Budgeting and managing finances for vacation rental managers: An in-depth four hour boot camp incorporating more hands-on knowledge of how to manage the financial landscape and use budgeting as a foundational tool to grow the business and meet future goals.
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Vacation rental management budgeting and financial management 401
1.
2. Agenda
Chart of Accounts, General Ledger and Transactions
Understanding the Balance Sheet, the Income
Statement and the Cash Flow Worksheet
Why You Need a General Operating Budget and How
to Create One
Managing by Budget
Avoiding Problems
3. Important Note
Any commission rates used in examples in this course are
arbitrary numbers.
They do not reflect industry standards or common practice
in any particular locality.
4. One Size Does Not Fit All
• We are aware that some of the suggestions we will make
in this course might not fit the size and scope of your
operation or your market.
• As such, please remember that the assumptions made
throughout this course are designed to represent an
average vacation rental company.
• We encourage you to speak up and share your
experience as another point of view.
5. Getting Started
“Everything is associated with money,
and the person who knows what they
have at all times wins”
Julie Aydlott owner of San Diego Business Accounting
Solutions, and author of The Quick Guide to Small Business
Budgeting
6. To be financially successful a VRM
must:
Have the financial knowledge and resources to meet the
company’s financial obligations
Ensure the company remains a going concern for the
benefit of owners, shareholders, employees, guests and
the community
7. Accounting vs. Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is a systematic recording of every revenue and
expense transaction, including dates, amounts and
descriptions.
Bookkeeping is the financial infrastructure of your business.
Accounting provides a bigger picture by tracking bookkeeping
transactions and using them to analyze business results.
Managers use the financial reports generated by accounting
to make decisions and plans for their business.
8. Why You Should Know Some
Bookkeeping and Accounting
To effectively manage your company to ensure it remains
a viable operation
To avoid being taken advantage of financially
(particularly embezzlement and fraud)
To assist in the planning and control of your business
To be able to knowledgably communicate financial
information to employees, potential lenders and
investors, shareholders, and the media
9. First Things First
Accounting systems and financial reports are only as
reliable as the information and processes used to create
them.
To create reliable information and processes, follow these
steps . . .
10. First Things First (continued)
Create clear, standardized policies and procedures
This consistency creates trust
Ensure policies and procedures aren’t just for accounting
employees—every employee is involved in some aspect of
financial accountability and needs to know where he or she
fits into the bigger picture
Start by reviewing the workflow of accounts receivable,
accounts payable and property management revenue to
ensure your company has a fundamental accounting
foundation
11. First Things First (continued)
Ensure that transactions are complete, accurate and
timely
Ensure that transactions have source documents
Hire knowledgeable, skilled employees
Create and enforce strong internal controls to
minimize errors and temptations to dishonesty as
well as to safeguard assets
12. First Things First (continued)
To create and enforce strong internal controls:
Segregate employee duties to provide checks and balances
—don’t have the same person process purchase orders and
receive inventory or write checks and reconcile bank
statements
Ensure all transactions have verifiable source documents
and are properly stored
Consider using electronic storage to save money and space
13. First Things First (continued)
Ensure proper authorization of transactions, such as
requiring two manager signatures to approve a transaction
over a specific amount
Ensure physical control of assets, such as limiting employee
entry and exit routes, installing fences and locks, using
surveillance equipment, conducting unexpected inventory
counts and inspections and establishing inventory par
levels
14. First Things First (continued)
Check references or perform background checks before
hiring new employees
Perform independent checks on performance, such as
requiring employees to take vacations and using a
substitute while gone
Review “7 Signs of Internal Accounting Fraud” article at end
of Student Workbook
Consider doing some of your own bookkeeping at
first so that you understand how your accounting
system and transaction processes actually work
15. Chart of Accounts
List of all the accounts your company uses to track
transactions
Types of accounts or categories: assets, liabilities,
owner’s equity, revenue, and expense
Assets are anything your company owns that has
monetary value
16. Chart of Accounts (continued)
Current Assets can easily be converted into cash (cash,
savings, checking, accounts receivable, inventory)
Non-Current Assets cannot easily be converted into cash
(equipment, real estate, other capital assets)
Establish a minimum asset to avoid wasting time tracking
low cost assets
17. Chart of Accounts
Liabilities are anything your company owes to people
or businesses—they are financial obligations
Current Liabilities are payable within one year (wages,
accounts payable, taxes, etc.)
