A common approach for many TEM programs is to use software to set thresholds to audit bills. If a skilled person establishes the parameters for the audits, they can be effective at identify billing errors. For example, automated threshold audits using software to validate a fixed cost each month on a circuit or a tax that based on a fixed percentage of a charge can help to identify billing errors.
However, if the threshold audit simply focuses on the total charge on a bill, the findings will be disappointing. With this approach, errors will not be found if the bill is consistently wrong! The threshold audit will look at the total invoice amount and determine that it falls within the acceptable range from prior months’ bills. The key to an effective telecom audit is to review each billing component. This requires a level of granularity in terms of how bills are processed. It also shows the value of having people with deep knowledge of telecom billing to implement a Telecom Expense Management program. Often it pays to have a historical audit to validate the charges on the bill. The old adage of garbage in garbage out applies with telecom billing.
