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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Disciplined Expense Management Can Drive Earnings

The recent news release from Best Buy (December 15, 2009), of their improved Earnings per Share over last year further confirms the wisdom of not only focused expense management, but also of the advantages of focusing on non-core expenses.

Bob Willett, CEO of Best Buy International, noted that "[their] diligent focus on expense management this year" helped improve overall profitability. It was noted that Selling, General & Administrative (S,G&A) expenses decreased from 22.5% of revenue to 21.3% of revenue. This has a direct impact on the bottom line as well as on cash flow. Even with only a 5% decrease of non-production costs, the impact is both real and noticeable.

While the focus of any company should be on increasing sales, sound expense management practices are always essential. Non-core areas, although smaller than core areas, can nevertheless impact the bottom line. Ignoring non-core areas ultimately leads to inflated expenses and lower profits.

At least Best Buy has it worked out.

1 comment:

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