The first five episodes of The Apprentice have seen success-hungry hopefuls predictably fail during their tasks and under boardroom scrutiny. Yet what stood out in 3 out of the 5 tasks were the spend management failings of such supposedly business-savvy individuals.
During episode 1 Anita Shah was given the role of controlling the Girls team spend, and came under serious fire from Sir Alan after she congratulated the team for coming under-budget when purchasing their cleaning supplies, yet didn't question the necessity to spend the majority of the budget. In episode 4 Paula’s team confused the cost of sandalwood and cedarwood oils, leaving the team shocked to find out they had spent £700 not the £5 that they originally thought! Regardless of the fantastic beauty products they managed to produce and doubling their prices to compensate, this mistake left them with a deficit.
Lack of spend management and control can impact upon profit as any procurement professional knows. Let’s just hope the remaining candidates’ cotton on that unless the team leader is in control of their team and its spending they’ll be heading out the boardroom door.
