So, how do you keep expenses under control? Well, there are two approaches – complementary rather than mutually exclusive: you’ll need to a) minimise spending and b) establish efficient spend authorisation.

Both can be done manually, of course. By cutting down on expenses and comparing prices for cheaper offers, businesses can try to minimise their outgoings. Spend authorisation requires an appropriate authorisation policy specifying who approves what as well as a method of handling requests, either paper-based or by email. But going manual usually slows things down and, as time is money, it probably won’t produce the desired result in terms of cost savings. Fortunately, there is process automation.

Spend authorisation the smart way – with ApprovalMax

ApprovalMax automates the approval process for accounts payable and accounts receivable. It replaces paper- and email-based approval routing with fully automated and easily configurable approval workflows. Together with other efficiency apps, ApprovalMax increases the team productivity in accounting for both businesses and accounting practices.

Reducing costs the smart way – with Reducer

Reducer enables accountants and business owners to cut costs without actually cutting back on the things they buy. Via Reducer’s Connected Purchasing platform, businesses can bring down their spending by switching suppliers for essentials like electricity, gas, water, card payment processing, broadband & telecoms, waste & recycling, fuel, mobiles, etc.

By integrating with an organisation’s Xero or QuickBooks Online account, Reducer actually reads the invoice attachments to build an accurate picture of your spending. The prices you pay are then compared to hundreds of other supplier offers to find a cheaper deal that’s best suited to your business and presented in a personalised cost savings report so that you can choose which deals you’d like to take up. Once decided, Reducer will handle the switches on your behalf.

The procedure is quick and easy, taking only a few clicks. It saves money by sourcing cheaper deals but also time because it eradicates the traditional price comparison process, which is tedious, inaccurate and full of obstacles. By using Reducer, you’re helping to cut the £7.6bn overspend by UK SMEs in 2021 alone. More importantly, it can prove vital for businesses struggling with cash flow and in need of more cash in the bank to stay afloat.

How ApprovalMax and Reducer complement each other

Having accurate bills in your cloud account is vital for Reducer to find savings potential for your business. That’s where ApprovalMax can help: to get a more precise idea of what you’re spending by making sure the invoice attachments are sound and up to date.

Also, ApprovalMax enables you to restrict purchase order requesters by setting up guardrails which allow only orders from certain vendors. By including data from Reducer for this, you can ensure that always the vendors with the best price get preselected.