Hospitality is a sector characterised by rich diversity. And we’re not just talking about the wonderful variety in cuisines, venues and accommodation options that modern diners, travellers and revellers have to pick from. In many cases, hospitality companies themselves are intricately complex operations.
Whether it’s restaurant chains offering a blend of dine-in and take-out options across their own premises and concessions, or big ticket operators running estates of pubs, eateries and hotels, no one can accuse the hospitality industry of being stuck on one-dimensional models of organisation.
This has its strengths and its drawbacks. Multifaceted services that cater for lots of different consumer needs is a sound strategy for maximising revenues. But it can also make strategic and operational control challenging. We see this a lot in financial management.
With lots of different outlets, perhaps operating under their own distinct brand umbrellas, keeping track of financial performance across a whole group can be tricky. Not only might you have different sales systems on every premises, they might be feeding into one of several accounting systems for different wings of the business, with each also having its own procurement arrangements.
With financial data here, there and everywhere, it’s easy for errors to be made when it comes to drawing up consolidated financial records and statements for compliance and tax purposes. That creates risk for the business.
On an operational level, a lack of centralised oversight of financial performance hampers effective decision-making, especially if multiple units within a group are making decisions that impact on finance in isolation from one another.
Strategy, technology, expertise
Effective integration of financial management starts at a strategic level. There are various reasons why silos might exist between different arms of a business or in how financial data is handled. They could be legacy structures left over from pre-digital times when integration was much more difficult. Mergers and acquisitions often lead to different business units retaining a degree of independence from one another.
Whatever the reasons, integration starts with looking at current structures and processes and comparing them with what your ideal model would look like. Then it’s a case of drawing up a roadmap for how to move from one to another. What systems do you need to have in place? What will the impact on workflows be? Who needs to be involved, and does the change have any impact on skills and personnel requirements?
As far as delivery goes, modern technology can facilitate data sharing and workflow integration even across the most complex organisational structures. It’s certainly worth investing in POS and accounting solutions that allow you to plug in financial data from right across the business. It’s also worth considering an ERP system which further connects financial management with other core business activities such as procurement, HR, logistics/supply chain and even CRM/marketing. It’s at this level that you start to see truly integrated results in the overall control you can have over cash flow, expenditure, budgets etc.
Finally, the oil that makes the whole financial machine run smoothly is having people with the right expertise on hand to help you. Integrating financial processes doesn’t have to mean wholesale changes for your business, but it does require know-how and experience to get right.
This is where choosing your accounting partner carefully really pays dividends. At Xeinadin, we don’t just do bookkeeping. We focus on value-added services like financial planning and strategy, financial control outsourcing and business advisory. With years of experience serving clients in the hospitality industry, we have built a reputation for expertise, reliability, and unwavering focus on delivering success courtesy of our proactive, personalised and technology-driven approach.
