As the name suggests,Night Audit is a sub part of auditing which means conducting audit at night. The word night audit sounds strange to you because it is practiced only in the hotel industry. This phenomenon might create confusion for a person who is not aware of these things and he/she might ask the question, why audit is conducted at night in hotels instead of day time? Now to make things clear and simple, the answer to this question is that day time is the business time for the hotels and their business is not confined to the room booking but all the important operations are in their full flow in the day time. As hotels are busy in the day time for their guest oriented activities so the audit is done at night. Now let's take a look what Night Audit is all about.
The night audit is the checking of all the business transactions and accounts books in order to check that all the revenues and expenses are properly posted in their relevant heads. Night auditor is also referred as the in house auditor whose responsibility is to conduct audit and generate reports for the top management in order to portray a clear picture of their business; that is, how much profit is earned, how many expenses are done, the net profit etc.
The Night Auditor's job is very tough and complicated and in five or seven star hotels Night Auditor is assigned to tasks like settling of credit cards, which means he/she has to make sure that money is transferred from the guest's account to the hotel account. Arranging reports for the top management to reflect that day's business activities like revenue earned and expenses done. In short it's one of the most responsible positions in hotel management.
The night audit in the hotel, motel and bed and breakfast industry is a very important part of the smooth running of a hotel or motel. In fact, next to the provision of excellent customer relations this is the most important aspect of the business side of the hotel, motel and bed and breakfast industry. Taxes is the reason for this, the night audit is the determining factor for the amount of taxes owed by the hospitality facility on tax day each year.
In each state there is manual for procedures for figuring the hotel, motel or bed and breakfast occupancy tax and this is completed each night of the year. The night audit is the name for this procedure. In smaller hotels, motels and bed and breakfast facilities the person who is the night desk clerk is often responsible for documentation of the night audit. In larger facilities this task is completed by someone who is trained for the completion of this task.
Under the heading Taxpayer Record of the facility are listed the Registration card, Room revenue balance sheet, Daily control report, Housekeeper's report, City ledger, Monthly Summary, Tax report room revenue sheet, and if the hotel is residential hotel then a Residential record sheet is also needed. The daily and monthly report and the room sale, daily and monthly accounting sheet must each balance with the daily and monthly tax sheet.
At the end of the year all of the summaries must balance with the annual tax sheet and this is the amount of taxes owed to IRS for the hotel, motel or bread and breakfast facility. If, there is also a restaurant or other sales departments within the main facility this also must be recorded and reports prepared daily, monthly and annually.
Depending upon the size of the hotel, motel or bed and breakfast facility the responsibility for Night Auditor can be a simple task or a lengthy and involved task. Today much of the reporting is completed by pre-entered documentation in the computer as each person is registered. Thus making the task a less time consuming task.
Think of it as your night time bookkeeper / night time desk clerk. I work at a smaller property and right now I have 7 beautiful hours to do basically anything I want. It's a very relaxed shift as long as you have a mind for numbers. Typically the hours are 11pm to 7am.
To be honest, most of the work is automated. If you can balance a chq book, you can run an audit. Its just a bit larger and confusing at first, after about the first week it's cake.
Night Audit is a self-explanatory term, which means conducting audit at night. This terminology or this type of auditing is carried out in hotels. Now here the question arises that why audit is conducted at night in hotels? Answer to that question is that hotels are busy in the day time for other guest oriented activities and revenue generation. The audit in the night means checking of all revenues and proper posting of the titles in their proper heads. Night auditor is also known as the in house auditor who is responsible for conducting audit and generating reports for management. In a five star hotel, night audit is very complicated and it requires basic accounting, computer and hotel management knowledge and background. Night Audit (NA) is basically composed of following important jobs like settling credit cards for the day with bank to ensure money transfer from the guest's account to the hotel account. After that, charging Room Tax from all the guests automatically to make sure that all staying guests are been charged to their agreed rates against the room rent. Arranging reports for management to reflect that day's business activities like revenue earned and expenses done. Night Auditor also ensures that all phone calls and guests coming to front desk for different matters are properly addressed and taken care of properly. In short its one of the most responsible position in hotel management considering its responsibilities.
Night audit is a common activity which carried out by the authorized persons/ night auditor. The auditor at the day end audits all the transactional activity of the day and generates reports.
Night audit in Hotel / Motel industry is used as a specialized form of periodic billing. It is used to bill the client for each day separately. In night audit process a provisional transaction is create on the reservation make. A provisional transaction has a future value, but is not immediate sale and therefore no immediate revenue. As in night audit bill are been process every day, this convert the provisional transaction into a realized transaction of the day, resulting in conform sales and revenue. Night audit billing must be process everyday in order to track income correctly. In order for a billing process to work properly, ensure all clients are properly check out and check in on time.
Night audit follow the prescribe designed routines
• To update the client folio, • Perform account closing for the day, • Prepare and distribute daily bill to the client. • Prepare and distribute a range of report. One of such report to management is perpetual inventory of account receivable, that tell, how many receivable where owed at the beginning of the day, how many were paid and how many were charges during the day and at the last the closing balance of the day.
Night audit is a strange term to hear but it has all attributes of internal auditing. Night audit generally undertakes by the hotel groups because it is more guest- service oriented at the day time in the hotels. Attention to details and maintaining the daily revenue is the basic activity for the auditor. Preparing the daily sales, cash and credit card transaction and the accuracy of the transaction and posting journals are the critical part of night audit. This job requires a lot of experience and exposure. This part is very important for the accountants.
Night Audit is a very complex position that requires years of experience and training to push a few keys and have the computer do all the work for you. You will also be dealing with customers alone, who are typically drunk or looking for trouble. If you are lucky enough to work night audit on the weekend you will probably have the local police department number on standby. The majority of the shift you will fight falling asleep while staying busy with important tasks like keeping track of your highest solitaire score, reading books guests have left behind, trying to bypass the firewall on the company computer so you can watch pornographic videos online and/or find a better job, complain to yourself about the outrageous hours you keep and marvel at the paleness of your skin and darkness of rings around your eyes, and sitting and staring at the fire alarm hoping it does not go off.
