FO Cashier and Night Auditor

I OBJECTIVE

To make sure that the Jobs of FO cashiers and Night auditor are properly done, revenues are properly recorded, and all of the sales are collected

PROCEDURES

Whenever a guest checks in, and be title for a credit granted to him, he has the right to use any service or good of the Hotel on credit base, and only pay when he checkouts. So that the cashiers at FO in cooperate with night auditor must be responsible for keeping track on any credit purchasing of goods and services of the guest, and settle them when he checkouts.
Expenses of guests in outlet will be automatically transferred to FO from outlets which have computers and uses POS of Smile, in this case the cashier only check the data transferred from outlets to the guest check received. In the case that outlet does not has computers the guest check will be manually made and transferred to FO and the cashier at FO will be responsible for inputting the system, print out the bill.
Telephone expenses of guests will be automatically transferred to checkout system of Smile when guests use room's telephone. If guests use telephone on outlets and pay immediately, the cashier on that outlet is responsible for calling the operator to calculate the fee and make invoice for guest, if the guest want to include the telephone fee in room invoice, the cashier also call the operator to change the outlet phone number to the room's number for this call.

Room charge will be automatically coming guest folio by smile system.

During Shift

Opening guest Folios

During check-in, guests must identify themselves by name and booking reference and must fully complete the registration formalities. After a room is allocated, a guest folio is to be opened. Unless prior credit arrangements have been made, the guest should either be requested to pay a cash deposit equal to 3 nights of room charges plus tax and services charges, or asked to sign a blank credit card charge slip. If the guest is staying less than three nights, the cash deposit may be in direct proportion.

Subsequently, the reception clerk will pass the guest folio to the Front Office Cashier.

Positing to Guest Folios

Before posting charges to a folio, the clerk must ensure that the name of the guest is correct and the signature agrees with the specimen on the registration card.

One copy of each cash sales voucher or restaurant check must be filed with the folio. Transfer from one guest account to another must be properly approved.

Any room deposit must be applied to the guest’s folio according to the deposit advice sent by the Accounts Receivable Office.

The clerk must check that the Hotel voucher has been received and must then post the voucher amount to the folio.

Guest Departure

Departing guests must identify themselves by name and room number.

After the Guest folio has been extracted and checked, the guest must be asked whether any voucher has been signed, whether any drink has been consumed from the mini-bar or whether any long-distance phone calls have been made within the last 15 minutes

If the answer is affirmative, the clerk must obtain the exact charges by phone and post them to the guest folio; the relevant voucher is to be sent to the Front Office immediately for follow up.

- If the guest will pay in foreign currency, the cashier should properly check the authenticity of the bill and use the current conversion rate to US dollar. Foreign exchange receipt must be issued in every exchange transaction.

- If the guest is paying through credit card, the check must ascertain if the total credit approval obtained is sufficient to cover the total hotel bill of the guest. If not, additional approval code must be acquired for the excess. The signature appearing on the card must be the same with the signature of the cardholder on the charge voucher.

- For guests checking out under travel agent or airline bookings or those paying through coupons or certificates, the cashier must check if the actual charge incurred by the guest is covered by the voucher. If part of the bill is in excess of the services stated in the payment document, settlement must be requested from the guest.

- For bookings under company account, the cashier must request the guest to sign the folio in acknowledgment of the charges

- No personal cheque is accepted

After the guest has properly checked-out, the front desk cashier is to issue a baggage-release slip to the concierge.



Cash Float

FO Cashiers has a cash float that is transferred between the FO Cashiers from one cashiering shift to the next (rotating float system). The rotating float system is recommended because it provides better control over the floats and results in fewer funds being tied up in floats.

At the end of each shift, the FO Cashier has to pass on the correct float to the FO Cashier for the next shift. The FC will determine the amount of the float taking into account the volume of business.

The FO Cashier signs off on the Cash Box Collection Control Sheet after counting and ensuring the FO float is correct. The key to the cash register is handed over. The FO Cashier for the next shift counts and ensures the FO float is correct upon collection of the float from the previous shift’s Cashier.

Cash float much be separated from fresh cash (cash received from settlement of invoice) and be used only for currency exchanging, returning guest when they paid in big note).

End of Shift

It is the duty and responsibility of the Front Office Cashiers, when performing her/ his duties, to balance her/ his cash float and daily collection and account for the day’s balance .

At the end of shift, the Front Office Cashier will perform the following procedures:

- Count the float and ensure that the exact amount of the authorized float is left intact in the drawer. Then count the remaining balance of cash, representing the day’s collection.

