Hotel accounting is one of the most important areas of a hotel’s management. Accounting in the hotel industry has moved on from the traditional methods of using spreadsheets to the modern hotel accounting software. As a hotelier, you need to adopt new technologies to effectively streamline this aspect of your business. Thus, to make the whole process error-free and to save time.

Importance of Accounting in Hospitality Industry

Accountants have a host of responsibilities in the hotel industry. From delivering accurate month-end account statements,  they also have to focus on the following activities –

• Budgets
• Compare profits (between current and past periods)
• Prepare financial statements, balance sheets
• Cash flow statements
• Payroll management
• Business planning and much more

Financial statements of each department are vital for hotel owners/management to understand the monetary health of their hotel business. Information such as how your room is priced compared to competitors or the current month’s profit as compared to the previous month gives deep insights. Generating and procuring all these details manually, consumes time and involves tremendous effort. Plus, it may lead to errors, too.

Hotel Accounting Systems: Then and Now

In the past, the entire process of maintaining a hotel accounting system required extensive manual work. Every individual needed to manually check the record transactions, summarize, make additions, subtractions and more. Those who are yet to make the move to hotel accounting software, have to spend an enormous amount of time to deal with piles of invoices. Additionally, outdated data and lack of easy access make it difficult for employees to work efficiently as a team. Modern Accounting methods bring in convenience as we shall see ahead.

Let’s find out how automating your hotel accounting process with modern accounting software will bring relief to your hotel management. Here are the 5 main benefits –

1) Automation and Accuracy: A hotel accounting system makes it easy for you to generate invoices, account statements, produce payslips, and much more. Routine tasks are now automated leading to zero manual errors. You’ll find greater accuracy in all the mathematical calculations provided the data is entered correctly.

2) Access from anywhere: When integrated with a cloud-based Hotel PMS, it becomes easier for you to access your accounting data from anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

3) Information in real-time: All your financial data is available within the software with a real-time view of your cash flow – accounts receivable, and accounts payable etc.

4) Ease of use: The data entry process is simple. It’s easy to update it online and allow access for specific users.  Ample data storage also makes it easy to share information.

5) Speed and efficiency: Your hotel’s accounting process will work at a faster speed as compared to the manual methods. It also increases the efficiency of your staff.

Tech-savvy hoteliers have adopted cloud-based property management systems (PMS) to perform a host of tasks including accounting. Such a PMS integrates with accounting software, and is so easy to use! It saves time and cuts down costs while providing greater accuracy. As it works online, it does not require hardware installations and comes with free upgrades!   

Tip: Hotelogix hotel management system integrates with powerful hotel accounting software such as Xero, QuickBooks, Tally, Alif, and more.

Hotel accounting management is no longer a cumbersome process. The benefits of modern accounting are vast. So, are you ready to make the move, today?  

This article originally posted on HotelNewsResource.