david lund
Hospitality Financial Leadership: The Top 10 Cash Controls
David Lund | April 15, 2024
By David Lund Cash is King. That’s an old expression but it’s also one that still rings true today. Everyone likes cash even if we don’t carry so much with us personally anymore. It’s important to recognize that some people will help themselves to your cash if you let them. That might sound extremely clinical and you’re right it is, but it’s also a fact. The only way to minimize your risk is to have a set of controls in place to keep honest people honest and the less than trusty, on their back foot. That’s what this piece is all about – keeping more of what’s yours and making sure it’s properly controlled. Cash contr...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Material and Immaterial Expenses
David Lund | February 5, 2024
By David Lund There is a critical understanding that all hospitality financial leaders need to clearly understand and communicate when it comes to expenses. It is a simple distinction that is many times missed or not clearly understood. That is what this piece is all about: Clearing up the mystery and setting the expense record straight. Here’s the scoop! That was quite a mouthful, and I do not want to downplay the importance of the need to understand the difference and impact of material and immaterial expenses on the monthly profit and loss statement. The materiality refers to the significance of the expense item in the context of t...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – How to Properly Record Packages in Your Hotel
David Lund | January 15, 2024
By David Lund Packages are, on the one hand, straightforward. They are a well-established offering in most hotels, customers love them, and they are not going away. On the other hand, most hoteliers are at a loss to properly set up and manage the transactions so that they do not end up with a mess in their books and systems. That is what this piece is about: How to properly administer these seemingly complicated and unruly devices. First: Pricing aspect Packages are a combination of a room and at least one other component, like a bed and breakfast package. They can also combine many items like we see in a romance package: room, meals, ro...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Explaining Accounting
David Lund | December 18, 2023
By David Lund No one can explain accounting. I have some pretty crazy situations presented to me by potential clients. I say crazy and I what that means is that it is almost unbelievable that anyone would find themselves in such a mess with their business and their books. I also say potential client. Almost always it is never going to be a client, but because I am out there – and in order to find real customers – I must kiss a lot of frogs. I am not complaining. To the contrary I am only too happy to speak with just about anyone who has a problem and thinks I can help. I provide a service and in order to get a paying cl...
Engage Their Hearts and Minds First
David Lund | September 5, 2023
You might think that getting your hotel leadership team excited about accounting is like convincing them it is fun to go to the dentist. Your average person wants nothing to do with it because they are predisposed to think it is yucky, boring and better left to someone who has trouble walking and talking at the same time. But once they begin to understand what the numbers mean and how they apply this understanding to general operations and the bottom line, they will feel just the opposite. My book, The Prosperous Hotelier, aims to do just that. Hotel leaders ALL want to have the financial wherewithal to dazzle their peers. They know i...
What Is “Hospitality Financial Leadership”?
David Lund | August 7, 2023
Book Sample – The Prosperous Hotelier By David Lund A few years ago, finding the three words "hospitality financial leadership” together in one sentence was not possible. I know because I tried to Google them in 2014 and came up with a grab-bag of ideas on leadership, consulting, courses and more. Even the words “financial leadership” revealed surprisingly little – some tidbits about CEOs and their roles, but nothing any broader. Yet, in my opinion, financial leadership is the cornerstone of any manager, executive or leader’s business acumen. It enables an individual to see the importance of being plugged into the strategy ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership – Why You Need an Internal Control Review Program in Your Hotel
David Lund | June 19, 2023
By David Lund Here is the scenario You finally have a full-blown accounting policy manual in place. It has taken several months and a lot of work, but it is done. Something to be proud of indeed! But, wait a minute, it seems like no one knows about these policies and whenever you speak about such and such internal control not being followed, you get the deer in the headlights look. This all too familiar stare means one thing, these people have no idea what you are talking about. Your policy manual might be complete but you are still a long way from compliance. What is the solution? The answer is you need a regular program to test ...
Hospitality Financial Leadership: Why You Need to Reconcile Your Credit Cards Every Day
David Lund | May 22, 2023
By David Lund The dreaded credit card reconciliation need not be such a big deal if we bite-size it. That is what this piece is all about: How and why you should balance your hotel credit cards daily. That is right – every day – and I mean you need to know the cards are balanced to three separate and connected points. First of all, just to properly date myself and reminisce just a little, I can remember mailing off the backs of the card imprints each day. I was working at the front desk, and we would separate the imprints by type and run a tape to balance to our front office Micros posting terminal. OMG, can you imagine? Then t...
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