Overview
With increased complexity in business operations and a greater shift of resources into “background” and overhead activities, we need improved transparency how both costs and revenues are driven, going beyond that provided by traditional accounting statements, budgets, analysis and reporting - in order to find where the unrecognised cost reduction, margin boosting and profit-making opportunities are. This involves adopting a range of practices and techniques beyond those traditionally employed and recognising that the preservation and enhancement of value produced is the key to success.
Key features:
- Changing the language of cost
- Enduring cost effectiveness is an ethic, not an exercise
- “Good” cost vs “Bad” cost – combining cost reduction AND value enhancement
- Avoidable and unavoidable business “sustaining” activities
- Non-value adding activities
- Avoiding “slash and burn” approaches by focusing on the causal factors of waste rather than simply treating symptoms
- More advanced cost allocation techniques to gain a more realistic and transparent view of product, service and customer profitability
- Managing distribution channel costs
- Identifying products, services and customers that are strategically important and truly profitable (and dealing with those that aren’t)
Speaker: John McKenzie
John McKenzie has held a variety of roles, from Finance and Accounting, manufacturing, sales, marketing & business development. With 21 years in the automotive sector with Ford & Unipart, then 12 years in the IT sector with Armstrong Laing & SAS.
He has lectured for the Management Centre of Europe and currently lectures, as an acknowledged subject matter expert, for major accounting bodies both U.K and abroad on, business planning, budgeting and forecasting, strategic accounting, strategic planning, ABC/M, margin management, change management, cost management, shareholder value and performance measurement.
Amongst many clients he has worked for are The World Bank, DHL, Barclays, Oracle, Cisco, British Airways, UBM, Mercer HR, Tetrapak and Pfizer.