Author: Festus Abiodun Adebisi
Publisher: Maximax Inc.
Reviewer: Goke Ilesanmi
Many people want to be financially comfortable or even wealthy. But the reality is that achieving this desire requires following some financial principles, one of which is the ability to effectively manage or control personal costs. That is, the costs we incur in our daily lives to maintain our lifestyle and meet our basic needs. The necessity of this strategic financial practice informs my decision to review this book entitled “Personal Cost Control Strategies” with the subtitle ‘Some Common Strategies on How to Control Your Personal Costs’.
It is written by Mr Festus Abiodun Adebisi, a Canada-based versatile professional with several years of experience in accounting and finance. Adebisi who also authors the book “The Banker’s Fortress”, is a Certified Professional Accountant, Certified General Accountant, Certified Forensic Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Financial Advisor. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA), with specialisation in Marketing, from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Adebisi is currently a Faculty Member at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of Maximax Inc., a company that specialises in fraud prevention consulting, financial education, risk management and controls training.
According to the author, this book has been written as a crucial guide on how to handle the complications of contemporary financial dynamics where expenses often overshadow income. Adebisi says this book is part of the ‘Building Your Financial Fortress’ series and also serves as a fundamental toolkit for anyone that desires to fortify his or her financial knowledge. This Certified Professional Accountant stresses that the book has been designed to provide readers with the knowledge and strategies required to take control of their finances and consequently enable them to live lives of prosperity and stability.
Adebisi says this book examines the power of budgeting, how to convert it from a mere concept into a practical roadmap for readers’ financial journey. According to this Certified Financial Advisor, the book elucidates the process of tracking expenses and helps readers to discern between needs and wants as well as how to avoid unnecessary spending without sacrificing their lifestyle.
The author submits that the book will equip readers with varied approaches to handling the intricacies of financial management, from negotiating contacts to capitalising on discounts, utilising emergency funds and learning inventory management. Adebisi adds that this book is a catalyst for change, designed to instil confidence in readers and pave the way for a secure and financially-stable future.
Structurally, this book is segmented into 12 chapters. Chapter one is entitled ‘Necessity for Cost Control’. In the words of this Certified Forensic Accountant here, “Managing personal finances in today’s fast-paced world, where many people struggle to control them, has become an important personal responsibility that cannot be overemphasised. Most people are in a poor income bracket, living paycheck to paycheck, while facing increasing expenses in the face of an increasing inflation rate in most economies.”
He adds that many are burdened by debt and financial uncertainty that often cause depression. The author says your ability to control your costs is necessary. He stresses that you also need financial education skills for empowerment to secure your future, reduce stress and motivate yourself to achieve your financial objectives. According to Adebisi, the major purpose of this book is to guide you through the essential principles of effective cost management.
This author says the various strategies outlined in this book serve as necessary guides that can be mastered to help you develop great confidence to navigate financial challenges, make informed financial decisions and ultimately secure your financial future.
In the words of this Certified Fraud Examiner, “We need to start acting on the strategies as, in most cases, the importance of controlling costs is often overshadowed by uncertainties. As a solution, the journey to financial stability begins with a single step: taking control of your costs.”
Chapter two has the thematic focus of budgeting. Here, Adebisi says ‘budgeting’ is a word that gets tossed around a lot. He submits that many people believe budgeting means restriction, boredom and giving up your pleasures. He says that is where a lot of people go wrong because budgeting should not take people on a road to sacrificing everything to save up for the future. Adebisi enlightens that without budgeting, one is not really managing money but merely gambling with it and hoping it will stretch enough to cover rent, food, bills and maybe something extra. He says hope is not a strategy because it does not pay bills or build savings.
This Certified General Accountant explains that budgeting is about planning your money before it moves. He emphasises that you should think of it like a map for your cashflow where you forecast where your money will come from and where it will go over a certain period of time, usually monthly or yearly. “Once your plan is in place, you track actual income and expenses against it. This step – comparison – is critical. If you’re beginning in more than you thought or spending less, that’s favourable. But if the opposite happens, you’ve got to figure out why, fast,” guides this author.
