Small expenses, money spent paying for goods and services you don’t need or could get cheaper mount up and increase business operating costs and reduce profits. There are easy steps any business, irrespective of size, can make to become more cost conscious. There are also options for hiring hourly CFO services for small businesses. Professional CFO services can help you figure out where to cut expenses that you may not have realized was possible.

Take a really good look at your outgoings.

Monitor your expenditure closely for a couple of months. You might be surprised at how much you are spending on certain things, particularly if you are not really using them. Even if you are, can you get that service at the same quality, but cheaper elsewhere? Shop around for Internet and phone provision and gas and electric too. If you have a website do you have to pay a web-designed to update it on a fairly regular basis. If so change to a platform where maintaining it in house, even if it means someone has to attend a training course for a day. Are there aspects of your business that take up a disproportionate amount of time that a computer software programme could reduce? For example, there are some excellent products on the market to help small business manage their book keeping and accounts. Do you or one or your senior staff spend large amounts of time on an activity that doesn’t yield much of a return? If so why not investigate outsourcing. This will leave you free to get on with what really matters to the success of your business.

Do you need to be located where you are?

Renting office space can be very expensive. Do those staff really need to be in those rented premises, particularly with all the technology available today? Could they possibly work from their own homes? Engaging a virtual office service will get you a business address, switchboard and when you need one, a meeting room. You will cut down not only on rent, but travelling expenses and your office maintenance costs will disappear.

Pool resources.

Look for a company that uses similar goods and services to you and team up with them to realise economies from buying in bulk and sharing the cost. If you have assets that are unused, such as desk space, vehicles or equipment look at renting them out. Buy your office supplies from a reliable provider, such as officestationery.com. They provide a wide range of good quality merchandise, including a large selection of ink cartridges, at very competitive prices.

Operate a staff incentive scheme.

If staff can help you realise savings, offer them an incentive, it doesn’t have to be huge, just a thank you. Appoint an energy champion to encourage everyone to switch off lights, computers and other electrical equipment at the end of each working day. They can research and advise on the energy efficient credentials of any new equipment you need, such as a fridge or microwave for the kitchen area. Other than charging mobiles, monitor any other appliances that staff are using unnecessarily. If you have got good air conditioning they shouldn’t need desk fans. If the lighting is good, supplementary lighting should be unnecessary, unless they have eye problems.