At present, the cost management of small and medium-sized enterprises in China has made great progress, but there are still some problems. Implement total cost management, strengthen front-line statistics and do a good job in cost control of product design. At the same time, we must resolutely reduce management costs, improve the efficiency of capital operation, estimate opportunity costs, seek satisfactory decision-making schemes, fundamentally reduce product costs and enhance the market competitiveness of enterprises.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises; Cost management; Problems; A feasible way; Nonproductive cost

Compared with large enterprises, especially powerful multinational companies, small and medium-sized enterprises have the advantages of simple structure, quick decision-making and quick response, but they also have inherent weaknesses brought about by small production and operation scale, which are mainly reflected in production efficiency, technological progress and fund raising. Because it is difficult to form the best scale production, the output value created by each employee is low, and the sales and management expenses are often high, which leads to the profitability of small and medium-sized enterprises is generally lower than that of large enterprises. However, the technical starting point of small and medium-sized enterprises is relatively low, technical equipment is often backward, and senior professionals are scarce. In addition, it is difficult to implement a comprehensive technical update. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises should strengthen cost awareness and attach importance to cost management. With the deepening of reform, the expansion of opening to the outside world, the comprehensive establishment of the socialist market economic system and the implementation and consolidation of the modern enterprise system, the quality and management level of small and medium-sized enterprises in China have been greatly improved. However, in terms of cost management, there are still some enterprises whose product costs remain high, lacking market competitiveness and profit space, which restricts the development and growth of enterprises.

First, the current cost management problems of SMEs

(A) the cost awareness of individual business leaders is not strong. Specifically, when the product cost is decomposed, it is not calculated one by one according to the product design requirements and the cost formation of parts and processes, nor is it filled in and summarized step by step from bottom to top. A big account is calculated only by subjective impression, and it is divided into several major parts according to product cost, such as working hours, material consumption and management expenses. Some people think that cost statistics are just trivial matters and rarely ask questions; Others think that the enterprise's product structure is simple, the production cycle is short, and there are few processes, so it is not worth making cost statistics. In all these cases, it is naturally difficult to find the problem of cost formation.

(2) Failure to collect original cost data in time. Most small and medium-sized enterprises have not established a management information system, or have not extended the end of the system to the production team, that is, instead of directly inputting the original data into the system by the team, they still fill in the reports, and then the professionals will summarize them uniformly or input the report data into the microcomputer. Some operators and team leaders do not fill in the forms of working hours and material consumption seriously, resulting in missing and distorted data; Some of them didn't fill in the report with the class in time, but made up the report afterwards. Over time, it is difficult to guarantee accuracy only by rote memorization. There are also scrawled handwriting, or the form is stained with oil and illegible.

(3) Statistical tables are not scientific and reasonable. Some enterprises print statistical tables with various names or are prone to ambiguity, which cannot adapt to the characteristics of different products and processes. It's hard to fill in the form, and it's also difficult to sum it up. When it is serious, it will cause boredom or even disgust of the producers, which will naturally affect the quality of filling.

(d) Lack of cost awareness in product design. Although some enterprises have taken measures to strengthen cost statistics, such as independent cost accounting of workshops and strict control of materials and working hours consumption, the effect is limited and the cost is still rising. The reason is that the product design is not done well, and the cost estimation and statistics of each part in the product design stage are ignored, which leads to an unfavorable start as soon as the product is put into production.

(5) The marketing expenses are too high. Although the marketing channels of small and medium-sized enterprises are short, due to frequent promotional activities, high personnel costs, high marketing expenses per unit product, low product grade and easy obsolescence, they sometimes fall into the dilemma of either withdrawing from the market, reducing prices, reducing profit margins or even losing money.

(6) Management expenses are seriously overspent. Although the sparrow is small and complete, although the organizational structure of small and medium-sized enterprises is relatively simple, with the continuous expansion of scale, it is inevitable to set up or add multiple functional departments, coupled with a variety of foreign entertainment, management costs are difficult to control, which is bound to increase product costs.

