The long-term development of modern small and medium-sized enterprises must rely on the continuous innovation of cost control, that is, introducing advanced cost control concepts and scientific and reasonable methods, constantly improving the cost control system, and further tapping the potential of reducing costs in order to survive in the fierce market competition.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are indispensable new forces to promote the development of China's socialist market economy. However, due to its small business scale, weak financial strength, poor internal control and low production efficiency, it is in a weak competitive position in the socialist market economy. Especially in the current severe economic situation, most small and medium-sized enterprises are facing a crisis of survival. Then, under the same external economic situation, how can small and medium-sized enterprises gain advantages over other enterprises by their own strength and occupy a place in the market economy? The author thinks that the innovation of cost control in small and medium-sized enterprises-introducing advanced cost control concepts, adopting scientific cost control methods and perfecting cost control system is an important and feasible way.

First, the significance of cost control innovation for SMEs

(A) SME cost control innovation is conducive to enterprises to further reduce product costs and achieve the goal of maximizing corporate profits.

Maximizing profits is the eternal goal of enterprises. Many small and medium-sized enterprises unilaterally emphasize the cost control in the production process and reduce the product cost by increasing output. Inventory backlog transfers or hides the cost of production process in inventory, which improves short-term profit, but is not conducive to the realization of long-term profit goal. Only by analyzing the basic activities such as product design, production, marketing and delivery, as well as the auxiliary activities that play an auxiliary role in products, can we truly maximize the profits of enterprises.

(B) SMEs cost control innovation is conducive to improving and improving the management level of enterprises.

Cost control is an important aspect of enterprise management, and the level of cost control directly affects the level of enterprise management. Therefore, continuously introducing advanced cost control concepts and methods is one of the important ways to improve the management level of enterprise managers.

(C) SMEs cost control innovation is conducive to SMEs to better adapt to market changes.

Market economy makes enterprises no longer isolated economic individuals. In order to adapt to the development of market economy, enterprises should not only pay attention to the production cost of products, but also pay attention to the benefits realized by their products in the market and all changes of competitors in the market. Adapting to the ever-changing environment to gain a sustainable competitive advantage is the primary problem that modern enterprises must consider. Therefore, only by constantly innovating cost control, relying on reasonable and scientific new product development and perfect after-sales service and reducing the cost of product development and after-sales service can enterprises gain competitive advantage and better adapt to the changes of market development.

(D) SMEs cost control innovation is conducive to further improving the economic and social benefits of SMEs.

Modern enterprises have entered the era of meager profit. In order to obtain higher profits, many enterprises unilaterally emphasize the cost reduction in the production process of products, such as improving the material utilization rate by controlling the material consumption of unit products to reduce the material cost; By improving labor productivity, controlling the unit labor consumption of products and reducing labor costs; By increasing product output and expanding production scale to reduce the fixed cost per unit product, the manufacturing cost has been reduced to the lowest possible level. Excessive cost control reduces product quality and weakens service quality. If we only rely on this concept of cost control, we will not only fail to achieve better economic benefits, but also affect the social benefits of products, and the development of enterprises will be greatly limited. The innovation of cost control can change this outdated concept. By introducing and applying advanced cost management concepts and scientific and reasonable accounting methods, we will seek better and more ways to reduce costs, create more profits for enterprises and obtain better economic and social benefits.

Second, the problems and defects in the cost control of SMEs

(A) the managers' concept of cost management is backward, the quality of employees is not high, and the awareness of cost control is weak.

