Why Do Small Businesses Need a Third-Party Expense Audit?

Expense management is a daunting task, but it is all the more critical if you have a small business. Minimizing the running costs and overhead expenses is crucial for small businesses to survive in the competitive market. There are many areas where you might be overspending without realizing and wasting your money. A third-party auditing service like P3 Cost Analysts can help you manage your expenses and identify areas where you can cut down costs.

Hiring expense audit services is beneficial if you don’t have the time and resources for auditing. Expense audit services not only help reduce operating expenses but grow your business.

It offers expense audits for many areas where your business could be spending imprudently. These areas are:

• Electric, Water & Gas

The audit company analyzes your current electricity, water/sewer, and gas bills and finds out errors and overcharges. The bills are also matched with the usage and tariff to ensure they are correct.

• Phones & Internet

Phones and Internet auditing includes reviewing your bills, auditing your local, long-distance, wireless, data, internet, and other charges. The purpose of this audit is to sort through multiple bills and educate your employees on telephone tariffs/rates, discounts and promotions, and USOC codes.

• Waste Management and Recycling

A waste audit gives you an insight into the waste your business is generating and how you can generate income through recyclable waste. It helps you find vendors who might be overcharging you and renegotiate the contract.

• Merchant Accounts

All credit card payments have processing fees, and if you do numerous transactions a day, it’s very difficult to keep track of the fees you are paying with each transaction. An audit will help look for any overcharges and discrepancies in the transaction charges.

• Uniforms / Linens

If you are providing uniforms to your employees, it’s another expense that needs to be monitored. An auditing company will sort the bills of different vendors, find any extra charges/errors and analyze the vendor’s contracts.

• Printing and stationary

Auditing the printing and stationery costs will help you monitor the current costs and find ways to cut down the extra costs. You can also renegotiate with your vendors or ask for discounts on new contracts.

• Property Tax

You have to pay property tax every year. A tax audit service will help you make effective tax management policies and reduce tax. There are several tactics you can save on tax and additional charges. A tax auditing company can help you save on taxes.

Expense auditing services keep the business’s needs and requirements in mind and offer the best solutions to reduce their expenses. Here are some benefits your business will get from a third-party expense audit.

Benefits of Third-Party Expense Auditing

• Helps streamlining your expense management strategy- An audit company can reveal crucial oversights and help correct them. They will also analyze and validate your recurring expenses. Consistent monitoring of your costs through an audit will help you streamline all your business expenses and make effective strategies to reduce them.
• Break down costs and consolidate vendors– When you perform audits regularly, you can quickly identify overhead expenses and errors. For example, you might be spending on the internet or phone connections you are not using or getting bills on services you no longer receive. An audit will help you find out such errors in your bills and get you refunds. They will conduct a review of the telecom vendor’s contract and look for opportunities for consolidation.
• Gives accurate numbers on your actual savings– With the help of an expense audit, you can see your expense in numbers and figure out if those costs are necessary for your business or not. You can also identify areas where you can optimize your costs and save money. Accurate data and figures will help you make more informed decisions and not just random guesses.
• Uncover fraud and errors in accounting- Dynamic audit by third-party companies can help discover errors in payments and transaction tracking. There might be a situation that your employees are stealing from the company. An audit will reveal any discrepancies in the payments. It will help you see the accounting errors and take the necessary steps to solve those issues.

Hiring an expense audit company like P3 Cost Analysts will be a good investment as you can save on efforts, time, and even resources needed to manage your bills and expenses. It may seem to you like an added cost, but you’ll surely save more than you will be spending on the auditing service.

There are many areas where your business should not be spending more than necessary. A third-party audit company can help you figure out those areas and cut down the costs. As experts, they can help you achieve your business goals and maximize profits.