Guide to Cost Cutting For My Company

When the economy is facing tough times is important to keep costs under control. 

I know how difficult it is to let Marge or Reg go, he has been with you for years; or Paul who arrived last year, or that whole department set up for that exciting new project that never floated off the ground. However, if your company is struggling you must take steps to preserve your business now. That may mean letting people go – regardless of sentimental attachments.

Read on for Company Rescue’s top tips, from the turnaround experts!

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Our TOP 20 Cost Saving Rules and Cash flow Tips.

Common sense says: Only following a couple of these tips won’t work, using as many as possible will; The truth is the solution will come from a mixture of cost savings, driven marketing and sales, SHEER HARD WORK and a bit of luck thrown in. Once you regain control of the situation you can start to manage your cash flow problem.

We are still in, or just emerging from a serious recession now in the UK, does your business strategy reflect this? If not follow this guide and you will be better able to cope.

1. Set up a daily cash flow to control all cash going in and out of the business; This my help protect you from wrongful trading, as it stops bounced cheques. If you don’t have a daily cash flow forecast click here for your free copy (downloads Excel spreadsheet) , email Keith Steven (keiths@ksagroup.co.uk) now or call KSA on 0800 970 0539 FOR YOUR FREE DAILY CASH FLOW MODEL.
2. Make sure that all purchases are approved by you as the MD/FD/operations director/owner, and your partners. You should sign all cheques or approve all BACS/CHAPS payments in writing.
3. No purchases are approved unless signed by you, which will make them produce a purchase order. Then you can check if they are doing their job, is the price fair, are they and your supplier ripping you off, or are they just lazy and not getting the business best value?
4. No petty cash is drawn from the bank unless you personally go and get it – makes you question what every pound is spent on when people ask for cash, won’t it? By the way, you get out of the daily grind and time to think.
5. Review all expense claims by the staff; reject all that are not really necessary. If you get complaints or murmurings (they may be too scared to act professionally and debate with you), then meet with them and explain the position.
6. Remember survival is KEY. If you lose people or profits that’s not a vital issue, CASH IS KING for now. Profits will soon begin flow again from very tight cash flow management. If people sue for unfair dismissal, get help. KSA may be able to kill off their claims with straight talking. Or perhaps a CVA can kill these claims too.
7. Ask every supplier for a review of their prices. Ask if they can cut you a better deal? You could also consider asking them too for a few extra weeks payment grace, or ask for regular monthly payments
8.  Ask your landlord for a breather on rent. See if you can pay monthly rather than quarterly for a while? This helps cash flow. Technically this actually puts you in rent arrears, but that’s OK at this stage. Most landlords are very keen to retain their tenant and may be more forgiving than you expect.
9. Similarly, ask your accountants to accept monthly payments. If your accountancy fee is £10,000 per annum, then ask to pay over say 10 months, that’s just £1,000 per month.MANAGE cash EVERY DAY! It may be that you need someone to do your bookkeeping for you. Have a look at our page on bookkeepers here
10. Get someone else’s view on the situation; Do you have a trusted friend or mentor? If so talk to them about your business, actions and get them to sanity check you. They may be able to help you and suggest cost savings.
11. Question whether you need your company car; Can you use your own and give it back? It may save you a lot of personal tax too.
12. Ask yourself if you can you sell any assets, to raise cash? Make sure they’re not owned by a leasing company first. Shop around for the best deal.
13. If you are factoring or invoice discounting, ask your factors to cut their costs, only drawdown funds weekly.
    1. Using your FREE daily cash flow model will of course help in this. CALL NOW FOR YOUR COPY 0800 970 0539
    2. This can save hundreds of pounds a week.
14. Cut ALL overtime to the bone, why do you need it? Is your production planning so poor or weak? If you need more people hire them, at lower rates.
15. If you need to make redundancies and cannot afford them, use the DeBIS  Hardship Scheme.
16. Ask HMRC for a Time to Pay Deal, use our programme here is you don’t know what to do.
17. Use the internet to buy or price everything; you can get fantastic value over the net.
18. Work all hours, to build the recovery plan and set out the Time To Pay Deals with TAX AND VAT if you cannot pay tax debts on time.
19. KEEP MINUTES or notes OF ALL DECISIONS. If you’re a partnership or sole trader KEEP NOTES.

We get paid to do this for companies large and small. We use the same process every time because it works and it can work for you. Take no prisoners, work hard, manage cashflow and you will hopefully lead your business out of the dark times.

See our page here – Ten Top Tips to Manage Cash Flow problems

If you have already cut costs, but you need help now, please call 0800 9700539 for quick accurate advice on your options.