Budgeting for Office Supplies

When starting up a small business there are a hundred and one things to think about and something that is often overlooked is the office supply budget. Every good director knows the budget is arguably the most important part of setting up a business and balancing the income with the outgoings is no easy task. Office supplies, however, are easily overlooked and can land you and your business in trouble, especially in those first few months of trading.

The first thing to do is make a spreadsheet of all the essential office supplies your company needs to operate. This needs to be comprehensive and cover everything from paper and pens to printer ink and staples. By working this spreadsheet out now you are ultimately going to save your company money in the long run.

Create a second spreadsheet for supplies that aren’t likely to be replenished monthly and aren’t essential to the day to day running of the company. Small advertisements, any staff room supplies like cutlery or mugs and uniforms might fall into this category. An advertisement banner might be replaced every time your company offers a new deal or promotion and is a key tool in the marketing of your company. The banner itself, however, isn’t absolutely essential to the day to day work your employees are undertaking.

The next part of the process is to work out how often your office supplies need replenishing. If your business is brand new, estimate out how many or how much of each piece of stationary your company will use each month. Older businesses can use previous months to calculate a more accurate figure for office supply use. Once you have calculated a monthly total it is advisable to include a little room for growth or overuse. A suitable figure would be in the region of 1-2% each month. This new figure can then be used to work out a yearly office stationary use estimate.

After working out how much your company is likely to use, it is time to work out how much it is going cost. To keep costs at a minimum it is very important to get quotations from a number of office suppliers. As a company you have some bargaining power and office suppliers are likely to offer you some kind of deal for a longer term contract. Use another copy of the spreadsheet to compare estimates from different companies to help you in making your final decision.

Finally, revisit the office supply budget regularly instead of only when things go wrong. By reviewing the budget every month or so you will be able to trim or expand when necessary, saving you time and money. This final stage is particularly important for new businesses that have no historical data to base their use estimates on.