Cost Management & Cost Control
Cost Management or Cost Control
In broad sense, both the terms have the same meaning. Yet cost management seems to connote broader perspective. Cost control to an un-initiated may mean cutting down the incurrence of cost or expenditure every time or in every situation. In reality it is not always so. In many specific situations, many times, one has to spend or incur cost in order to gain or make more money. It is in fact like an investment. Cost management sounds better then.
Profits
Making profits or running with surpluses is an essential objective of any organization whether a business organization, non-government non-profit making trust or government.
Profit = Revenue (or Price X Units Sold) - Overall Costs (or All Expenses)
One can make more profit by: * Increasing the price * Selling more units * Reducing costs
In globally competitive environment, increasing the price is not always feasible, Therefore, one has to resort to increasing the sales volumes or decreasing the costs.
Overall Cost Reduction: Better Strategy
If you do some quick calculations, you may find that:
* Increasing the sales volumes by say, 5% will increase the profit by only by that much percentage i.e. 5% increase in profit. * On the other hand reducing the overall cost by 5% may increase the profit in the range from 20% to 45%.
Cost Build-up
There are two ways of looking at as to how products or services start costing.
Conventional Way
Cost = Direct Labor Cost + Direct Material Cost + Overhead Cost
Activity Based Costing (ABC) Way * Various activities are performed. * Activities attract resources like man, machine, material, money, time and information. * These resources mean money or cost. * Number of activities multiplied by costs attached to the resources consumed by the activities = Overall Cost
Cost Reduction Methods
Conventional
* Reduce direct labor expenses * Reduce direct material expenses *
In broad sense, both the terms have the same meaning. Yet cost management seems to connote broader perspective. Cost control to an un-initiated may mean cutting down the incurrence of cost or expenditure every time or in every situation. In reality it is not always so. In many specific situations, many times, one has to spend or incur cost in order to gain or make more money. It is in fact like an investment. Cost management sounds better then.
Profits
Making profits or running with surpluses is an essential objective of any organization whether a business organization, non-government non-profit making trust or government.
Profit = Revenue (or Price X Units Sold) - Overall Costs (or All Expenses)
One can make more profit by: * Increasing the price * Selling more units * Reducing costs
In globally competitive environment, increasing the price is not always feasible, Therefore, one has to resort to increasing the sales volumes or decreasing the costs.
Overall Cost Reduction: Better Strategy
If you do some quick calculations, you may find that:
* Increasing the sales volumes by say, 5% will increase the profit by only by that much percentage i.e. 5% increase in profit. * On the other hand reducing the overall cost by 5% may increase the profit in the range from 20% to 45%.
Cost Build-up
There are two ways of looking at as to how products or services start costing.
Conventional Way
Cost = Direct Labor Cost + Direct Material Cost + Overhead Cost
Activity Based Costing (ABC) Way * Various activities are performed. * Activities attract resources like man, machine, material, money, time and information. * These resources mean money or cost. * Number of activities multiplied by costs attached to the resources consumed by the activities = Overall Cost
Cost Reduction Methods
Conventional
* Reduce direct labor expenses * Reduce direct material expenses *