It’s always a good idea to be on the lookout for ways to increase your profits, and luckily, there are many ways to do that. One way is to focus on cost-cutting, and here are five places that are good to periodically review for cost-cutting possibilities.
Telephone
Re-negotiating with the phone company every one to two years is a really good idea. Many telecommunications companies will often bargain with you or offer you a new deal just for checking in with them.
Has your business changed? Do you need all those extra features you are paying for? Could you do without those extra lines? Would another phone plan save you money on long distance or international calls?
The risk is low: one quick call will let you know if you can save money in this area. It’s worth it to give it a shot, and while you’re at it, you can call your smartphone provider too.
Travel
Travel is always a great area to look into for possible ways to save. Are all trips necessary and profitable? Are there any meetings that can be done virtually instead of face-to-face? Virtual tools such as GoToMeeting can make travel unnecessary.
What trips can be cut this year? Can the number of people sent per trip be cut? Can travel arrangements be made early to save money? Are booking dates flexible so you can compare and find the lowest rates? Is a taxi or rental car cheaper?
Dues and Subscriptions
Paying our annual dues for the club or association we’ve belonged to forever may be a habit, but is it beneficial for your business? We might enjoy seeing everyone once or twice a year at the meeting, but we may not necessarily have to have a membership to do that. Sometimes paying the guest rate is more affordable than the member rate if we are attending infrequently enough.
Review a list of organizations and publications you and your employees are part of, and choose which ones you are truly benefiting from. If being an officer in one of your organizations is not getting you any new business, then you may eliminate a time drain by bowing out and letting someone else volunteer.
Labor
As your business grows, it can be a challenge to decide who to hire next. The first place to look before you decide should be your existing employees. What tasks are they doing that you are paying them too much for? For example, do you have a manager doing clerical work? If so, you may be able to piece together an administrative job that frees your current staff from all the clerical work they are doing.
It’s worth a look to see where your current employees are being overpaid and find someone to do those parts of the job. You’ll save labor costs and come out ahead in the long run.
Fixed Assets and Equipment
Another place to save money that can be significant is purchases of large items such as furniture, automobiles, and production equipment. It’s a good idea to get three bids from reputable vendors so you have a choice. Going with the lowest bid is not always a good move; going for the highest quality is.
Look in these five places, and let us know how much you find to increase your profits. As always, if we can help, let us know.
As business owners, we may be so busy making sure the bills get paid and the product gets out the door that we may not be quite as proactive about our own compensation. To pay themselves, many new business owners take what’s left after employees and vendors have been paid, and that ends up being their paycheck.
For businesses with fiscal years that coincide with the calendar year, the slate of revenues and expenses will be wiped clean on New Year’s Day. Starting with a clean slate gives us a chance to reflect on our 2012 results before we enter 2013 and experience the hope that comes with a new year.
When you think of an accountant’s duties, you might think about traditional tasks, such as tax preparation, bookkeeping, and financial statement preparation. Here are five additional tasks that accountants can help with that you might not think of.
Year-end is coming up for many businesses, and it’d be nice to know what your final revenue and profit numbers will be for the year. Before we can calculate these key numbers, there are year-end adjustments that may need to be made to your books that will change the numbers. Here are seven common ones.
In a small business, the owner ends up wearing many hats to get the product or service delivered, the customers served, and the accounts settled. Within each functional area of a small business, there are even more hats. Although the accounting function might be considered one big hat, there are actually a number of skills that make up “the accounting department” in a small business. Here’s a list to help you understand how it all works together. As you read through it ask yourself how you are covering these functions in your workplace.
Running a business is filled with regulations everywhere you turn. These can drain precious time away from the core of your business, but if you ignore them, there could be huge financial consequences you may be risking without even realizing it. The best way to handle them is to understand your exposure, consult with any experts you need to bring in, create a checklist, and make sure you’re in compliance.
We know we’ll never make tax season your favorite time of year, but perhaps we can make it easier. Here are five things you can do now to smooth out the time required to pull your records together for your tax preparer.
According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), over $3.5 trillion is projected to be lost to fraud worldwide in 2011 alone. The typical organization loses 5 percent of its revenues each year. While we have a lot to think about as entrepreneurs, we do need to take time to educate ourselves about this unfortunately common business loss.
If you have an endless to-do list, you’re not alone these days. Most of us are constantly looking for ways to work smarter and get more done. Here are six quick tips to help your productivity so you can go home early.
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