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Ideas/Section-5
Minimum Start-Up: $500
Average Start-Up: 15,000
Revenue: $35,000 - $1 Mil+
Profits: $20,000 - $500,000
One Person Business: Yes
Auditing is not a matter of magic. If you
have the
patience to sort through regulatory tariff and have a keen
eye to spot billing inconsistencies, you can conduct an
audit.
UTILITY BILLS
Auditing utility bills has become one of
the most popular
areas of concentration for auditors because of the inherent
complexity of billing for utilities. Utility rates are
highly confusing because they differ depending on type of
service, volume of useeage, and promotional packages
offered at the time of installation.
GETTING PAID
Utility Auditors earn commissions, usually
around 50% of
any overcharge they uncover. And this is where you may
need to exercise more of your patience. Although utility
companies would gladly settle a verifiable overcharge
(relatively quickly out of court), it may ake them up to
six months to issue any refund. This is particularly true
with larger utility firms.
COMMISSION WORKS
Most clients prefer to pay auditors on
commission basis for
two reasons: No upfront cash outlay, and no risk if the
auditor comes back empty-handed. For the auditor, working
on commission offers distinct advantages: It makes it
easier for them to land clients, and it usually enables hem
to earn more than if they would take a basic fee.
MAKING THE SALE
The biggest challenge facing auditors is
to get a poteneial
client to admit that "there is a high probability that they
(the client) overpaid for their utilities without knowing
it". This issue is usually not a problem if the client is
a small business where the owner makes all the decisions.
However, the executive committee of a major corporation may
feel threatened that they"ll be held accountable for
irresponsibly overpaying for utility.
Your job is to convince your potential
client that
overcharging does happen and that it is the job of an
outsider auditor, and not people from within the company,
to "fix" the problem.
