n is used to track and charge back expenses to departments and to minimize unauthorized telephone calls. Most typically, the expenses tracked are outgoing long dis- tance telephone calls. An increasing number of organizations are tracking local calls, fax calls, dial up modem calls and also in- coming calls, particularly toll free calls such as 800-type numbers that are paid for by the recipient. A few organizations also track internal calls as a means of determining what is going on within the organization. Call Accounting systems can also capture the calling telephone number (Caller ID or ANI - Automatic Number Identification) to provide a record of who called. The system also lets you charge- back prorated portions of non-usage based expenses including the cost of the telephone system and outside lines. How the Call Accounting Information is Used Organizations differ in their methods for charging back or al- locating costs to departments or individuals. The Call Accounting The Telecom Handbook $ 115 CALL ACCOUNTING & TELEMANAGEMENT SYSTEMS report costs can represent the actual amount of the call or some agreed upon "marked up" amount. Some organizations do not use the costing capability of the system, but simply use it to determine what percentage of all calls were made by each de- partment. Then those percentages are applied to actual bills received to determine the amount of expense to be assigned to each department. It is important to note that the cost of each call on the Call Accounting report never exactly matches the cost of the call on the bill. Bills have different starting dates. Also there are vari- ables affecting the costing of individual calls (such as one second or six second billing increments) that may be beyond the capa- bility of the Call Accounting system to distinguish. Also Call Accounting systems do not generally have what is called answer supervision (the ability to detect when someone at the other end actually answers the telephone). If someone in the office places a call and lets it r