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It’s fair to surmise that the UK’s economy is facing a myriad o f challenges in the current climate, from coronavirus and the impact of so-called “Plan B” restrictions to spiralling inflation and continued supply chain issues.
From a business perspective, these factors continue to squeeze both turnover and profitability, creating a scenario for firms to place a greater emphasis on controlling their corporate and operational expenses going forward.
But what are the best ways of controlling your corporate expenses? Here are some ideas to keep in mind:
Create a Manageable Budget
Let’s start with the basics; as creating a budget that’s both realistic and manageable is the first step to controlling your corporate expenses.
Even on a fundamental level, creating a budget helps you to identify examples of wasteful or excessive corporate spending, which can inform better capital management going forward.
Over time, a budget also details your company’s incomings and outgoings and disposable income levels, while being precise and dealing in pence rather than pounds lets you prioritise spending and continually operate within your means (without compromising on efficiency).
With a budget, you can also create a small emergency fund and optimise the amount of flexibility that you have during challenging economic times.
Have Flexible Payment and Banking Solutions
When looking to maintain a viable and profitable business, operational and corporate costs are inevitable. It’s how you manage this spending that’s crucial from a control perspective, with flexible payment and banking options critical in this respect.
For example, containing your spending to a trackable payment card with set limits can immediately help to control your expenses, while ensuring quick and effective repayment that minimises the risk of debt.
The deployment of open banking solutions and payment options also benefits employees, who often have to bear the brunt of corporate expenses before they’re repaid at the end of the month.
This is both unfair and stressful from an employee perspective, but using flexible payment solutions can ensure the quick and secure repayment of expenses in an affordable manner.
Reduce Unnecessary Spending
As we’ve already touched on, the process of budgeting and taking control of your finances can highlight examples of excessive or unnecessary spending.
This is crucial if you’re serious about controlling your corporate expenses, as you’ll often find that some expenditure goes unnoticed and consumes a surprising amount of your commercial capital.
For example, you may want to reduce excessive energy costs by embracing a hybrid working model, which encourages remote working over an extended period of time. Similarly, you could look to terminate leases on unnecessary equipment and even downsize your premises depending on the real-time level of office occupancy, reducing your monthly spending considerably.
Regardless, striving to eliminate unnecessary spending is a practical way of controlling your expenses and coping during times of economic tumult.
