A charging management apparatus which allows constructing a charging system corresponding to various conditions when a plurality of apparatuses share a locally connected image reading apparatus and also allows use of the locally connected image reading apparatus as a chargeable peripheral device is disclosed. An image reading apparatus sharing server (302) serving as a charging management apparatus stores and manages a charging setting information structure based on charging setting related to sharing of an image reading apparatus (301) by a client PC (303), responds to a charging setting information structure acquisition inquiry from the client PC (303), collects, stores, and manages use information related to sharing of the image reading apparatus (301) from the client PC (303), and calculates, stores, and manages a charging result for actual use of the image reading apparatus (301) on the basis of the use information and charging setting information structure.
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