Night Audit Operations & Automated Day Close

The Night Audit Purpose & Timing#

The Night Audit is the critical financial checkpoint executed between 02:00 and 04:00 daily when hotel guest activity reaches minimum volume.

The audit routine closes the hospitality operational business day, posts room revenue charges for all in-house guests, audits cashier shift drawer balances, and generates management reporting via hotel.night.report and hotel.day.close.

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor Auditor as Night Auditor
    participant Audit as hotel.day.close
    participant Stays as In-House hotel.stay Records
    participant POS as F&B POS Outlets
    participant Ledger as General Ledger (account.move)

    Auditor->>Audit: Initiate Night Audit Wizard
    Audit->>POS: Verify All POS Outlets Closed & Balanced
    Audit->>Stays: Iterate Over In-House Guests
    Stays->>Ledger: Post Room Charge & 15% VAT to Unbilled Folios
    Audit->>Audit: Process No-Shows (Charge 1st Night Penalty)
    Audit->>Audit: Roll Business Date Forward (T -> T+1)
    Audit->>Auditor: Generate Manager Daily Flash Report

Night Audit Step-by-Step Procedure#

Step 1: Outlet Verification & Open Shift Close#

Ensure all restaurant, lounge, spa, and banquet point-of-sale registers have performed end-of-shift Z-reports and balanced cash drawers.

Step 2: In-House Guest Room Revenue Posting#

The system automatically posts room tariff and applicable taxes for every room currently marked as Occupied on hotel.stay.

Step 3: No-Show & Late Cancellation Processing#

Guaranteed reservations scheduled to arrive that did not check in are marked as No-Show, and first-night room cancellation fees are debited to their advance deposit ledger.

Step 4: Hospitality KPI Generation#

The night audit compiles standard industry performance metrics:

$$\text{Occupancy Rate (\%)} = \left( \frac{\text{Total Rooms Occupied}}{\text{Total Available Rooms}} \right) \times 100$$

$$\text{Average Daily Rate (ADR)} = \frac{\text{Total Room Revenue}}{\text{Total Rooms Sold}}$$

$$\text{Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR)} = \text{ADR} \times \text{Occupancy Rate}$$