Long Term Liabilities are payable after one year (long term
leases, long term debt, pension obligations, etc.)
Owner’s Equity or “capital” = Assets - Liabilities
18. Account Organization
Keep it simple
You decide the number of accounts within each
category and level of detail
When naming accounts, use common terminology
that quickly allows managers and employees to
determine the meaning of a specific account
Organize the chart of accounts to allow decision
making employees to quickly understand transactions
and financial information
19. Account Organization (continued)
Only create material accounts
Once chart of accounts established, ensure
employees are consistently coding to these accounts
and minimize creation of new accounts
Consistency is the key
20. Simple Chart of Accounts
Account Number Account
100 Assets
200 Liabilities
300 Owner’s Equity
400 Revenue
600 Payroll/Wages
700 Other Expenses
21. General Ledger and Transactions
General Ledger (G/L) is the part of your accounting
system used to record (post) transactions
Two methods of recording transactions in G/L: cash
and accrual
Cash Basis
Revenue recorded upon receipt of cash
Expense recorded upon payment of cash
No accounts payable or receivable
22. General Ledger and Transactions
(continued)
Accrual Basis
Revenue is recorded when earned
Expense recorded to match revenue or in period in which it
is incurred
G/L uses a Double Entry accounting system
For every transaction, two accounts are affected
One is debited and the other credited
23. General Ledger and Transactions
(continued)
Type of
Account
Debit Credit
Asset Increases acct Decreases acct
Liability Decreases acct Increases acct
Income Decreases acct Increases acct
Expense Increases acct Decreases acct
Owners Equity Decreases acct Increases acct
24. General Ledger and Transactions
(continued)
Example #1: Receive deposit from guest
Debit Credit
Account # 101 202
Description Cash Advance
Deposits
Type Asset Liability
Amount $2,000.00 $2,000.00
25. General Ledger and Transactions
(continued)
Example #2: Receive utility bill
Debit Credit
Account # 702 201
Description Utilities Accounts
Payable
Type Expense Liability
Amount $500.00 $500.00
26. General Ledger and Transactions
(continued)
Example #3: Pay utility bill
Debit Credit
Account # 201 101
Description Accounts
Payable
Cash
Type Liability Asset
Amount $500.00 $500.00
27. Important Financial Reports and for
Vacation Rental Managers
Statistics/Metrics for the VR Business
Balance Sheet
Income Statement
Cash Flow Worksheet
Review and verify all transactions posted to the G/L
for reasonableness and consistency
This information is typically prepared and reviewed
each month after month end close
28. Statistics & Metrics
Performance metrics measure an
organization's activities and performance.
It should support a range of stakeholder
needs from customers, shareholders to
employees.
Traditionally many metrics are finance based,
inwardly focusing on the performance of the
organization.
29. Sample Statistics & Metrics
Total Available Nights
Nights Net Available Nights
Guest Occupied Nights
Owner Occupied Nights
Occupancy %
Average Daily Rate (Guest nights only)
Management Commissions
Commission Per Property
Average Length of Stay Number of Reservations
30. Sample Statistics & Metrics cont’d
Total Available Nights – include ALL nights available
to sell. (Number of properties * 365)
Nights Net Available Nights – Total Available Nights
less Owner/Maintenance Use Nights.
Guest Occupied Nights – Paying Guest Nights
Owner Occupied Nights – Owner or Non-paying
Guest Nights
31. Sample Statistics & Metrics cont’d
Occupancy % - Total Occupied Guest Nights/Net
Available Nights
Average Daily Rate (Guest nights only) – Gross Rental
Revenue/Total Occupied Guest Nights
Management Commissions – Gross Rental Revenue
less Payments to Owners
Average Length of Stay - Total Occupied Guest
Nights/Number of Reservations
32. Sample Statistics & Metrics cont’d
Total Available Nights – include ALL nights available
to sell. (Number of properties * 365)
Nights Net Available Nights – Total Available Nights
less Owner/Maintenance Use Nights.