- Determine the day’s collection by printing the “Cashier’s Shift Report” from the computer system.

- Prepare a detail manual cash report by listing all paid Guest Ledger Folios. Ensure that all details are stated.

- Ensure that the manually computed “Cash” total tallies with the computer printed “Cash” total and investigate differences if they occur.

- Ensure that the total cash collection is the same as the amount shown on the Cashier’s Shift Report. Investigate the difference, if any. Front Office Cashier must reconcile these two (02) totals before she/ he leaves the counter.

- Any cash shortage should be brought to the attention of Income Auditor who will have to investigate the case and ensure that the cash differences are made by the Front Office Cashier. The above matter also must be reported to Head of Accounts immediately.

- The Income Auditor must maintain a proper Cash Overage/ Shortage Book. All cash over/ short are reported, discovered or detected at a later date must be duly recorded in that book.

- The Income Auditor must ensure that adequate details are stated in the book, and update it when the cash shortages are recovered from the Front Office Cashier concerned.

- The Cash Overage will be kept by the Hotel and Credited to “Staff Welfare Activities Fund”

- The Income Auditor is responsible for recovering cash shortage from the Front Office Cashier responsible, and account for all Cash Overage.

Remittance of Cash

All cash, foreign currencies and traveler’s cheques to be submitted to the General Cashier must be placed in the “Remittance Envelope” provided for this purpose.

The Front Office Cashier must ensure that the following procedures are adhered to:

- Ensure that all details are recorded clearly in the Remittance Envelope.

- The amount to be remitted and any shortage in cash must be stated clearly on the Remittance Envelope.

- Any excess of cash (overage) must be similarly reflected in the Remittance Envelope and the excess must be included inside the Envelope.

- Analyze the collections received and ensure that the total cash enclosed is the same as the amount on the Remittance Envelope; the amount to be remitted agree with the cash total shown on the Cashier’s Shift Report.

- Seal the day’s collection in the Remittance Envelope provided and sign across the sealed flap on the Remittance Envelope before depositing it in the Nigh Safe.

- Front Office Cashier will be required to given satisfactory explanations to the Income Auditor for the reasons of their Shortage/ Overage.

- All the remittances must be deposited into the Drop Safe at the end of the shift. NO ONE is allowed to hold the remittance till the next day.

Submission of Collection

The Front Office Cashier must ensure that the Remittance Envelope containing the shift’s collection is properly sealed and signed before depositing it in the Drop Safe.

The Front Office Cashier should then contact the Duty Manager to witness the dropping of the envelope into the Drop Safe.

She/ he should also sign and state the time of deposit in the “ Record Book” provided specifically for this purpose. The Duty Manager will countersign as the witnessing officer.

The Front Office Cashier must ensure that the Remittance Envelope is “FULLY INSERTED” into the Drop Safe before leaving.

The following morning, the General Cashier, accompanied by the witness from the Accounts Department, will open the Drop Safe in the presence of the Duty Manager.

The Remittance Envelopes should be opened and the contents duly checked and signed by the General Cashier on the Remittance Envelopes. The witnessing officer will countersign on the envelopes.



If a remittance envelope is discovered broken, open or missing, General Cashier should immediately report it to Head of Accounts, who should then take the necessary steps to discover what happened. The Head of Accounts will usually instruct the Income Auditor to conduct an investigation; he/ she will prepare a complete report and passed it to Head of Accounts for further actions.

Cashier’s Shift Balancing


It is the duty and responsibility of the Front Office Cashier to balance her/ his shift and account for any discrepancy.

After all postings from the shift are completed, the Front Office Cashier should print the Cashier Detail Report to check and balance the shift.

The Front Office Cashier must run an adding machine tape for all vouchers and folios posted by department and then compare the total to the departmental total on the Cashier Detail Report. When discrepancies exist, each detail posting must be checked against each voucher/ folio to determine where the error occurred.

Close attention must be given to void charges. A void charge on the Cashier Detail Report is identified with a dash ( - ) or minus sign next to the amount. The void amount is automatically deducted from the department total by the computer system and the void transaction is counted as a detail item.

When the final correction has been made and the departmental totals are in balance between computer system and cashier’s posted vouchers and settled folios, a final copy of the Cashier Detail Report should be run and included with the Front Office Cashier’s manual report.

Any deviation from the above mentioned Policy & Procedures will be considered a serious offence against the Hotel and strict action will be taken against the Employee concerned.