The Blind Spot in SMME Manufacturing
Overview
Employers, manufacturing business owners and their accountants carry a continuous responsibility to maintain strict accuracy in product costing, mark-ups and selling prices. While basic costing calculations might appear straightforward on the surface, many small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) suffer from critical "blind spots" that quietly erode profitability. Overlooking hidden cost drivers, failing to recover indirect overheads and misallocating labour costs can quickly lead to mispriced products, cash flow strain and business failure.
For accounting professionals advising manufacturing clients, the risk of relying on basic spreadsheets or outdated cost recovery models is immediate and material. Without real-time insight into operating schedules, raw materials, direct labour and fluctuating overheads, it is impossible to justify mark-ups or make informed pricing decisions. Keeping an SMME manufacturing operation profitable requires a structured, modern approach to operational cost management that converts raw manufacturing data into actionable financial intelligence.
Join Deon de Jager as he delivers a highly practical guide to navigating the onboarding process of AIVOR, a dedicated cost management system designed to eliminate costing blind spots and drive SMME business performance.
Learning objectives
By attending this webinar you will gain the following competencies:
-
Identify and interpret the hidden cost factors that influence manufacturing profitability.
-
Apply a structured approach to the logical onboarding process within the AIVOR cost management system.
-
Determine all raw material, product template and employee components required to calculate accurate product costs.
-
Implement practical costing principles to improve mark-ups, variable overhead recovery and pricing strategies.
-
Enhance financial visibility for SMME clients by utilising real-time operational insights for proactive decision-making.
Content
The webinar will cover the following topics:
-
The AIVOR onboarding process
-
Business details
-
Operating schedule
-
Expenses and employees
-
Administration setup (users, roles, categories and suppliers)
-
-
Raw materials and product management
-
Raw material templates and single-item creation
-
Product templates and single-item creation
-
-
Manufacturing and costing
-
Bill of Materials (BOM)
-
Cost calculator
-
Direct materials
-
Direct labour
-
Indirect labour
-
Fixed overheads
-
Variable overheads
-
Competitor pricing analysis
-
-
-
Business performance monitoring
-
Main dashboard overview
-
Real-time operational insights
-
Monitoring business activities and profitability
-
-
The accountant's role in supporting SMMEs
-
Improving costing accuracy
-
Assisting clients with pricing and mark-up decisions
-
Enhancing financial visibility and decision-making for manufacturing businesses
-
