Online Training Course - Accounting

Hello and Welcome to the Online Training Course for the Accounts Department.

This course will give you a good look into the Accounting functions of HOP.

The Main Topics we will talk about are:

• Accounting Manager
• Finance Reports
• Articles

To start, please login with your username and password.

Before we have a close look into the system, I will show you where you can get some help if you are stuck somewhere. On every page you will find the 'Info' and the 'Help Desk' Button on the top of the page.

The 'Info' Button will give you a closer description of how to use HOP and you will also find some Video Tutorials there. If there are still some questions open, please press the 'Help Desk' Button and this will direct you to your personal Help Page. From here you can have a look into some frequently asked questions, some Video Tutorials and you can also create a personal ticket, if your question is more specific.

Let's go back to our HOP system and start there.

Our Dashboard gives you a general overview over your property.

It shows you how many Check-In and Check-Outs you have, it also gives you some daily details like Weather and Average Room Rate and many other things.

Let's start with an important basic set up stage before you start. To begin, please go to 'Administration' and 'Option Sets'.

In the drop down menu please choose 'Accounts Tax Code' and click '+ Add' to create a new one.

You will need two codes in here, the 20% TAX Code and the Exempt Tax Code.

Under 'Option Value' please fill in the Code, which is used in your Accounting Software (For example if your accounts team use SagePay it would be T1 and T9) and then remember to click press 'Save'. If you are unsure of these codes, please speak with your accountant or accounts team to obtain them.

After you have created the two tax codes we can move on to the Accounting Manager and you should start with the 'Company Invoice Details':

Please fill out all of the above sections .

VAT Rate: How much Vat do you have to pay? (UK 20%)

VAT Number: Value added Tax Registration Number

Financial Institution: Whichever bank you are using

Account Name

Account Number

Sort Code

IBAN: International bank number (International Transaction Number - NON UK)

Company Number: Your company registration number 

Message to show on Invoice: Here you can choose whatever you want and this is what guests see on their invoice. For example you could choose something like - 'We appreciate your business, come again soon'

Before you leave this page, please make sure you press 'Update Details' in order to save it!

Let's move on to the 'Account Software Codes':

This area relates to your current accounts software package so your accountant, accounts manager or business owner should be able to obtain these details. 

TAX Code: The Tax Code shows you how much tax will be deducted and it is one of the two codes you filled in 'Option Sets' and 'Accounts Tax Code' earlier.

VAT Nominal Code: unique reference number given to each nominal account for a business 

Deposit Nominal Code: unique reference number for your deposits

Payment Nominal Code: unique reference number for your payments (needs to be the same as Refund Nominal Code) - if you divide into different Payment Methods, please leave this field blank

Refund Nominal Code: unique reference number for your refunds (needs to be the same as Payment Nominal Code) - if you divide into different Payment Methods, please leave this field blank

Exempt Tax Code: Sales Exempt from Tax Code = VAT 0% - This is the second Tax Code you filled in 'Option Sets' and 'Accounts Tax Code'

Guest Ledger Code: individual code for all the payments they where charged to the room but not checked out on the same day and they are sitting now on the Guest Ledger (no room charge - no guest ledger)

Department Code: if you have more than 1 property or department and you want to see the sales of each department you can set up individual codes (If you don't have this, please leave this area blank)

Credit Sales Code: this is the code, where all your Sales go through (in Sage JC)

Debit Sales Code: this is the code, where all your Payments go through (in Sage JD)

If you decided you want to set up all the payment methods under individual Payment Nominal Codes, you would got to 'Payment Method'.

If you left the 'Payment Nominal Code' under 'Account Software Codes' blank, because you want to set up different nominal codes for each payment you can create them in here with simply click '+ Add' shown in the image above.

Please fill in the Article Group (for example Cash, CC, Cheque, etc.) and then enter the required nominal code and press 'Save'. The refund nominal Codes will be automatically created under the same code.

Article Group: choose the category you want a specific code for

Nominal Name: This is the given code from your accounts system (they must match!)

Let's move on to the 'Accounts Export Setting':

This area can be used to individualise your Accounts Daily download. You can set up each column individually and decide if you need a header or not from this screen below.

