Accounting and Financial Analysis in the Hospitality Industry

Book excerpt: The objective of this textbook is to teach students to be conversational in speaking “numbers.” This means understanding fundamental accounting concepts, developing solid financial analysis abilities, and then applying them to understand and improve the operational performance of their hotel or restaurant. The book will accomplish this by studying the current practices of some of today’s leading hotel and restaurant companies. Chapters will be developed under the auspices of a select group of hospitality industry General Mangers, Directors of Finance, and Regional Accounting Managers to ensure that the information is current, accurate and useful. Understanding and applying the information will be the main focus of this book. This textbook should provide hospitality managers the knowledge and experience to be comfortable in using numbers to operate their departments. This includes developing the ability to perform all accounting and financial aspects of their position efficiently and correctly including revenue forecasting, wage scheduling, budgeting, P&L critiques, purchasing procedures and cost control methods. As a result, they will have more time to spend on the floor with their customers and employees. This knowledge will help them understand their operations and how to improve, change or expand them to increase revenues or profits.