In chapters three to five, Adebisi analytically examines the concepts of discounts, prioritising expenses and negotiating contracts respectively. As regards discounts, he educates that it is paradoxical that the most expensive purchases often start with a discount. This Certified Financial Advisor adds that a discount feels like a win, a little rush of satisfaction and even control. As far as prioritising expenses is concerned, he emphasises that you cannot do everything at once, adding that that is the first rule of money.
The author says no matter what you earn, there will always be more things to spend on than the available money. On contract negotiation, Adebisi explains that this constitutes a major cost-control measure than can bring huge savings and greater effectiveness in operations. He adds that it requires skills like effective communication, emotional intelligence, persuasion, problem-solving and relationship management.
Chapter six is tagged ‘Eliminating Unnecessary Expenses’. According to this Chartered Banker here, eliminating unnecessary spending such as unused subscriptions, regular takeout and other forms of unnecessary travels, is a clever way of keeping costs down. He says the prudent process begins with examining every single place that you spend money, understanding what really matters, casually reviewing the expenses and tracking them. In Adebisi’s words, “If you are doing this personally or for a business, it is possible to save due to reduced costs on things that you do not actually need, making things run smoothly.”
In chapters seven to nine, this author beams his analytical searchlight on the concepts of business expenses, monitoring home inventory and regularly reviewing expenses respectively. He says business-related expenses can be used as a cost-control strategy. Adebisi explains that for businesses, many categories of expenses are slowed down for tax purposes and businesses can significantly save on these if they incur expenses and report them as business expenses.
As regards monitoring home inventory, this Certified Financial Advisor educates that it is the act of tracking what you have in possession and it may be beneficial when you use it to manage your personal property, budgeting or going on a future buying spree. As far as regular review of expenses is concerned, the author stresses that practising regular review of expenses is an important strategy to minimise costs through enhancement of effective financial management.
Chapter ten is conceptually christened ‘Use of Emergency Funds’. In the words of Adebisi here, “Emergency funds are reserves that you save as a way of aiding you in case of hard times, such as unexpected bills or financial hits. Sometimes, plans do not work as expected, hence such kind of back up. An emergency fund can help you solve problems, whether they relate to, for example, medical bills, a car repair, or your ‘income gap’. It is like your safety net. It allows you to get by and prevents you from needing to use the more expensive alternatives of a loan or credit cards.”
In chapters 11 and 12, the author discusses the concepts of outsourcing, and e-commerce and online purchases. He says outsourcing is about contracting out certain business processes or functions to external companies or service providers as opposed to handling them internally. Adebisi stresses that many organisations typically outsource some activities to save time, reduce operational costs, increase efficiency and focus on their areas of core competencies. As regards e-commerce, the author explains that it is the act of goods or services being sold or purchased online, adding that it is not only convenient in the modern-paced interconnected world but also a major component of the process of modern business.
By way of conceptual assessment, this book has depth of quality contents. Or better still, there is conceptual attention to details, thereby making the book to be intellectually exciting. The thematic components of the book also reflect many years of professional experience and proficiency of the author as a professional accountant and finance expert.
Stylistically, this book is superlative. The author maintains consistency of usage of the American English variant and simplicity of language in his discussions. Linguistic simplicity is expected because of Adebisi’s background as a lecturer who understands the importance of clarity to comprehension. What’s more, the outer front cover design is visually-appealing and reinforces the title of the book while the layout of inside pages is professionally handled. Graphic illustrations are accurately employed to reinforce the concepts and facilitate easy understanding of the book. References are also added to authenticate most of the ideas articulated in the book.
However, just as it is said in Literary Criticism that no work of art is perfect, some errors are noticed that need to be corrected in the next edition. For instance, “Acknowledgment” (page iii) should correctly be “Acknowledgements”. Also contracted forms such as “Shouldn’t” instead of “Should not”, “You’ve” instead of “You have”, etc., need to be corrected in the next edition. The use of the addition symbol or ampersand “&” in sub-headings instead of “and” called Coordinating Conjunction of Adding in Syntax, should equally be corrected in the next edition.
On the whole, this book is a masterpiece. It is a must-have and must-read for anyone that desires to achieve financial stability and/or become wealthy through effective control of personal costs or finances.
