Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

OVERVIEW OF NIGHT AUDIT FUNCTIONS
As shown in Roadmap 1, this chapter begins with an overview of night audit 
functions. Most hotels operate around the clock; they never close. Although this is
very convenient for guests, it makes accounting for the hotel’s financial transactions
challenging. Even routine business questions such as “what were our total revenues
yesterday?” or “how many rooms were sold today?” can be difficult to answer, because
the traditional system of “advancing” the calendar at midnight to the next day does
not work well in the lodging industry. In hotels, even the terms yesterday and today
can be difficult to determine. Consider a guest who checks in at 4:00 p.m. on Friday
and checks out the next day at 9:00 a.m. Another guest checks in at 2:00 a.m. on
Saturday and checks out at 9:00 a.m. on the same day. In most hotels, both of these
guests’ rooms would be considered sold on Friday.
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