What is the Relevance of a Hotel Cash Integrity Audit Program?
- Inal Quandour
- Aug 28, 2017
- 3 min read
The notion that hotels should employ cash integrity audits to “deter and or identify theft” is partially true, but certainly not the only reason for doing so.
Whereas a competent cash integrity audit company will always seek to identify the areas of highest risk of theft by hotel staff, the subject of “compliance with beginning and completing a guest’s cash transaction by hotel staff members” is (surprisingly) not often discussed; at least not in my 13 years of experience conducting cash integrity programs for hotels and resorts in the Middle East.
It would seem that (many) finance managers and executives have adopted the view that these programs are purely about identifying infractions and theft. And this presents two dangers; that a cash integrity audit company will only be viewed as successful if it catches staff stealing (or helps to do so), and secondly that the all-important issue of staff compliance with standard operating procedures in handling cash transactions becomes relegated to a secondary level of importance.
Measuring a Cash Integrity Program’s Success by Identifying Theft:
It is clearly important to identify theft for its impact on the hotel’s bottom line. But is it reasonable, or logical, to expect a cash integrity company to identify perpetrators of theft with each audit? Not really; unless a hotel was willing to spend the funds necessary to have, say, four to six audits per month, resulting in much the greater chances of “success”. But that would be unreasonably expensive. By its nature, a cash integrity audit is similar to a market research survey in that (if properly designed) it will deliver a true reflection of staff performance at a specific point in time.
Compliance with Cash Handling SOP’s:
The constant benefit derived from cash integrity audits, on the other hand, is that they will always deliver a reflection of whether staff is following the hotel’s standard operating procedures for cash transactions – even when no theft is identified. This is no small benefit, otherwise; what was the point in designing the SOP’s for these situations in the first place? Surely, if the cash-handling SOP’s are rigidly enforced by management, then the incidents of theft must be significantly reduced…? For example; if an invoice at a café or bar is consistently opened at the time of the order, and always closed at the time of payment, then that invoice cannot be used on more than one table. SOP’s perform their purpose, when they are enforced by management.
Several of the larger hotel brand-families employ a regularly scheduled program of Self Assessments at their properties around the world as a means of checking on their enforcement of these SOP’s. Invariably, some properties will require extra audits because of a range of issues that lead to recurring theft, but it all comes back to enforcing the SOP’s as the most effective means of reducing theft. The job of the cash integrity audit company is to execute those audits in the most effective manner possible, relative to the individual circumstances at each property being audited.
Putting Staff on Notice:
I always like to make the point to finance directors, at our initial introductory meetings, that another great benefit of a cash integrity audit program is that it serves to inform staff that they may be checked at any time throughout the year. The mere existence of a cash audit program helps to deter certain individuals with unethical intentions and nefarious cash handling habits.
There is, of course, much more to be said on the subject; and if you are a hotel/resort director of finance and would like to discuss cash integrity audits, I would be happy to hear from you!
Please visit our website: www.biahotelmystery.com and send me an email.
Inal Quandour is the founder and current General Manager of Brand Integrity Auditors, a company that has been dedicated to serving the five-star hotel and resort industry since 2004.
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