Hotel Front Office Management, 3rd Edition

274 CHAPTER 10: NIGHT AUDITformance. Daily review of the reported figures will allow management the opportunityto be flexible in meeting financial goals.Departmental TotalsEach department in the hotel is required to provide a daily sales report to the frontoffice. These figures are listed and compared to the budget goal. General managers ofhotels use these figures to determine the profitability of income-generating departmentsand the success of marketing programs.Bank DepositBank deposits are also part of the night audit. In large hotels, bank deposits are madeseveral times a day to satisfy security concerns. The bank deposit includes both cash andcredit-card deposits. It is important to note that cash, business checks, and checks fromcredit-card companies are received several times throughout the business day. After theseare received and recorded, they are turned over to a cashier at the front desk to post themto the corresponding guest or city ledger account.Accounts ReceivableThe accounts receivable is an ongoing listing of outstanding amounts owed to thehotel. As mentioned in Chapter 8, these potential sources of revenue are essential toproviding positive cash flow. Managing and updating these accounts, by reviewing themdaily, is a primary responsibility of the controller and general manager.Cashier’s ReportSome hotels have the traditional three shifts (7:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m.–11:00p.m., and 11:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m.) for cashiers. In larger hotels, there may be several cashiersper shift. No matter how many cashiers there are per shift, each is responsible for actualcash and credit cards received, which are compared to PMS totals. The cashier’s report,discussed earlier in the chapter, lists cashier activity of cash and credit cards and PMStotals and is an important part of the financial control system of a hotel. The front officemanager and the controller will review this part of the night audit and look for discrepanciesbetween the actual amount received and the PMS total. They will also assess thecashier’s accuracy.Manager’s ReportThe manager’s report is a listing of occupancy statistics from the previous day, suchas occupancy percentage, yield percentage, average daily rate, RevPAR, and number ofguests. Data such as these are necessary for monitoring the operation of a financiallyTLFeBOOK