Guest Occupied Nights – Paying Guest Nights
Owner Occupied Nights – Owner or Non-paying
Guest Nights
33. Sample Statistics & Metrics cont’d
Review Sample Statistics and Business Metrics
34. Balance Sheet
Also known as Statement of Financial Condition
Provides a snapshot of your company’s financial
condition at any one point in time
Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity
Typically compared to last year’s Balance Sheet at
same point in time
36. Balance Sheet (continued)
Helps you determine if your company can withstand
typical market fluctuations, if you can expand and if
you need additional cash reserves
Helps you spot trends in accounts payable and
receivable
Frequently required by potential lenders and
investors
37. Reviewing the Balance Sheet
Review each account for reasonableness
Perform an Acid Test
Also called Quick Ratio or Liquid Ratio
Acid Test (current assets – current liabilities) measures the
ability of a company to use its current assets to
immediately satisfy current liabilities
38. Reviewing the Balance Sheet
(continued)
The Acid Test indicates a company’s capacity to maintain
operations as usual with current cash; thus, this test
implies a liquidation approach and does not recognize the
revolving nature of current assets and liabilities
Generally, the Acid Test ratio should be 1:1 or better;
however, this varies widely by industry
39. Income Statement
Also known as Profit and Loss Statement or Earnings
Statement
Reports how well your company operated over a
period of time. Did it make or lose money? What’s
the bottom line?
Revenue - Expenses = Net Income (or Loss)
Net Income (or Loss) gets moved to the Balance
Sheet and becomes Owners Equity
40. Income Statement (continued)
Typically compared to budget and prior year’s
operations
Helps you determine which areas are under or over
budget
Frequently required by potential lenders and
investors
Investigate each variance
41. Reviewing the Income Statement
Top line revenue—Did you hit your forecast?
Payments to owners—What is the percentage of top
line? Are you paying more than you should? If so,
why?
Review all other revenue accounts for
reasonableness
42. Reviewing the Income Statement
(continued)
Review all expenses for reasonableness
Compare each account to budget and prior year
Focus on variances
Net operating income—Did you hit your forecast? If
not, why?
43. Cash Flow Worksheet
Part of a larger and more complex report called
Statement of Cash Flows
Reports cash generated and used by your company
over a period of time
Don’t confuse profitability (revenue – expenses) with
cash flow -- you can be profitable and still lack cash
and still go out of business
44.
45.
46.
47.
48. Cash Flow Worksheet (continued)
Helps you determine if you’ll have enough cash each
month
Helps you assess capability of generating future cash
flow
Focus on including all line items
Cash Flow Worksheet is only as good as information
provided therein
49. Reviewing the Cash Flow
Worksheet
Ensure all accounts and transactions are included
Look for irregularities or short falls in cash
Short falls in cash will require you to add additional
capital to your business
Simple planning can negate or minimize the need for
additional capital
52. A Financial Planning Tool
that…
Is an itemized summary of projected income and
expenses for a period of time
Helps you identify your company’s financial values,
prioritize your spending, manage your money and
track performance
Provides a means of managing your actual
performance against your projected performance
53. What You Need a General
Operating Budget
To achieve your company’s goals
It allows you to more effectively and efficiently manage the
financial operation of your company
It can provide you with a better basis for understanding
your company’s operations in relation to the general
environment
It leads to faster reactions to developing events, which
increases your company’s ability to perform effectively
54. Why You Need an Operating
Budget (continued)
To plan for your company’s future
It allows you to be prepared—you can either “wing it” or
you can plan for profit, cash flow, and the financial
condition of your business
It allows you to anticipate change and adapt, such as a
downturn in your company’s performance
It is an indicator of financial health, stability and
sophistication to any potential lender, investor or buyer
55. Why You Need an Operating
Budget (continued)
To obtain the most productive and profitable use of
your company’s resources—not to limit expenditures
56. Creating a General Operating
Budget
Be kind to yourself (and others)—Realize that you’ll