The quality and management concept of enterprise managers will directly affect the operation and development of enterprises. According to the survey, most small and medium-sized enterprise managers only have secondary school education, and most of them have short management experience, and more small and medium-sized enterprise managers still lack financial accounting knowledge. Therefore, in the aspect of enterprise cost control, the management ideas of these managers can not meet the requirements of modern enterprises for all-round cost control. In terms of staff quality, the education level of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises is generally low. In addition, some small and medium-sized enterprise operators are driven by short-term business behavior or the interests of obtaining cheap labor, and often do not pay attention to the post-training of employee quality, which leads to the failure to improve employee quality. Due to the low quality of employees, enterprises can't adopt advanced production technology and improve industrial production technology, and can't implement advanced management methods, which leads enterprises to stay in the production and operation situation of great waste of resources and backward management. Therefore, the backward management concept of enterprise managers, the low quality of employees and the weak awareness of cost control have seriously restricted the reduction of production and operation costs of modern small and medium-sized enterprises.

(B) The formulation of cost control objectives is not scientific and reasonable enough, and there is a lack of comprehensive long-term awareness.

At present, many enterprises are still in the traditional cost control stage, and the traditional cost control is based on short-term benefits, limited to the production (manufacturing) process control of products, and lacks comprehensive consideration of production and operation. Therefore, when setting the cost target, it is mainly based on the existing production conditions and technical standards in the enterprise, and rarely considers the external market, customer demand, horizontal competition and other factors, and often only a few departments are responsible for setting it. This kind of cost control goal is one-sided, lacking long-term strategic awareness, and it seems inadequate in a complex and competitive market environment, which is not conducive to the sustainable production and long-term development of enterprises, and does not conform to the purpose of modern cost control.

(C) the cost control model and methods are too backward

The cost control mode of many enterprises has always followed the original mode, that is, first set the target cost, then set the target cost as the standard cost, put the standard cost into the production and operation activities of enterprises, reveal the difference between the actual cost and the standard cost, and control it. With the help of the cost data of financial accounting and the information processing method of management accounting, we analyze and evaluate the amount and form of costs that occur or may occur in the production and operation process, formulate improvement measures, assess and reward the responsible parties concerned, and focus on the production stage of products. This cost control mode ignores the cost control of other links in product production, can not fully and correctly reflect the cost information of enterprises, misleads the decision makers of enterprise management, and can no longer meet the needs of modern cost control, thus restricting enterprises from obtaining long-term competitive advantages.

(D) Backward means of cost control

Now it has entered the era of information economy. Although many enterprises widely use computer operation in accounting, it is only limited to the entry of accounting vouchers, the registration of account books and the preparation of accounting statements. Its functions are mainly reflected in accounting, accounting, reimbursement, data access and depreciation, inventory valuation and cost calculation, but it does not really reflect its information interactive management functions in accounting control, accounting analysis, accounting forecasting and decision-making. Such computerized accounting can not meet the requirements of modern cost control for information processing, let alone the modernization of cost control means.

Third, innovative ideas for cost control of modern SMEs

(A) the innovation of cost control concept-the introduction of strategic cost control concept

The purpose of modern cost control is to gain a long-term and lasting competitive advantage for the long-term production and development of enterprises. The concept of strategic cost control meets the needs of modern cost control. The so-called strategic cost control refers to a new cost control system that management accountants provide and fully analyze the information of enterprises themselves and competitors, help managers form and evaluate enterprise strategies, set long-term, extensive, comprehensive and dynamic cost control targets from the perspective of creating competitive advantages of enterprises, so as to effectively adapt to the changing external environment and seek long-term competitive advantages by comprehensively understanding, controlling and improving the cost structure and cost behavior of enterprises. This concept of cost control not only takes into account the long-term and lasting competitive advantages and benefits of enterprises in the fierce market competition, but also broadens the vision of cost control, including the external environment of enterprises, that is, procurement, research and development, design and after-sales service, so that cost control can better adjust its strategic objectives according to the changes of internal and external environment.

(B) cost control target innovation-to develop a long-term, extensive, comprehensive and dynamic cost control target.

