nthly, quarterly, and annual reporting Development of annual budget and business plan Development and ownership of technology plan and long-range strategic plan Invoice Validation Against Standard Cost The first step in good CCM is validation and verification of all invoices. This requires an accurate, stable cost reference database. This must be established through a process commonly referred to as an audit. Notice that these two steps are independent, yet closely intertwined, and require interaction between accounting, communi- cations technical, procurement, and vendors. In addition to charges for the service, there are a myriad of service fees, taxes, and other charges imposed on the service by federal, state, and local municipal governments. Further complicating the matter is the fact that contractual agreements covering telephone service are a mix of private one-time agreements, multi-year service contracts, and public tariffs on file with the FCC and state PUCs. Presenting a bill that will be paid on presentation is a balancing act between providing enough information to justify the total amount due and simplifying or summarizing the details SO the information will fit onto a reason- 11 MANAGING COST OF EQUIPMENT FACILITIES AND SERVICES able amount of paper or in a reasonable size file, and not seem overly complex. Telephone service invoices, especially for long distance service, are complex, lengthy, and involve very complex rating, pricing, and tax and other assessments such as access charges and universal service charges. Manual verification of the amounts on the typical number of invoices, and the level of detail is next to impossible. It would be easy to just blame the telephone company for the situation, but that wouldn't be quite accurate because they are required to collect and remit taxes and assessments levied by federal, state, and municipal governments. The telephone company designs and builds billing systems to generate these complex and massive invoices. Given all the complexity, and the fact