6 Business Overhead Costs You Can Actually Control

Promoted Content.

A predictable invoice isn't the same thing as an untouchable one. That makes business overhead costs more adjustable than they first appear. Almost every line in your overhead traces back to a contract someone signed or a usage pattern nobody has questioned since. A WSJ/Vistage survey reported that nearly half of surveyed U.S. business leaders said current energy costs were affecting their operations, and 13% described the effect as significant.

Cost pressure like that rarely announces itself in the total at the bottom of a statement. It shows up in a renewal date buried on page four of a supplier agreement you signed 22 months ago.

What Counts as Business Overhead Costs, and How to Measure Them

Overhead is the indirect cost of staying open: what you spend to operate that you can't trace to one specific product or customer job. Rent and administrative payroll qu...