Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

C H A P T E R 1 0Night AuditOPENINGDILEMMACHAPTER FOCUS POINTSThe front office manager has asked you to train a new night auditor. You arerequired to prepare an outline of concepts that you will use in training. Theoutline is due tomorrow.• Importance of the nightaudit in a hotel• Night audit process• The daily flash reportThe hotel’s financial management starts in the front office. Of course, this responsibilityis shared with the controller’s office, but it begins with the accurate and timely processingof guest accounts. This chapter addresses the assembling and balancing of all financialtransactions in the guest accounts and hotel departments for each day of the year. Thiscan be a very time-consuming process for the night auditor, but it provides a balance ofdebit and credit entries to guest and departmental accounts, which include income- andexpense-generating areas of the hotel (e.g., restaurants, gift shop, banquets) (Figure 10-1).Importance of the Night AuditThe night audit is the control process whereby the financial activity of guests’ accountsis maintained and balanced. This process tracks charges and payments (debits and credits)and the departmental receipts and charges on a daily basis. This working definition en-TLFeBOOK