(seven) the decision-making mistakes caused great losses. As the saying goes, "the wool is on the sheep", any mistakes made by the leaders must be borne by the whole enterprise. Due to improper product development, market selection and capital operation, indecision, or indecision, loss of development opportunities, direct or indirect increase in enterprise costs, will inevitably lead to product costs.

Second, the feasible ways to strengthen cost management

In order to effectively solve the above problems, give full play to geographical position, make use of people and harmony, establish price advantage in market competition and strive for a place, we should do the following work well:

(A) the implementation of total cost management. Whether it is the person in charge of the enterprise, the person in charge of production or finance, or all employees, we must establish a sense of cost. It is necessary to carry out all-staff cost education, so that everyone can understand the relationship between enterprise costs and their jobs, link employees' personal interests with original data, reward the excellent and punish the poor, and then create a good atmosphere in which everyone cares about costs and offers suggestions.

(2) Strengthen front-line statistics. Total cost management is not only comprehensive cost management, but also dynamic management of the whole process. It is necessary to correct the misunderstanding that only the indicators such as output value and profit are valued, while the first-line quality and cost data are ignored. If the production process of products is backward, the technical quality of operators is low, and their sense of responsibility is poor, and they do not pay attention to saving raw materials and materials on the premise of ensuring quality, it will inevitably lead to high consumption of materials and energy, rising costs and affecting the market competitiveness of products.

Scientific and concise statistical tables should be designed. The production process of products is the process of cost formation and statistics. In the production process, the data of material and man-hour consumption of each working procedure, each equipment and each operator should be recorded in time and filled in accurately. To do this work well, we must design a statistical table suitable for our enterprise according to the actual situation of our products and processes, equipment and personnel. And try to think for the front-line personnel, the form should be simple and clear, without ambiguity, and advocate multi-purpose of one form.

(3) Do a good job in cost control of product design. In the highly competitive market environment, enterprises should not only develop new products in feasible markets and technologies, but also pay attention to economic feasibility. Market feasibility means that enterprise products must be marketable; Technical feasibility means that the enterprise has the equipment, technology and personnel conditions to manufacture the product; Economically feasible means that the product has profit space. Some enterprises emphasize market orientation, while others engage in cost orientation. In fact, the two are consistent. Today, with developed productive forces, scientific and technological progress and abundant commodities, the seller's market has turned to the buyer's market in an all-round way, and consumer demand is the source of enterprise product development. Ensuring quality and reducing cost is the eternal direction of enterprise product development.

The cost consciousness of product designers is very important. The products developed by any manufacturer, no matter how scientific and reasonable the function selection is, may be at a disadvantage or even die in the market competition because the price is higher than the homogeneous products of peer companies if they do not pay attention to simplifying the product's own structure, reasonably selecting the manufacturing materials, improving the processing technology and reducing the production cost.

In the product design stage, it is necessary to estimate the quality of materials and the cost of processing technology, which not only ensures the excellent quality of key parts, but also prevents the high-precision requirements of non-key parts and mismatched parts, thus increasing the proportion of such parts in the product cost and causing waste of quality exceeding the standard. If the function of each part of the product can match its corresponding cost, and the overall service life of the product is basically the same, the optimization of the product manufacturing cost will be realized.

(four) choose the appropriate target market, according to the single production. According to the principle of market concentration, on the basis of comprehensive market distribution and dynamic analysis, select one or several target markets and invest all the strength of the enterprise. Due to the small production scale, limited marketing ability and insufficient funds for advertising, it is inevitable that it will be difficult to gain something by casting a net to catch fish. A relatively concentrated market can cultivate relative advantages, increase local market share, save marketing expenses, obtain relatively complete market information, and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are short of funds, except for low-value consumables and small daily necessities, general manufacturers should adopt order production. Cooperative manufacturers can form a production and marketing network according to orders, which can not only avoid the blindness of production, but also ensure the quality of products, and pay special attention to delivery within the contract period to establish a good market reputation. Make-to-order production can effectively overcome the unsalable products, accelerate the capital turnover, and make up for the difficulty of insufficient funds to a great extent.

