8 Good Reasons Not to Hire Telecommunications Bill Auditors

A Telecommunications Bill Audit is focused on finding mistakes on the bills from the service providers for data, voice and cellular communications. These mistakes may result from billing for services that do not exist or from non-compliance with the contract.

Many organizations have an initial reluctance to the idea of a Telecommunications Bill audit for a variety of "good reasons."

REASON #1 – We have in-house staff who does the same work. Why use outside auditors and give up some of the money we can find ourselves?
REALITY – If any organization has a professional Telecommunications Bill Auditor on staff, it is probably not working out to their advantage. This is not a full-time position for any organization, regardless of size.

It does not make sense for the following reasons: (a) The skills needed to audit many different types of telecommunications bills (data, voice, local, long distance) cannot be provided by a single individual. Some outside auditing firms maintain a team of auditors with different skills and experience that it would not be practical to assemble as your in-house staff. (b) The auditors hone their skills and find new errors by reviewing contracts from many different service providers and many different client companies. A person working for a single organization cannot have the depth or breadth of experience that a professional auditor does. (c) In-house staff is paid a fixed salary, while outside auditors are paid based upon the amount of money they recover. This makes all the difference and gives the professional auditor the incentive to dig for errors and stand up to carriers who do not want to issue refunds. (d)The discovery of billing errors is only half the process. Actually getting the money back can be the more difficult part. The carriers continue to “audit proof” their contracts, sometimes limiting the retroactive time period for which they will issue a refund. Good auditors know how to circumvent these time limitations. Also, some auditing firms have set precedents that enable them to negotiate refunds that would be unobtainable without documentation on prior refunds for the same issue.

REASON #2 – If the auditors do find billing errors on our watch, this will make us look like we are not doing our jobs.
REALITY – When presented with the logic behind Reason #1, a CEO or CFO will adjust his expectations of in-house staff vs. outside auditors. Enlightened IT and telecom managers view outside auditors as an important addition to their in-house bill review activities. In some cases, errors uncovered by the professional bill auditors can be incorporated into the checks and balances already in place, which reduces the likelihood of the same billing errors in the future.

In-house staff bill reviews are often focused short-term issues such as a circuit that was suppose to be disconnected a few months ago still appearing on the bill. This type of issues is where the in-house staff should be focused, correcting the errors before they have a chance to build up over time.

REASON #3 – We do not want to rock the boat with our telecommunications service providers. We need to have a good relationship with them in order to get the services we need.
REALITY – If your account representative cares about your business, he will want the billing to be accurate. A good auditing firm does not take an adversarial position with your service providers. As the audit begins the auditors sit down with them to be sure that they understand the process. While it is not comfortable for the service providers when errors are found, they are usually willing to step up and have the billing corrected. The errors uncovered are seldom intentional. They just come from the complexities of billing for telecommunications services. It’s hard to get it right!

REASON #4 – We do not have good records and have destroyed many of our old bills.
REALITY – The auditors need copies of one recent month’s bills only to start the audit. However, if old bills are available, they can be helpful and should not be destroyed.

REASON #5 – Our staff is maxed out right now. We do not have the resources needed to bring in outside auditors for the telecommunications bills.
REALITY – The beauty of the audit, it that an outside resource is doing all the work and your staff involvement is minimal. Once you have provided the auditors with bill copies and contracts and answered some preliminary questions, there is little else for your in-house staff to do. Some auditors will even come on-site and make the photocopies for you.

REASON #6 - We are in the middle of many billing messes and want to wait until they are straightened our before we bring in an outside firm. We do not want outside auditors to take credit for the credits we are in the process of negotiating.
REALITY – Just let the auditors know what you are working on, and they will stay away from those issues. It is best to put this in writing to avoid misunderstandings.

REASON #7 – We have had a bad experience with Telecom Bill Auditors. We never did know where the money came from or whether our billing had been corrected.
REALITY – Just as with any other professional service, there are different types of Telecommunications Bill Auditing firms with different approaches and ways of doing business. Even though the service does not cost you anything unless there is a refund, it is still important to check the auditing firm’s references and understand how the service will be delivered. Make sure you will receive regular status reports so that you will know what claims of incorrect billing have been submitted on your behalf. Note: The auditor is typically paid a percentage of the refund.

REASON #8 – You just don’t need any more money in your budget!

Take me to DIgby 4 Bill Auditing Services

Jane Laino, jlaino@Digby4.com
DIgby 4 Group, Inc.
“We help manage your telecommunications technology.”
212-883-1191
www.Digby4.com

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