Small businesses urged to cut unnecessary costs

As the economic downturn continues, it is important for small businesses to get to grips with their spending.

Such is the assertion of George Cloutier of Orlando, Florida-based American Management Services, who says the current financial situation should encourage owners of such organizations to look at their expenditure and identify areas where they can make reductions, News Day reports.

He said, "There's a huge amount of waste in businesses. In this kind of economy you need to cut costs viciously."

To do this, Cloutier recommends managers analyze every area they spend money on, considering whether this is really necessary and if there are any ways they can reduce such expenses.

Indeed, he reveals that by carrying out cost-cutting measures at his own firm he was able to save $30,000.

One way companies may be able to help maintain a healthy bottom line, Janet Attard of BusinessKnowHow.com claims, is to plan out delivery routes in order to save on gas, while cutting back on subscriptions can also prove to be effective.

In other news, the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America recently reported that 40 percent of small and medium-sized businesses are looking to take steps to manage benefit costs as the enrollment process - where workers make decisions about the employee benefits they will receive in the following year - gets underway.