make some mistakes and that there is a learning
curve
Start in October or November
Make time for budgeting
Use last year’s financial statements to provide the
foundation for this year’s budget, then you can
evaluate assumptions each year and make
corrections
57. Creating a General Operating
Budget (continued)
Create a realistic and detailed budget—record true
and accurate revenue and expense assumptions—
avoid “sand bagging”
Review your budget every month and revise your
forecast (a revision detailing material increases or
decreases to your budget) regularly
Use it for restraint and not constraint
58. Involve Your Managers
Have your managers create financial plans for the
year, including specific objectives and means of
accomplishing those objectives
Review those plans with your managers and reach
consensus among your team
Incorporate those plans into the General Operating
Budget
59. Involve Your Managers
(continued)
Have your managers review budget versus actual
throughout the year and make mid-course
corrections via a forecast
Support their budget-based management decisions
throughout year
This process helps managers do a better job of
forecasting
60. Involve Your Managers
(continued)
This process motivates managers and employees,
particularly if you tie incentive bonuses to financial
performance
This process allows you to more effectively monitor
and manage against departmental/employee
performance
61. Identify Revenue Sources
Use last year’s revenue as a guide—pull amounts from
your reservation system
Be realistic and conservative—Don’t overestimate
income
Understand Key Metrics and Terminology
Focus on Gross Lodging Revenue because it will allow
you to forecast expenses
Determine what you’ll charge for services and fees—use
your market to determine a viable price structure
62. Develop Key Revenue
Schedules
Based on Gross Lodging Revenue and other key
metrics
Housekeeping
Maintenance
63. Identify Direct Operating and
General & Admin Expenses
Direct Operating Expenses
Are typically variable and fluctuate with Gross Lodging
Revenue
Examples include housekeeping, maintenance, and hourly
payroll
General & Administrative Expenses
Are typically fixed —they stay the same each month
Examples include rent, management salaries, and vehicle
lease payments
64. Identify Direct Operating and General
& Admin Expenses (continued)
Use last year’s expenses as a guide
Be realistic and conservative—Don’t underestimate
expenses
65. Develop Key Expense
Schedules
Payroll
Leases (office, vehicles, copier, postage machine,
etc.)
Marketing
Housekeeping and Maintenance (included in General
Operating Budget Worksheet—not done separately)
66. Remember Consensus is the Key
Meet with dept managers to explain reason for
budget and set goals
It is their planning tool
It is their chance to make requests (wish lists)
It is their opportunity to reveal their planning skills
It is their statement of resources required to meet their
goals
67. Remember Consensus (continued)
Set thresholds
Give dept managers a timeframe to complete and
submit their budgets
Ask them for a narrative to accompany budget
Allow dept managers to manage against budgeted
items
Don’t micromanage your employees
Manage against performance
68. Finalize the First Draft of Your General
Operating Budget
Analyze
Conduct a detailed review and make adjustments
Duplication
Reasonability checks
Staffing requests
Wishful thinking
Poor calculations
Denials
Omissions
69. Finalize First Draft (continued)
Return to dept managers with request to cut money (not
everyone)
Prepare add/subtract list by department
BALANCE THE BUDGET! Worst Case!
Note that Income Statement and General Operating
Budget look identical
70. Creating a Capital Budget
Capital expenditures are recorded when a company
spends money to acquire or upgrade fixed assets
Examples are equipment, property and buildings
71. Conducting a Final Review and
Sign Off
Review all budgets one last time with overall picture
in mind
Add items or money as needed
Cut items or money if you do not feel it is necessary to
obtain department or company goals
Distribute to Dept Managers
72. Managing by Budget
Review actual versus budget on a monthly basis
If income is down, why?
If expenses are up, why?
73. Managing by Budget
(continued)
Pay particular attention to:
Wages and employee benefits, including overtime
New project expenses
Accounts with previous problems
Workman’s compensation and other taxes
Advertising
Housekeeping income versus expense
Laundry income versus expense
74. Managing by Budget
(continued)
Drill down as necessary
Adjust and adapt as necessary
Evaluate extra expenditures
Are they in the budget?
