C-Net

Telecom Audit Defined
By Spencer D. Chin

The telecom audit plays a critical role in a company's ability to manage its telecom expenditures. Through a properly conceived and implemented telecom audit, a company can not only improve its ability to spot billing errors, but also point out where a company can improve its procedures to maximize its financial resources and improve profitability.

On its simplest level, the telecom audit involves carefully scrutinizing invoices to check the accuracy of the billed amounts, whether against previous bills, contracted rates, or other telecom reference information. Though simple in concept, a telecom audit is important as even the simplest data entry error or other billing discrepancy could radically affect the company's bottom line. Thus, a telecom audit must be thorough and conducted in a manner that systematically checks all related information.

A more complex form of telecom audit is the inventory audit. This audit examines a company's entire inventory of telecom assets and resources. This level of telecom audit identifies all telecom circuits, rate elements, locations, and other data, enabling the company to precisely how a company's telecom resources are being allocated and used.

The inventory form of the telecom audit goes way beyond looking for spot errors by looking for trend information. With this data, a company can decide if it needs to expand its telecom resources or redeploy its existing resources for higher efficiency. Such a telecom audit can also point out if a company needs to modify procedures to minimize or prevent the likelihood of telecom billing errors reoccurring.

While a telecom audit is complex, fortunately there are companies trained and willing to perform the task. Professional telecom audit services understand the nuances of telecom services, regulations, and billing procedures to conduct a thorough telecom audit.
Once a telecom audit is conducted, the entity conducting the audit will periodically re-perform the service to ensure that the company has taken corrective actions or changes in procedures.

The money spent employing a telecom audit service will be repaid for in lower telecom expenses, in both the short and long term.