Accounting for costs with Monahans Chartered Accountants

Wiltshire and Somerset based Monahans Chartered Accountants, which can trace its roots back to the late 1800s, has grown to become one of the largest independent firms of Chartered Accountants in the West of England, with a team of 20 partners and directors, together with around 180 employees. Today the business has offices in Swindon, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Bath and Glastonbury.

Whilst the company has experienced growth over the last 18 months despite the recession, it has also been keen to identify cost savings in the business to increase the bottom line even further. The chartered accountants turned to Expense Reduction Analysts, the UK’s largest cost reduction and profit retention consultancy, who identified a major cost saving in Monahans’ stationery supplies. The cost management specialist, which is responsible for millions of pounds of supplier spend in the UK, produced a benchmarking report comparing current spend to other stationery providers.

As a result of the benchmarking exercise, Expense Reduction Analysts invited a number of companies to tender for Monahans’ business, which led to the chartered accountants saving thousands of pounds in this one area over 18 months, equivalent to a 16% reduction on the previous cost. Expense Reduction Analysts continuously monitored the supplier over the period to ensure savings were maintained.

Says Expense Reduction Analysts’ consultant, Barry Hardwick: “This just goes to show that it pays to make savings that may be hidden away in the business. Too often SMEs like Monahans do not have the resources or means to focus on getting best value from suppliers. Our experience is that companies can save 20% on non-core operating costs. For every £10,000 worth of cost savings, which go straight to the bottom line, a company would need to generate £125,000 in additional sales to have the same impact on profit level, assuming the national average of 8.1% for net profit.”