By Carl Johnson, UK Sales Director at Anglo Scottish Asset Finance
2026 is almost here. SME owners felt the squeeze during 2025, with increases to the rate of National Insurance Contribution for employers and increases to the minimum wage resulting in higher per-employee costs.
Despite increasing energy costs adding to their concerns, the outlook among SME owners is bullish, with 73% expecting growth in 2026 – although this viewpoint varies across sectors.
With 2025 about to draw to a close, I take a look at seven overlooked strategies that can help small businesses boost their bottom line in the new year.
Carry out a subscription audit each quarter
If your business is reliant on monthly subscriptions for services such as office suites, cloud storage, project management or communications software, carrying out regular audits of these can help reduce flabby expenditure on unnecessary items.
Exporting and itemising your monthly business bank statements is a good place to start. This’ll help you get a handle on exactly how much you’re spending. Then, consult your team leads to find out whether there’s any duplication taking place – there’s no point spending on tools like Microsoft Office if everyone is using Google alternatives.
Once you know which are unnecessary, you can cut out the corporate spend.
Leverage grants, tax and expense opportunities
We find that many SME owners are unaware of the opportunities available to help support their bottom line, particularly in terms of grants, levies and subsidies listed by the government.
You might be surprised to find that your business activities are actually eligible for R&D tax relief (the remit is wider than you might think), while there are a number of region-specific grants available that traditionally go under-utilised. Where investment in technology is required, schemes like the Gigabit Broadband Scheme could help your business upgrade connectivity on a cheaper budget, with vouchers up to £4,500 available.
Maximising finance
One of the issues SMEs face more acutely than larger corporations is maintaining a healthy and regular cash flow, particularly in capital-intensive sectors like manufacturing or construction.
Unexpected outages to business-critical machinery can have a massive impact on your ability to meet your obligations on time and on budget, while late payments from suppliers and partners can also make it difficult to maintain a consistent cash flow in the short- and medium-term.
By spreading the cost of assets or larger invoices over longer periods of time with finance, SME owners can eliminate the burden that comes with spending significant sums in one go, making their business more financially resilient and helping save money in the long run.
Reviewing and renegotiating with suppliers
If your business has long-term relationships with suppliers, it may be worth revisiting these to see whether more favourable terms are available. If price is the only motivation, it can be tempting to switch suppliers to a cheaper competitor – but if you’re lucky enough to have a long-lasting and positive relationship with an existing supplier, renegotiating your existing contract might be a good way to increase your financial freedom.
The suppliers you spend the most money with are those that might be able to offer reduced terms or extended payment schedules to retain your custom, offering you more financial freedom going forward.
Invest to reduce energy costs
Energy is usually one of the largest controllable overheads, and prohibitive energy costs are a barrier to growth for SMEs that operate in carbon-intensive sectors. Optimising your energy usage and spending is a great way to slash your monthly fixed costs – and though there’s going to be an up-front cost associated with becoming more sustainable, you’d save in the long run by enjoying cheaper monthly payments.
Switching to LEDs and motion-sensor-controlled lighting options can save your business between 20% and 50% on your energy bills. It also means longer lifespans and no more lights being left on, so you could save money on your energy spend each month while reducing your maintenance spend, too!
Reduce excess inventory
Often, smaller businesses find it more difficult to plan for changes in demand and keep larger quantities of stock to accommodate any spikes in demand. High stock levels are great for protecting yourself against these unexpected changes, but also mean working capital is tied up.
Getting more visibility over your sales data is step one – review your stock levels versus sales forecasts and negotiate smaller, more frequent payments as part of your discussions with suppliers. More flexibility could help you save money.
Leveraging remote work
While 2025 saw several larger businesses pledging to return their staff to the office full-time following a period of hybrid working, these corporations have far less to gain compared to SMEs, who can enjoy difference-making money-saving by leveraging remote work smartly.
If your business is capable of delivering work with your staff being remote, consider how much money you could save on overheads if your staff were at home on Mondays and Fridays, for example. Provided that you have the tools to keep your team connected on these days and still deliver a great service, this energy-saving exercise could dramatically reduce weekly energy costs onsite – scaling over the course of the year to huge impact.
With less time tied to full-office occupancy and fixed-cost burdens being cut, this could essentially result in a 40% saving on energy spend.
So, which of these measures apply to your business? If you want to get a head start and boost profitability, begin putting these procedures in place and reap the benefits throughout 2026.