Name: What you want your Export to be called.

Date Format: In which format should the date be? dd-MM-yyyy or MMMM dd yyyy

Delimiter: in comma separated values (CSV) files the data items are separated using commas as a delimiter, so you would be fill in a ',' in tab- separated values (TSV) files the data items are separated using tabs as a delimiter, so you would need to fill in a tab

Value Append Start: This is if a CSV document needs to have a 'at the beginning value'.

Value Append End: This is if a CSV document needs to have a 'at the end value'.

After you filled in all your details, please click 'Save'. This will create the new Daily Export for you and if you click onto the Report, you can amend all the columns in it.

Under the Name you can tick if you want to Export the Headers as well or not. This is applicable to your Accounts Software,  if they require the header this can be exported into the report and if not, you can just leave it unticked.

Under 'Export Fields' you now have the chance to create your own Export Report. Simply choose the name of your Header, the required field and under Sort Order you can put in the number of the column you want this information to be in.

Credit Code or Debit Code: This is the same code you filled into the 'Account Software Codes'

Department Code: Department which is set up under 'Account Software Codes'

Nominal Code: This is the same code you filled into the 'Account Software Codes'

Date: Gives you the date it was added 

Description: Gives you the description of what it is

Amount Net: Gives you the amount and VAT

Tax Code: This is the same code you filled into the 'Account Software Codes'

Exempt Tax Code: This is the same code you filled into the 'Account Software Codes'

CsvZeroValue: This is just for Sage because they require a 0% VAT value

Before you leave this page, please make sure you saved everything.

There is also a section called 'Article Sales Type' and this section relates to your EPOS system if this is something your venue is using. To add an article sales type click '+ Add' and work through the screen shown below.

An example of this would be adding 'Restaurant Beverage' as the article and making sure to choose the same sales type code or name that has been entered into your EPOS system (tills)  so that they map together correctly. Very shortly, this document gives a description below of how and where you go to create your articles so don't worry we will give you examples!

The last area under Accounting Manager is 'Accounts Daily';

In this area you can export accounting transactions into the CSV file format for importing to your Accounts Software whether that be Sage or Quickbooks etc. This can be selected on a daily basis or by selecting multiple dates from the calendar using the date ranges sections shown in the above snapshot.

After you have chosen the date range, simply click 'Download CSV' file and this will download all your required details that you have selected. It is really up to you how you want this form so it is flexible to suit each accountants/ accounting teams' needs.

Another important area for accounts are the 'Articles' as explained earlier, here is a description of how to complete this. Please go to 'Administration' and 'Articles'. Basically to put it in simple terms, articles are set up to allow charges to be collected into the correct revenue groups, see examples below;

To create a new article please click '+ Add'.

The most important areas for an accountant in creating a new article are:

Main Group: this needs to be set up in 'Administration' and 'Option Sets' and is important the categorise where the charge needs to go (Food Revenue, Accommodation, Drinks Revenue, etc.)

Revenue Code: is a personal number which helps with sorting and quickly choosing an article (can be any number you want)

Accounts Nominal Code: put in here the nominal code for the specific category

Accounts TAX Code: which TAX code - 20% or 0%

Department Code: if you have different department codes set up, fill in the code for the department this article belongs to

Before you leave this page, please make sure you saved all the changes.

Also, see example of what can be added into the top categories in the snapshot below;

Finally, another important area in HOP for accounts is the Finance Reports which can be found under 'Reports > Finance Reports'.

See list below of the different types of reports available and what their functions are:

Payments:

The Payments Report displays all payments entered into HOP on the selected dates. It displays payment method, guest name, payment description and amount settled. You can download this report to PDF if needed and it displays payments by ‘payments type’ (e.g – Cash,Visa, Mastercard) with totals. This is a perfect document to use for use in all of departments end of day banking as you could use it as a tool to check that payments posted throughout the day balance with the money that has been taken.

Payments Summary:

Payments Summary is a useful report used to show the total amount of payments settled grouped by payment type. This is used frequently by receptionists when checking cash tills and Credit Card terminal reports at the end of their shift to ensure totals match and spot any errors.

