What do you do if you're an accountant seeking creative ways to uncover cost-saving opportunities?

*One thing I have found is to study, record, present and analyse your past data as your past data determines your future. It tells what will happen in near future. So, data interpretation is key to success.

Costs fall into a number of buckets: Sunk costs that create a future stream of expenses (depreciation), fixed costs, semi-fixed costs, semi-variable costs, variable costs, recurring costs, non-recurring costs, discretionary costs, and non-discretionary costs. Understanding the nature of the different costs is critical to cost containment and reduction. Some of these buckets overlap. Also, remember that even fixed costs (such as leases) come to a point for renewal or where it is best to break the agreement because the costs do not support a future stream of revenue. Don't think of costs as once and done. Analyze them against future threats, needs, or opportunities.

For me you need to work on your General ledger report on cost incurred and compare which is obtainable eg past cost and present cost to actually eliminate unnecessary cost either by reduction or elimination

For me you need to work on your General ledger report on cost incurred and compare which is obtainable eg past cost and present cost to actually eliminate unnecessary cost either by reduction or elimination

It is amazing how much waste companies produce (even in the accounting department) completely unaware of potential savings. Going green requires a thorough review of company processes which brings to light many areas the company is inefficient. Examples in my career include going paperless, switching to motion detector lights, replacing outdated light bulbs with LEDs, upgrading to energy efficient machinery and installing solar panels. All of these required accounting to think outside the box of "debits and credits" by creating flowcharts of our processes coupled with plotting historic/current costs so the team can isolate areas of waste and improvements.

Get out of the, "This is how we've always done it" mindset. Mapping out processes and finding/eliminating or reducing the 10 wastes will pay dividends. Doing it with just your team is a start. Encouraging others, you support, is better. Getting an initiative started within the organization is best. To get others to start, I've found it best to demonstrate it with your own work.

Review is vital! Sometimes you realized things not useful to the company yet occupying cost or you actually see things you need to replace etc don’t just develop without reviewing

New technologies need to either address an imperative (change in legal requirements) or provide a minimum ROI. Help build the business case for things being considered. What are the costs? What is the savings? Are any new features going to help with regulatory requirements, attraction or retention of needed skills, or management of suppliers, or enhance revenue growth? When is the payback?

The people doing the work may or may not be able to help. They won't really talk to you about basic requirements because they assume that everyone knows about them. They will talk about things they've seen and believe will improve things. They won't talk about delights because they don't know they even have or need them. You're going to have to dig a lot by asking them what things about how they do their job seems to be a waste of time or effort and analyze how they really do their jobs to get to improving the basic needs and identifying opportunities to implement delights.

Regular meeting for staff is needed since they’re the ones facing the challenge so they’ll go along way to contribute to the growth of adjustment with there observations! Write down observations and solutions! Give them task to research

Tapping into your supplier management system and reviewing supplier performance in regard to features, quality, due date performance, cycle time, value, and customer service is important. Consider implementing Category Management in order to get the best deals because of your buying power across the organization. Hone your negotiation skills. Outsourcing is a double edge sword. It may seem cheaper (and can be), but you are hostage to their quality, delivery, and feature performance. Further, they can hold you hostage once imbedded into your system. Lean principles would have you use two vendors for headlights (one for the left and another for the right). That way disruptions by one won't cripple you.

1. Understand the cost structure of the product. 2. Analyse the data relating to the product in different aspects. 3. Make an in-depth analysis of each cost element in the cost structure. 4. Understand the consequences of eliminating the cost savings made. 5. To be ensured that the cost savings plan would result in a positive impact on the product and company.