8 cost saving strategies CFOs can implement

This article is a submission by D&V Philippines. D&V Philippines has years of experience in the accounting and finance industry. This third-party services company can generate the financial reports you need to make real-time financial decisions. 

Your company needs to identify ways to maximize resources and cut costs while maintaining a profit.

As a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), one of your tasks is to achieve this objective while striking a balance between your company’s short and long-term goals. Doing so enables your company to achieve its growth goals. 

Discover eight cost saving strategies you can implement within your organization.

8 cost saving strategies for CFOs

Here are cost saving strategies to support your financial growth:

1. Consider offshore staffing

Hiring employees full-time for every project, whenever you enter a new market, or during seasonal upswings in your sales cycle can be expensive.

The costs you incur might reduce your profits. You might have too many employees doing redundant work, or you’ll be unable to utilize the skills and experience of your team.

This is when to consider offshore staffing to fill the talent, experience, and skills gaps in your organization.  

Offshoring allows you to tap into a wide talent pool from different parts of the globe. You can get the same set of skills and experience level for a certain job when you outsource.

When you want to establish a business in a different country, offshore staffing is an ideal strategy. It is a viable approach because locals have insights and knowledge about the local market, laws, and policies.

A local team allows you to launch your company properly and effectively. Offshoring to a local team enables you to reduce costs and maximize your resources. 

2. Improve inventory management

Your company’s ability to move products is a major factor in generating profits. If products sit in your storage spaces, you’ll incur more costs.

Improve your company’s inventory management to reduce expenses and boost revenue. Identify which items are your bestsellers and which ones take a longer time to move.

Doing so allows you to focus your sales and marketing efforts on promoting top-selling products.

Implement the just-in-time inventory method to optimize stock levels. This makes sure you don’t overstock and prevents the low supply of high-demand products.

Use tools and software to monitor stock levels effectively. They also enable you to schedule orders to meet your desired stock level. 

3. Adapt technology and tools

Technology and tools aren’t going to replace people completely, they’ll make your employees work simply and efficiently.

Identifying mistakes and correcting them is easier when your team uses tools and software. There are several accounting and finance tools you can invest in and use immediately.

Making updates in real-time and using them for reports and brainstorming is one of the main advantages of using accounting software. You’ll also be able to monitor your financial standing and identify trends in your sales cycles.

You won’t need to hire additional employees because tools can improve the efficiency of your current workforce. 

4. Negotiate vendor relationships

As your business grows and the number of transactions you process increases, you’ll need to identify ways you can spend less money without substantially reducing profits.

Review your business partnerships to identify which contracts you can renegotiate for better terms. Create a win-win situation for all parties so that you can get:

• Discounts
• Longer payment schedules
• Higher credit
• More favorable contract

Assess which partnerships to end so that you can improve your cash flow and make a deal with suppliers that give you better terms.

Use historical data to determine the cost and benefit of each of your partners. Doing so allows you to make objective decisions. 

5. Assess operations expenses

Data will always play an important role in any assessment you make of your company’s expenses.

Review the data you gathered over the years. This enables you to identify which aspects of your operations are consuming resources efficiently or inefficiently.

You can pinpoint areas for improvement, reduce or increase salaries depending on employee performance, award bonuses and promotions, and cut expenses for projects, products, or services that don’t deliver the results you desire.

After assessing and identifying which aspects of your operations require a decrease or an increase in funding, you’ll be able to allocate your resources effectively. 

6. Create and implement cost control strategies

To reduce costs and boost profits, the CFO should create and implement cost saving strategies that everyone in the organization should follow.

Determine objectives that each team should meet when it comes to cutting expenses without reducing the quality of their output.

Identify short and long-term targets that everyone should aim for. This allows your employees to reach and maintain the budget you established.

Communicate the policies you implement so there’s strict adherence.  

7. Foster the right culture

Set an example for everyone in your company to follow. Foster a culture of cost saving while maintaining the quality of your company’s output.

Provide incentives to teams that stay within or under their budget but still perform at a high level. This encourages others in your organization to follow suit.

Increase awareness about ways your business can reduce expenses through regular communication. Send emails and newsletters and/or conduct meetings with a focus on saving.

Sharing responsibility within your organization fosters a cost-saving mindset.  

8. Review services and product offerings

There might be products or services in your portfolio that cost a lot to market and sell. Identify these so that you can either remove them from your stock or find ways to improve them.

Listen to your customers to determine the features they want and their pain points. This provides you with ideas on how to improve your offerings, which will result in higher sales.

A focused approach to product and service development enables you to use resources effectively. 

These cost saving strategies allow you to reduce expenses, maximize resources, and improve your revenue.

Implement these so that you can grow your company and maintain a positive cash flow.

The abovementioned methods allow you to maintain a flexible financial position that opens more opportunities for your company.