Finance & Accounting procedures
Choose the right checklist for the job
Open a procedure to review its steps, then choose Save to create a checklist or reusable template.
Daily hotel controls
Bookkeeping handoff
Prepare records, reconcile outstanding questions and pass a clear month-end package to your bookkeeper.
Need another finance & accounting procedure?Tell us which routine your team needs and where the handoff breaks down. Request an SOP
Choose the control for the stage of work
Use Night Audit for the operational close and business-date transition. Use Income Audit to review revenue and supporting transactions after the relevant reports are available. Your systems may separate these stages even when the same team performs both.
Compare records for the same business date, cutoff and transaction scope before treating a mismatch as missing revenue. Keep deposits, sales, refunds and settlement movements distinct according to the property accounting process.
Give exceptions an owner and approved next action. At month end, use the existing bookkeeping handoff for the wider records package instead of creating another hotel-only version of the same administrative job.
Save the procedures you need individually. Adapt report names, close prerequisites and approval roles to your PMS and accounting process.
How it works
Define → Train → Test → Do → Improve
The Checklist Framework keeps every shift aligned:
Map the close and review
What it is: Agree report sources, business dates, approval roles and what can be carried forward.
Do it here: Customize Night Audit and Income Audit separately so operational close is not mistaken for financial sign-off.
Follow a discrepancy to its source
What it is: Demonstrate how timing, classifications and missing supporting records affect reconciliation.
Do it here: Walk through a redacted example with the finance lead and identify the required reviewer.
Check exception decisions
What it is: Discuss a late arrival, missing outlet posting or unsupported balancing adjustment.
Do it here: Use the paired quizzes to review the right evidence, authorization and handover.
Complete the control and preserve the trail
What it is: Record the outcome, supporting references and owners of unresolved differences.
Do it here: Save a Checklist for the business date or a Template for the recurring control; keep financial records in approved systems.
Reduce repeated close friction
What it is: Review recurring reconciliation gaps, unclear approvals and incomplete handovers.
Do it here: Update the affected control step rather than hiding the exception in an unexplained adjustment.
Benefits
Make finance & accounting handoffs easier
Separate the operational night audit from the subsequent finance review.
Keep comparisons aligned to the same business date and transaction scope.
Give unresolved differences a named owner and traceable next action.
Clarify who prepares a correction and who approves it.
Reuse the existing bookkeeping handoff for the wider monthly records package.
Finance Frequently Asked Questions
Is night audit the same as income audit?
Are these checklists only useful to hotels?
Do these provide accounting or tax rules?
Can a completed night audit still have open finance questions?
Can I download the finance checklists as PDF, Excel or Word?
Put the procedure to work
Make the next close easier to verify
Choose Night Audit, Income Audit or the monthly bookkeeping handoff. Adapt the reports and approval roles so the next person knows what is complete and what still needs attention.