ARTICLE
Accounting & Bookkeeping

5 Areas to Evaluate For Cost Management

Written by Analytix Editorial Team | July 1, 2014

Cost management can help you keep business expenses within budget, while helping increase overall profitability. Cost management structures are a good way to track the budget. In practice, it is a form of management accounting that controls the budget by predicting or allocating for expenses. Prior allocation allows better management of funds. Effective cost management also reduces human errors and helps better tackle problems.

Areas that can be evaluated as part of cost management can differ, but here are five common ones:

Inventory management

You can apply cost management to your inventory management to ensure better adherence to your budget. Your inventory is probably your business’ principal asset.

Regardless of the inventory volume or size, you need to have a streamlined management system. Begin with ensuring diligent transaction records, large or small. Whether it is establishing accounting processes for recording receipts or pursuing invoices, make sure the transactions are properly recorded.

Office supplies and space

After your inventory, your office space supplies and infrastructure form the face of your business. Apply cost management to this area to pare down needless expenses. Does your business need to physically operate in an upscale neighborhood? Is it the type of business where clients will be on premises? If you are not in retail, you do not need to invest too heavily in venues with more expensive storefronts.

Business utilities

When choosing to install or upgrade business utilities, think carefully. If you are not a retail business, you may not need to invest heavily in this area, either. Keep bills for utilities, like electricity and gas, to a minimum. For a small business, some overhead costs can be significantly reduced through outsourcing. For example, regarding systems or software, instead of investing in purchasing certain programs, hiring resources, training and retaining them, you can outsource the entire need itself. This strategy allows businesses to save on troubleshooting costs, as well.

Contracts

What areas do your contracts cover and what is the contract’s duration? Wherever possible, bolster your budget with renegotiations for better terms and conditions. Make sure your project contracts honor your business terms, whether for deliverables or prices.

Monitor your contracts and keep an eye on issues, such as lack of clarity on deliverables or cost transparency.

At Analytix Solutions, we have planned and implemented scores of projects for small businesses and helped them effectively manage costs and budgets, boosting profitability. For more information on our services, please visit us at https://www.analytixaccounting.com or email us at sales@analytix.com.

Written by

Analytix Editorial Team
Analytix Editorial Team

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