The least cost option may end up costing you
Accountants and Financial managers understand money and accounts systems but rarely understand business in my experience.
The late, great Sir John Harvey Jones, former head of ICI and later a business consultant (a proper one) advised one business on his television that 'the least cost option isn't the best option.' He was right, you get what you pay for, shall I show you why?
An Accountant working in Defence found a brand of brake fluid that was a few pence a litre cheaper than the fluid that was in current and satisfactory use. He advised the Army that they should switch to the cheaper fluid. For no other reason than cost. This Accountant had no practical mechanical experience and as such, the edict was passed down the military chain who do not question orders.
The net result of this situation was that there was an almost immediate rash of armoured vehicle crashes due to brake failure. Hardly what you want, a multi-ton heavy vehicle out of control.
The fault was traced immediately to the seals in the brake system being damaged by you guessed it, the cheap brake fluid. This wonderful saving of a few pence per litre, meant that a whole raft of vehicles had to be mechanically inspected and for safety reasons, brake systems flushed, inspected and refilled.
This remedial work cost over £100,000 and no action was taken over the Accountant. Now that was a good saving wasn't it?
So the bottom line is, let business people run the company and let the accountants stick to bean counting.
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