Third, scientific decision-making to reduce non-production costs.

All economic and management activities of an enterprise have costs, which ultimately affect the product cost. Generalized cost management includes production cost management and non-production cost management.

(1) Resolutely reduce administrative expenses. Management expenses are an important part of non-production costs. Reducing administrative expenses is easier said than done, which may not only be empty talk, but also stimulate contradictions between superiors and subordinates and departments. In practice, we can refer to the zero-based theory in modern management.

The meaning of zero-based theory is that when encountering a difficult problem and arguing, all parties retreat to the starting point, that is, think about the problem from scratch. It is said that this theory has been successfully applied to the U.S. defense budget: at the Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting to discuss the U.S. military budget, the giants of various arms and services, such as the navy, the army, and the air force, stressed their importance, put forward the budget figures realized in the last session, and claimed to continue to expand their investment, which made them "blushing and thick-necked", and even the huge total military expenditure could not satisfy the appetite of all parties. At this time, national defense officials asked management scientists how to stabilize and guide the situation, while scholars suggested using the "zero-based theory": the previous budget was divided according to the services and arms, and all parties reported according to the military supply items, explaining the significance and cost of the projects (such as building new aircraft carriers and purchasing new fighters ...), and no longer taking the actual military expenditures of all parties as the base. Experts are organized by the Ministry of National Defense. According to the importance and urgency of US national defense and global strategy, all reported projects are queued, and funds are allocated in order, giving priority to ensuring that key projects get enough funds. Such backward projects may not get the required funds, so they can only be implemented step by step, or simply report next time. The zero-based theory and successful application examples are very enlightening to us. Overexpenditure of administrative funds is a headache for leaders. Take the telephone bill as an example. Usually, all departments will reduce the actual expenses incurred last month by the same percentage. The original luxury department did not feel so tight, but the original "careful" department may not be able to stand it, and complaints are inevitable. In fact, according to the zero-based theory, no matter how much the telephone bill was spent last month, it is definitely much better for all departments to re-declare their business needs and telephone bill budget, and then organize an audit and evaluation. Enterprises, big or small, should contact with the outside world and carry out public relations activities. Proper saving of expenses is a problem that should be paid attention to in corporate public relations. Public relations activities are not to show off wealth, but to be practical. Don't be too keen on vigorous, blindly pursue big scenes, many guests, high specifications and heavy gifts, and fall into the misunderstanding that the more luxurious, the greater the impact and the better the effect. There is an old saying in China, "Good steel is used on the blade", which tells us not to spend money indiscriminately, but to spend money wisely.

(2) Emphasize the efficiency of capital operation. Small and medium-sized enterprises have little funds and limited financing channels. If they invest blindly, put all your eggs in one basket and get frustrated, they may be devastated, so investment activities need to be more cautious. You can't pursue cutting-edge technologies and products excessively, and you can't tie yourself to the chariot of "sunset industry". For the proposed investment scheme, from adjusting the production direction to increasing the variety, it is necessary to analyze the technical and economic feasibility on the basis of market research, so as to be steady and avoid failure. Don't take the risk of "the end of World War I" easily, and try to make the enterprise transformation in one step.

However, we should not stick to the rules and blindly maintain the status quo. We should constantly reform technology and update equipment. We should also pay attention to the adjustment and upgrading of industrial structure in China and even the world, accumulate capital, technology and talents, seize the opportunity, realize industrial upgrading and maximize the efficiency of capital operation.