The long-term goal of cost control refers to the cost control goal based on the long-term development strategy of enterprises in order to achieve long-term and lasting competitive advantage; Extensiveness requires that enterprise cost control should be brought into the whole market environment for a comprehensive investigation, and correct and appropriate cost control objectives should be determined and implemented according to the characteristics of enterprises by correctly analyzing and judging the environment in which enterprises are located; Comprehensiveness refers to mobilizing employees to participate in the formulation of cost control objectives, reducing conflicts of interest in different aspects, promoting the integration of corporate goals and personal goals, making personal goals and corporate goals tend to be consistent, and creating conditions for completing cost control objectives; Dynamic is to formulate an elastic cost control target according to the differences of cost management in different growth stages of enterprises, that is, the cost control target needs to maintain dynamic characteristics. The cost control goal of modern enterprises should not only consider the cost itself, nor should it be limited to the process of cost occurrence. It is necessary to consider the cost and cost-related factors, and formulate cost control objectives that are conducive to reducing costs and in line with the long-term development of enterprises.

(C) cost control innovation-do a good job in quality training and work attitude education, and establish a cost control system for all staff.

Cost control is essentially a management activity in which people participate in control, and the quality and attitude of people determine the success or failure of cost control. Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to continuously improve the quality of managers and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, and require enterprise managers to master advanced management knowledge through study and exercise, such as advanced knowledge in basic management such as planning, organization, coordination and control; Advanced knowledge in business management such as marketing, procurement, R&D, service, production, quality, finance, human resources and information construction, as well as advanced knowledge in industry, industry and other related sciences. Employees should also take the initiative to participate in learning and training, master advanced technology, and reduce waste in production. On the other hand, everyone is required to actively participate in enterprise cost control and implement comprehensive cost control. The formation of cost is the result of the interaction of various production factors and economic activities in various departments and links within the enterprise. The subject of cost control should include influencers and participants who are responsible for the formation and occurrence of enterprise costs. Therefore, when an enterprise carries out cost control, all employees, especially those who are closely related to the occurrence of costs, such as decision makers, department heads, engineers and technicians, and the founders of cost institutions, should regard themselves as the main body of cost control, fully realize the enthusiasm and importance of their subjective initiative to reduce costs, and actively participate in cost control, thus forming a top-down comprehensive cost control system.

(D) cost control mode and method innovation-using activity-based costing.

Traditional cost control methods such as standard cost method and variable cost method have been widely used in enterprises. However, with the diversification and individualization of product demand, the integration of the world economy and the continuous innovation of technology, the cost calculated by traditional cost accounting techniques and methods distorts information and cannot solve practical problems. In other words, the traditional cost model and control method are impacted by the new manufacturing environment. The idea of activity-based cost control provides an effective way for the refinement of cost control. Activity-based cost control is a scientific information system based on activity, which has changed from "product" as the center to activity-based. Through the confirmation and measurement of activity cost, we can eliminate "non-value-added activities" as much as possible, improve "value-added activities" and provide useful information in time, thus reducing related losses and waste to a minimum. This is the basic source to dig deep into the potential of cost reduction and realize cost reduction. The most important point of activity-based costing is that it focuses on the causal relationship of costs, not costs. By tracking and reflecting all activities, the activity cost in the process of forming the final product can be effectively controlled.

(E) Innovation of cost control means-based on advanced information processing platform.

Modern cost control activities have penetrated into a series of activities such as research, development, design, procurement, production, sales and after-sales service of enterprises. All kinds of cost control information expressed by value are complex and huge, and the transmission and processing of cost data information is no longer manual. How to transmit and process cost control information timely, accurately, safely and effectively has become a problem that must be considered whether modern cost control concepts and methods can be implemented. Advanced computer information processing technology makes it possible. The interactive information processing platform constructed by computer and its software can not only transmit and process cost data information at high speed, quickly and conveniently, but also improve the accuracy and standardization of cost information, greatly improve the efficiency of cost control and ensure the smooth and all-round development of modern cost management.

In short, in enterprise management, cost control is the key link for the survival and development of modern small and medium-sized enterprises. Only by continuous innovation can we continuously reduce costs, and enterprises can continuously gain market competitive advantages and develop continuously.

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