Preparing for a Telecom Audit
Preparing for any sort of audit can be daunting, and a telecom audit is no different. Whether you are deciding to have an internal team perform the audit, or you are calling on the expertise of outside consultants you will want to be well-prepared. Below are some simple steps that will make your telecom bill audit go much smoother.
The first step you’ll want to take is to identify potentially problematic areas. Notice that I put the word potentially in there. You’re probably not a telecommunications expert and it is almost impossible to pick out all of the problems within a large telecom system without having worked in the communications field for many years. Simply follow your hunches. If you think you are getting charged too much for data storage, then write it down. If you think your phone system is too expense, take a note of it. Continue to mark down potentially problematic areas as you think of them.
Next you’ll want to identify the nature, timing, and extent (auditors call this the “scope”) of the audit. Do you want to only test certain areas like phone bills or Internet? Or do you want to test everything? Do you want to test certain locations or all of your offices? Do you just want the auditors to skim over the receipts? Or do you want them to perform an in-depth analysis of all of the contracts? Answering these questions before the audit begins will save you a lot of headaches later. Companies who fail to answer these questions beforehand often find their audit becoming too large and complex to handle.
Once you’ve defined the scope and the problem areas, you’ll want to decide which areas are most important. List your top priorities and share this list with the team that will be performing the audit. This way, if there are budget constraints, the team will perform the work on the areas that you think are most important.
Now that you have very specific areas that you want audited, you can start collecting the necessary information for these areas very easily. Collect all the relevant bills, receipts, invoices, contracts and other important documents that might be useful for the auditor. Organizing these documents will not only make life easier on the auditor, but it will also allow him/her to find more errors. Believe it or not, even auditors can get worn out by information overload and miss errors.
A telecom audit can save your company a lot of money. Most small business owners realize that telecommunication bills are extremely expensive. A lot of times you are being overcharged and/or you are underutilizing your technology. Telecom experts can get you on the right path.
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