Deposits:

The Deposit Report lists all deposits currently held in HOP. Deposits are determined by the Arrival or Event Date – any payment that we hold for a future date must be recorded as a Deposit. This is for Financial and VAT purposes as we are holding funds for services that we have not yet provided. VAT is declared on deposits on the date payment is entered into HOP. Deposits are then ‘redeemed’ and removed from this report as reservations/events are checked in. This report is useful and very transparent for financial inspections as it displays the reference numbers, date we received deposit, date of arrival, total amount etc. HOP cleverly stores historical deposit information, therefore you can select past dates and access the report to see what deposits were held on that date.

Revenues:

This is a live report of all revenue charges by Article Main Groups. Historic revenue figures can be viewed by selecting date filters. The breakdown of revenue streams can be as broad or as limited to suit each business (this is selected by the business at the time of Article set-up).

Room Revenues:

This is a flexible report where you can select filters to see the additional food/drink sales applied to reservations. You can view by Room Types or select individual Room Number/Name.

Events Revenues:

Our events revenues report will display the following shown in the image below;

As you can see from the image this document when downloaded will display any forecast revenue from upcoming events but you can also search for particular rate ranges if applicable. You can also search for a specific type of event here too if you want to just look at the revenue forecast or actual revenue obtained for just weddings for example. This is a great document for any sales and events team members/managers if they are working towards targets as it tracks the progress easily for you.

In-House Balance:

This is a live report of all in-house (checked-in) guests and bill balances including open House Accounts. This is important as every day we have a running balance of sales charged but still to be paid. For example – a room is staying for 3 nights, they have dinner on the first night and it is charged to their room - however they will not pay for this bill until they check out 2 days later. We have declared and recorded the sale on the first night but have no payment to match it off so we have to carry that balance forward.Historic balances can be viewed by changing date.

Voids:

The Void Report displays of all voids that have been made on the filtered dates,includes reservations details, the user that processed the Void and reason for the Void.

Invoice Accounts:

Displays all transactions that have been settled to Customer Ledger (bill back) on selected dates.‘Account to Company’ is the payment method for when certain Companies or Agencies have credit facilities in place. This is defined in the Corporate CRM. There is also an option to download to pdf or CSV format for direct import to accounting software.

Trial Balance:

This is a specific Accounting report which shows the movement of the date selected. As every day we are receiving & redeeming deposits as well as transferring sales to in house ‘guest ledger’ this report shows the full movement process. Deposit Ledger at the top –you have the Start Balance of deposits held on that day – then lists the deposits received, then totals deposits redeemed (transferred to in-house) and the final End Balance. 

Start Balance + Deposits Received – Deposits Redeemed = End Balance

In-House Ledger –you have the Start Balance of the in-house reservations – then lists the revenues (sales) charged, then payments received, the deposits redeemed and the final End Balance.

Start Balance + Revenue Received – Payments Received – Deposits Redeemed = End Balance

Postings:

The Postings Report is a flexible report which shows all the postings for a selected date range – this can be filtered by Article Group, Payment Method and Origin of Charge (e.g. – Room Charge, manually charged). You can also search for a specific amount. This is a useful tool when looking into errors.

Open Transactions:

Shows all the reservations where there is an open balance sitting, past dates are highlighted in red and should be actioned. Open Transaction can occur for various scenarios, but one would be when charges have been applied but the credit card for payment has declined – this report is a useful tool to highlight these issues.

House Accounts Report:

This report lists all deposits and outstanding balances of House Accounts only. This is useful for checking specifically event deposits.

Discounts:

This Discount Report shows all discounts that have been applied on selected dates. It displays the reservation details, user that granted the discount, amount and reason for discount. Another useful tool for reviewing discounts given whether it is for complaints, special promo vouchers or staff discounts.

Refunds:

Finally, the refunds report is a useful document that would mainly be used by accounts or management to track the refund ratios done through particular date ranges. You could also use this document as a tracker to see if there was a particular trend of time that more refunds are taking place or if there is a specific member of staff that it completing more refunds than anyone else etc.

This are the main areas for the Accounting Department. If you need more help, please feel free to also look into our 'Help' area where you can find closer descriptions about every area and also some Video Tutorials.