you can go, and who pays for the work. A perfect set of findings is worthless if the clause has already time-barred half of them. The clause is not boilerplate, it is the boundary of the claim.