Cost reduction

Cost Management globally focuses on enhancing organizational structures by:

Delivering savings by analysing the cost base using external and internal benchmarks; and developing and implementing improvement through rationalising operations and projects, shared services or out-sourcing, and redundancy programmes.
Maximizing the buying power of the business by analysing existing spend, identifying opportunities for savings, and designing improved procurement structures and controls.
Implementation of cost management strategies, developing ongoing benefits realisation plan and Procurement Analysis.

We help our clients identify where their major cost and value drivers are, and work with them to assess how they can be better managed. Our analysis addresses the benefits and risks of optimizing costs and value, in both internal processes and external relationships with customers and suppliers.

We support CEOs, CFOs, controllers and treasurers to optimize the structure of their finance functions to improve their contribution to the business. We structure our support to ensure that finance addresses the challenges of achieving appropriate standards of control, efficient back-office opportunities and support to the business through insight and challenge.

Challenges

Maintaining compliance and control. Being accountable to the business and to the financial community, CFOs have put compliance and control high on the agenda. For many, responses have been tactical rather than strategic. More deeply embedded and sustainable solutions are now required. Flexibility to response to future regulatory change is also increasingly important.
Driving efficiency. The pressure to release money, resources and capacity has never been greater. Gains may come from the elimination of redundant activities, consolidations of activities (for example, through shared services), standardization and automation of processes. These steps have in some instances resulted in cost savings more than 50%.
Providing insight and challenge. Insight takes different forms in different organisations. It involves delivery of an effective performance management framework, understanding the key business drivers and challenging and supporting business decisions around these drivers. Equipping finance to deliver effective support on these aspects requires tools and capabilities which are often new to the function.