Exceptions for catastrophic omissions only or unique
opportunities (CEO decision)
Ideally exceptions exchanged somewhere else
75. Managing by Budget
(continued)
Consider implementing a “Think Tank” day
Conducted off site just before budget is prepared
Every department is evaluated
Allows everyone a say in what needs to change and how to
run things more efficiently and effectively
Not punitive
Use results to adjust your budget if appropriate
76. Managing by Budget
(continued)
Consider implementing a “Kick Off “ Day
Unveil budget and projections for new year for company
and specific departments
Allow employees to see which of their ideas influenced the
budget
77. Avoiding Problems
Avoid “I don’t really need to use it” mentality
Avoid “I’ll trade it for something else” mentality
Avoid “I’ve got extra money to spend” mentality
Make thoughtful decisions
78. Avoiding Problems (continued)
Do not implement across the board cuts
Discourages padding
All items are not equally sacrificial
Closely monitor assumptions for accuracy (# of
reservations, # of work orders, high income season
daily/weekly)
Look for problems EARLY
79. Avoiding Problems (continued)
If you’re a company owner
Stick to your own budget
Don’t jeopardize company by dipping into reserves
Assess at end of year (end of quarter at most)
80. Conclusions and Summary
Know where your checkbook should be EVERY month
Be prepared to adjust if necessary
Hold dept managers accountable for their expense
budgets
Meet your budget goals
Consider bonus incentive for dept managers who
meet goals
81. Conclusions and Summary
(continued)
Benefits if you use a budget:
Stronger company
Unified approach to planning
Respect from banks and greater chance of successful
financial requests
Higher market value for your company
Positive equity position
82. 7 Signs of Internal Accounting
Fraud
1. An in-house accountant works without direct
supervision on every aspect of a company's financial
operations. When one trusted bookkeeper or accountant is
responsible for records, payroll, receivables, deposits,
payments and so on, the company is placed at risk for
fraudulent activity.
83. 7 Signs (continued)
2. An in-house accountant refuses to follow recently
established accounting and/or payroll guidelines. In such a
case, owners should demand that guidelines be strictly
followed and investigate financial and payroll records for
up to several years in the past.
3. An accountant continually works after hours, comes in
frequently on weekends or insists on taking work home.
Fraudulent activities are easier to accomplish when work is
unobserved and unsupervised.
84. 7 Signs (continued)
4. An accountant refuses to take a vacation. This individual
may be thought of as a highly dedicated and hard-working
employee, but it could be that he or she simply doesn't
want anyone to discover how the books are being cooked.
85. 7 Signs (continued)
5. An accountant insists that he or she handle activities for
which other departments are normally responsible. These
can include picking up the daily mail (for fear that
something could arrive that would tip-off management),
acting as the sole go-between with the company's financial
contacts (banks, auditors, creditors, etc.) and working with
police when items or money are found missing.
86. 7 Signs (continued)
6. An accountant continually misfiles important items such
as payroll receipts, deposit records, supplier
correspondence and estimates.
7. Deposits frequently seem too small. Owners should
always carefully monitor income and deposits, comparing
sales receipts against actual amounts put into the bank.
(Reprinted from National Federation of Independent
Business 04/ 15/ 2002)
Editor's Notes
Check Kiting, Fake Owners, Fake Vendors
Soap is $.22, Toilet Paper, etc…
Locks, DVD players, TV’s
This is even more important in this day and age, as more & more VRM are going virtual
Background checks – Not done every time, but when done, we found something.
Now let’s move into further detail…… C of A
As you set up a C of A, focus on account organization.
Note the pitfalls of inconsistent, non material accounts
Show expanded Simple Chart of Accounts on Elmo, then show More Complex Chart of Accounts on Elmo
Are you cash basis or accrual basis?
Matching Revenue/Expenses – Matching principal
Accrual basis accounting matches revenues to the time period in which they are earned and matches expenses to the time period in which they are incurred
Perhaps a good time to stop.
The big three……
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Continue to show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Continue to show Balance Sheet on Elmo.
Discuss Cowboy Math…..Big Four Accounting vs. a true operational manager
Cash…is most important, secondly is liabilities
Note that a acid test is important when reviewing the BS when going into the off season
Show Income Statement on Elmo.
Continue to show Income Statement on Elmo.
Continue to show Income Statement on Elmo.
Continue to show Income Statement on Elmo.
Show Cash Flow Worksheet on Elmo.
Note assimilations of cash from Operating, Financing and Investing activities….
Continue to show Cash Flow Worksheet on Elmo.
Continue to show Cash Flow Worksheet on Elmo.
Use the calendar year if possible…
Review departmental projections….to ensure your managers are not shooting high/low so as to provide cushion and hit their numbers
Talk about various bonus plans….
Show Key Metrics and Terminology on Elmo
Identfying top line revenue is the key….most expenses trend top line revenue…
Show General Operating Budget Worksheet on Elmo
Note that most PMS track Housekeeping, Maintenance and Credit Card Fees.
Show Payroll Schedule, Lease Schedule and then Marketing Schedule on Elmo