In addition, if small and medium-sized enterprises want to coexist and even compete with large enterprises in the market economy environment, they must break through the small and comprehensive traditional production and operation mode and cultivate their core competitiveness. It may be a shortcut to cooperate with large enterprises or multinational companies, but we must assess the risks and find suitable partners. In fact, small and medium-sized enterprises in the same industrial chain can form alliances, and through joint ventures, technical exchanges, capacity exchange and market sharing, they can also significantly improve their product development and market development capabilities, greatly reduce the design, production and sales costs, and invigorate capital operation.

(3) estimate the opportunity cost. In the era of planned economy, government affairs and enterprise production put more emphasis on political influence than economic benefits, and even the extreme statement of "not counting economic accounts" appeared. In recent years, we insist on taking economic construction as the center, leaving enterprises in the market environment and stressing economic benefits, and the situation has fundamentally changed. But we are used to making decisions and estimating revenue and expenditure based on accounting cost (also called book cost), and seldom consider its opportunity cost. The so-called opportunity cost means that when we choose a decision-making scheme, we must give up other (usually multiple) decision-making schemes. The highest expected return of all decision-making schemes is the opportunity cost of the selected scheme. Opportunity cost reminds us that all resources have costs. Due to the increasing scarcity of resources, in order to achieve sustainable development, the reasonable combination and application of resources must be cautious. In a sense, time seems cheap, but it is the most expensive and non-renewable "scarce resource" for both individuals and groups. Human resource management, in the final analysis, is the effective use and reasonable collocation of individual and group time resources from the perspective of economic benefits or work efficiency, and it is the interpretation of "time is money". In fact, our ancestors have always warned people to cherish time, thinking that "an inch of money can't buy an inch of time" and "doing this and not doing that" implies an estimate of the opportunity cost of time resources. The size of opportunity cost has a hidden but far-reaching impact on the product cost of enterprises, which can not be ignored.

(4) Seeking a satisfactory decision-making scheme. In decision-making, "optimization" is probably one of the words with the highest frequency. The so-called optimization means that when making a scientific decision, we must first open our minds and encourage as many "schemes" as possible; Then abandon the "fantasy scheme" that does not have the implementation conditions and keep the "feasible scheme"; Finally, a scientific and reasonable index system is established, and the feasible schemes are compared technically and economically, and the "optimal scheme" is selected. But in reality, the optimal scheme does not necessarily exist, and even if it does, it may not be found; Even if it can be found, it may not really be the "best". This is because: first of all, there are many possible solutions to achieve goals or solve problems, and not all of them may be put forward; Secondly, some evaluation indexes are difficult to quantify, and it may be impossible to establish a scientific and reasonable index evaluation system and model; Thirdly, if we deliberately pursue the "optimal scheme", it will inevitably cost a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and time may not allow it; Finally, for any scheme, the implementation result cannot be determined in advance. In other words, the "optimal" scheme in theory may not be the best in fact. Therefore, when making decisions, considering the above constraints and time constraints, we tend to "belittle ourselves" and find a "satisfactory solution". The so-called satisfactory scheme is a scheme that can better achieve the goal or solve the problem, is relatively advanced in technology, and is economical and time-saving. In the process of implementation, the satisfactory scheme should be constantly adjusted and revised. Because the objective environment is changing rapidly, it is difficult for us to cover everything when making and choosing a plan. In addition to satisfactory delivery, it is a best policy to choose one or two backup schemes. Once the external environment changes suddenly and a satisfactory scheme cannot be implemented, a backup scheme can be started to solve the sudden demand. If we have a simple literal understanding of "optimization" and blindly pursue the best decision-making scheme at the expense of work, it will inevitably waste people, money and things for no reason and let fleeting market opportunities slip away. It is the biggest and most fundamental waste of all. In the face of market challenges, it is the key to do a good job in cost management of small and medium-sized enterprises to seize the opportunity and formulate and implement a satisfactory decision-making plan at the fastest speed.