Keeping Overheads in Check as you Grow

Are your Overheads heading over the top as your business grows?

Overheads may not be a new term - you see them each month or year when you print out a report from your accounting system or when you get a Profit & Loss Report from your Accountant.  MYOBOverheads by default calls Overheads - Expenses.  It’s a listing of what you have spent money on over a period e.g. Bank Charges, Rent, Salaries etc.  These expenses are different to Cost of Sales (Cost of Goods Sold/Direct Costs) in that COGS mostly only happen when you sell something, whereas Overheads occur whether you sell anything or not.

Overheads Percentage is an often-overlooked number in business. 

Calculating Overheads Percentage

Overheads	x 100	= Overheads %
Revenue

Example:    If Overheads are $500,000 Revenue is $700,000   Overheads Percentage = 71.43%

500,000	x 100	= 71.43%
70,000

Why it's vital to look at Overheads in relation to Revenue?

A total of expenses is a useful figure for the Tax man to determine tax deductibility and it is also part of the equation in determining profitability

Gross Profit – Overheads = Net Profit

A percentage is a more meaningful indicator of financial health because it measures Overheads in relation to Revenue. 

Example: 

If you have Revenue of $1,000,000 and Overheads of $800,000 this looks OK because it means you made a $200,000 profit. 

If your Revenue is $2,000,000 and your Overheads are $1,800,000 this may still look OK because again it means you made a $200,000 profit. 

If you were measuring Overheads as a Percentage

The $1,000,000 scenario shows a result of 80%

whereas the $2,000,000 scenario shows a result of 90%

This means you have more expenses relatively in the second scenario even though you are making the same amount of profit.  The point is that it is taking up more resources to make the same amount of profit in the second scenario and undoubtedly more headaches for the business owner. 

Perhaps it would be better to decide on an acceptable Overheads % and strive for that rather than just focusing on Revenue and ending up with less profit for more headaches. 

The aim in business is to make more profit with the resources you have. Aiming for efficiencies and economies of scale should be the objective i.e. making more money with the same amount of resources.  This is what makes a business more profitable and more valuable. 

Taking Steps to Improve your Overheads Percentage & Net Profit

If Overheads % is an important indicator of financial health how can you improve it? 

The place to begin, is knowing what your Overheads are.  For every accounting period you need to know what your Overheads will be so that you can budget and project what your profit and cash position will be. 

Planning Overheads is generally part of budgeting and forecasting.  We've often heard business owners say they can’t do a budget because they have no idea what they will sell in the future.  This may be true but most business owners have a fair idea of their overheads e.g. Rent, Salaries etc. 

This is a great place to begin budgeting because once you know your Overheads and Costs you are then in a position to determine how much Revenue you need to cover both.  This is called Break-even i.e. the amount you need to sell to make neither a profit nor a loss.  Once you know your Break-even point you can then plan what you need to do to make a profit or avoid a loss.

Once you know your Overheads you can enter them into whatever accounting system you are using as a Budget.  It’s a good idea to enter them for each month so that when it gets to the end of each month you can compare your actual results to the budget.  This will enable you to see very quickly where variances are occurring and take quick action to correct the situation or alter the budget if you have miscalculated.

Managing Overheads is one of the absolute keys to business Financial Survival

Once you have a budget that’s great but what next? 

As well as measuring the variance between budget and actual monthly, what else can you do to manage Overheads?  Purchase Orders!  A Purchase Order is a simple piece of paper that all staff must complete prior to spending any of the company’s money. 

Read more about implementing Purchase Orders here >>

This simple tactic can have a huge impact on the Overheads % result and ultimately the value of your business.

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