An organisation’s grip on an itemised account for any event / meeting spend continues to baffle.
Determining whether money has been well-spent continues to be a challenge for the most astute financial / procurement specialists.
Generally the expenses appear to be exceptionally high in comparison to the quantifiable outcomes.
The MICE Academy’s recent survey amongst top-drawer finance / procurement practitioners indicated conclusively that although some of the line items could be checked and effectively compared with the general market rates – other expenses were not only confusing yet also challenging to break-down into equitable and accountable components.
Hence over-runs on budget were frequent and puzzling.
Events of any size and description carry their own momentum which makes the entire planning process difficult to halt while awaiting answers.
The MICE industry has an over-supply of suppliers and services such as: venues, staging, technical production, décor, caterers, data capture, badge-makers, furniture rentals – the list is almost endless. In tandem with these many enhancement offerings is the organisations realization that there is a limited (if any) standard pricing structure.
Essentially an organisation can pay R100,000 for a particular service with questionable delivery while another company for the same service may charge R50,000 with outstanding delivery.
The trick is to ensure that all the internal planners and external suppliers and services are accountable in ensuring that the organisation does indeed get as much bang as expected in accordance with the buck spent.
The MICE Academy has just such a programme.