The following systems and procedures helps us keep costs in check:

• Accounting review: The accounting teams books and evaluates all costs across the company. Observations that stand out from the norm are communicated to the relevant leaders
• Monthly expense reports: Selected managers receive a monthly expense report that summarise expense development and makes it easy to drill into specific costs. Managers are responsible to use these reports to maintain healthy expense levels. Accounting can assist with questions you might have about the cost reports.
• A culture of responsibility and transparency: Colleagues with higher expense levels remain responsible for the decisions made by all direct and indirect reports. Our expense systems makes it easy to inspect costs at all levels.

What does it mean to “be responsible for others?”

In organisations with several layers of superiority delegation can be confusing. Here is how we see it at AutoUncle and how it affects decisions that are made:

Authority is delegated “downwards”: The Monthly Expense limits by levels as listed in Expense guidelines and show how authority is delegated from the board of directors, C-level leadership and “downwards” in the organisation.

Responsibility does not water down: When authority is delegated, responsibility expands but is not moved. The board of directors and the company leadership is definitively responsible for everything in the company. Similarly, a senior leader that delegates authority to someone on their team continues to be responsible for the decisions that person makes.

Accountability and transparency is good: No matter what decisions we make, it is important that we remind ourselves to be diligent in reporting on what decisions we make and why.

Trust is developed when information is shared effectively and when we demonstrate that we work with the right intentions and good judgement. If someone in a superior position shows interest in your work or your decisions, remember that that is not a breach of trust but an effective way to develop it.

Some costs are governed by separate budgets

Read more about those: Office, hardware, lunch schemes and more