There are several functions in the finance team of hotels, each serving a different purpose in hotel financial management. Whilst some of these may overlap, they include: financial accounting, cost accounting, tax accounting, auditing and managerial accounting. With the advent of technology, hotel accounting software has gained a significant role in helping these finance function of hotels.

Most organisations have plans. There is, however, a huge difference between a good plan and a bad plan. A bad plan, for example, is one that consists only of costs and revenues. This plan provides no guidance for the organisation regarding how it is to achieve the revenue targets. There is no linkage between the high level goals and the day-to-day activities necessary to achieve them.

In today’s complex and rapidly changing business climate, there is an increased demand for top management to better observe, measure, and manage their business. Planning and budgeting plays an important role in enterprise performance management. However, in many organisations, planning and budgeting is not seen as adding value since:

In a study by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), different types of training and development methods were ranked according to how useful each one was rated by senior finance professionals.

The top 4 useful types were “learning through doing”, followed by “external training courses supported by the organisation”, “external continuing professional development supported by the organisation”, and “in-house education and training face-to-face”.

Financial analysis dates back centuries, at least to the codification of double-entry bookkeeping in the 15th century. The analysis of balance sheets and income statements has long served as the basis of credit and lending decisions.

The discipline of management accounting developed in the early 20th century as a way of using accounting data to keep corporate executives and managers informed about what happened or is happening and why.

More and more companies are coming to realise that sustainability performance management (SPM) can create and protect their businesses’ long-term value. Thus, defining the link between sustainability and business performance becomes critical in business management, especially in financial aspects.

Sustainability affects both top and bottom lines

Sustainability can boost both top and bottom line performance and strengthen the balance sheet. These opportunities exist throughout the value chain of any organisation, from operations and inbound logistics to sales and marketing.

Amongst them, the business financial management team is the ideal place to drive business value from sustainability because the finance department has visibility into every part of the company and understands how it all fits together.

In today’s fast-moving world, companies have to juggle multiple priorities when managing their business, such as overseeing financials transactions, measuring corporate performance, attesting financial reports, timely closing and consolidating financial data. Thus, it is no surprise that CFOs are always aiming to close books and comply with regulations faster and more efficiently.