EXPENSE REDUCTION ANALYSTS AUSTRALIA

Background
Early in 2002 Ashley Selwood, General Manager Finance and Administration of the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), which administers rugby at a national level, commissioned Expense Reduction Analysts (ERA) to look closely at a range of its costs. Ashley’s view was that the ARU’s focus should be on running and developing rugby union in Australia and that it would be prudent to use a specialist cost management consultancy to look at a range of its overhead costs.

"When Jeremy Gimson of ERA Australia initially approached me I was keen to get our general overhead costs under control and to generate extra funds to spend on the important part of our business: developing rugby union in Australia," says Ashley. "Since we didn’t have the time or the specialist expertise, it was logical to use ERA."

Analysing overheads
ERA investigated savings in a number of the ARU’s routine spending areas. These included office products, couriers, freight, telecommunications, and printing. ERA’s team of Gary Wilson, Kim Gillespie, Graeme Cox, and Jeremy Gimson analysed usage and obtained feedback from the ARU staff who liaised with the ARU’s many suppliers. Working closely with Amanda Wiltshire, ARU Office Administrator, the team then took the ARU’s business to market and they were able to generate significant savings with a major reduction in the number of suppliers the ARU used.

"I was delighted to see how much ERA was able to save us," says Ashley. "The reduction in the number of suppliers gave us further process efficiencies and indirect administrative savings in the accounts payable area."

Following presentations by short listed suppliers, ERA implemented its recommendations, liaising with Amanda Wiltshire. "I was a bit worried about all the changes that I might have to put in place," says Amanda. "However, ERA worked hard to make the process as pain-free as possible."

Saving time and money
ERA’s work for the ARU will also generate extra savings as Australia is hosting the 2003 Rugby World Cup. "My focus for the ARU has to be on running our business for the benefit of the players, spectators and the development and future of the game," says Ashley Selwood. "Whilst Amanda and her team keep a very close watch on our overheads, we felt that it would be appropriate to bring in outside specialists like ERA to see if we were getting the best deals and I’m delighted with the results."
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