During recent months many businesses have had to make some tough decisions about what costs to cut.
In some cases there may be some low hanging fruit – contracts that can be renegotiated or items that always were ‘luxuries’.
There may even be grants to claim that haven’t been previously investigated that can offet some of the costs – small business rates relief, training support and so on.
Often things can just be done differently – this may be changing a process slightly so that it doesn’t take so long/cost so much. Or perhaps re-focusing on why an action is done, what is the objective? Are all the current steps delivering towards that objective or necessary?
But then come the difficult ones, the ones that are really going to hurt – employees, suppliers or even customers. In a discussion this week it was spelled out to me how this is not always a purely financial consideration – it is about the value that is delivered for the expenditure incurred. That value might be financial such as sales resulting from marketing ( more about this next week!) but it might be about the one thing that lifts the employees moral perhaps a contracted out service that no one internally wants to do.
Value is not about money its about contributing, in any form, to success.
Archive for the ‘Cost Savings’ Category
What costs to cut?
Friday, September 3rd, 2010Knowing what you dont know
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010I have long accepted that I don’t know everything. I also accept that I don’t need to know everything. What is really handy is knowing where to go for the information I don’t know (but need to know). And of course it can be really handy to have others point out to you what you don’t know (but need to know).
These are a couple of the reasons that I was happy to work with fellow part time finance directors to establish FinanceHeads.
These are also a couple of the benefits that I hope I deliver to clients. Finance is not everyone’s cup of tea but I am happy to share what I know (with a business owner or their staff). I have even been known to keep information largely to myself and just take appropriate actions so that the business owner never needs to know but can sleep at night knowing things are taken care of.
When a project goes live
Thursday, July 29th, 2010A few years ago my garden fence annoyed me for just one day too many and a project was born. A plan was created to move the fence then create a rockery, a little winding path and a bit of extra lawn. Then I had to get the bits together and make it happen (with some help) – it felt so good when it was complete.
This month has seen me finalise a new product offering for my clients (the subject of a separate launch mail) which saw me go through the same process of identifying a need, planning how to deliver it and then finalising its creation.
Whether a project (or activity) is of a personal or professional nature knowing the objective and planning the steps to achieving it increase the chances of success and feeling some more of those highs.
If you want to find out more click here
Collect that cash
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010An excellent article in Real Business Magazine focuses on 27 ways to boost your cashflow. As Finance Directors this inevitably falls under our remit for clients and I am proud to have contributed to the article.
My specific contribution – Invoice as soon as possible, regularly, not just at the end of the month and I totally recommend reading the other 26 thoughts and many wise words.
I have long maintained that not all customers are good customers, specifically those that don’t pay – luckily I have great clients.
The cash collection process starts as soon as contact is made with a prospect – the exact details of the process will vary depending on the nature of a business but expectations should be set right away about what is being delivered, for what price and when both delivery and payment are going to be made.
Starting to feel myself getting on a high horse so will leave you there with that thought – if you want me to get back on my high horse feel free to get in touch.
Finance is Fun!
Sunday, June 20th, 2010No, really it is and it appears that I may even have convinced a couple of others recently.
As part of the part time FD services that I offer I am usually helping either business owners or their managers understand the financials of their business.
When I was working in corporates there were so many managers that this sometimes ended up with me running ‘Finance for non Finance manager’ courses tailored to that business’ requirements.
However, now I work with SMEs it is more often one to one sessions, which are fun but I did enjoy working with YourFuture YourBusiness and to deliver one of their programmes for managers across a range of businesses. Check it out - and if you know of anyone else that wants to learn some key skills and have some fun………………….
Why do I do it?
Thursday, June 10th, 2010I am always reviewing (management) accounts for clients/potential clients and indeed was asked to give a presentation on this subject earlier this week. As I was putting it together I thought it was important that anyone reviewing accounts knows why they arent waiting to the year end for the statutory accounts and why they are doing it – not everyone did! So here is the overview:
- to ensure accuracy
- identify profit improvement opportunities
- guide cashflow forecasting
- assist with planning and hence predictability as the basis of decision making.
Of course the detail will vary in every case but its good to have a starting point. And how much benefit you get from the review is often linked with how often and when it is done. The numbers tell a story – by reviewing the accounts a business owner may stand a better chance of ensuring there is a happy ending.
Green opportunities
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009There is much debate about whether companies can consider the environment and ‘going green’ in the current economy – my belief is that, while it may not be the first priority for a business, all businesses can be moving in the ‘right’ direction. Even better, doing so can often lead to cost savings and improved sales opportunities which are often high priorities for businesses at the moment. My concern is that some of the legislative requirements are so expensive and onerous that it puts people off looking for the opportunities that they could take voluntarily. These were the key messages from my presentation at Business as Usual in the Low-Carbon Economy – an event hosted by Bayer.
As an independent FD my concerns are for the financial performance of the businesses I work for – this can often include other ethical considerations that work for the benefit of everyone like staff training/sabbaticals to retain staff and avoid the costs of recruiting and retraining, sourcing supplies locally and so on. I touched on these during my presentation not least of all because in the Companies Act 2006 all directors have a statutory obligation to consider the impact of their business decisions on the community and the environment.
As an FD I am good at measuring and analysing data, as an individual I feel passionately about helping those less fortunate than myself – the ethics of business bring the two together nicely.
PC Power
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009No – this isn’t a post about Political Correctness but rather about a rather scarey fact that I heard on the radio the other day. Apparently 60% of PCs are left on ALL the time which costs us £150m a year. £150m!! What could we do with that money? And what a scary amount of carbon emissions that represents.
Even if we turned off the PCs half of the time…………………..
To all those people who say ‘Its too expensive to be green’, I say ‘How can you afford not to be?’
Gardens and businesses meet again
Thursday, June 4th, 2009I often talk about how gardens and businesses are the same. I will try not to get carried away but:
- depending on how big your garden is you may want to develop specific areas for specific needs. The garden needs to be maintained – much of this can be done by the novice (mowing isnt hard!) but sometimes you have to get expert advice (if you cant rid of a particular weed for example). And if the garden is left to its own devices then it wont serve any purpose and will get out of control.
Now re-read replacing the word garden with business.
Anyway – I was reminded of this, together with the fact that taking care of our envirnoment can help save costs when I read this article, which also might provide inspiration for a team building activity.
http://www.kandh.co.uk/news-views/green-news/spring-garden/
Not so sure how you enjoy the sunshine in your business – for another day!
Election day thought
Thursday, June 4th, 2009Being election day you cant help but think about MPs and back to the expenses scandal that is going on. Having blogged on this subject a couple of weeks ago and shared my thougths about how its all in the policy I thought I would share this article which I received today.
http://www.thebottomlineonline.co.uk/masterclass/expensespolicy.asp
Not exciting, but food for thought.
