Front office management I

Accounting system (non automated, semi automated and fully automated)

CREATION & MAINTENANCE OF ACCOUNTS / RECORDS
It is the responsibility of Front Office to record all transactions that affect guest-ledger and non-guest accounts accurately and completely.

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  Guest folios are created during reservations process or at the time of registration .
  
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  For Folio creation, the necessary information is taken from reservation & registration records.
  
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  For pre-numbered folios, the folio number is entered on to the registration card and vice-versa for cross-referencing.
  
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  Manually-/ machine-posted folios are stored in a front desk folio tray (also known as posting tray/ folio well/ buckets).
  
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  Electronic Folios are automatically cross-referenced with other records within the system. This considerably reduces transactional accounting errors.
  

Record keeping Systems:
The folio formats of guest and non-guest account may be different and depends on the record keeping system:

1. 
   Non-automated system:
   

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  Guest folio in a manual system contains a series of columns listing individual debit/ credit entries accumulated during the occupancy.
  
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  at the end of the financial day, each column is totalled and the ending balance is carried forward as the opening folio balance for the following day.
  

2. 
   Semi-automated system:
   

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  Guest transactions are sequentially printed on a machine posted folio.
  
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  The information recorded for each transaction includes the date, department code/ check no., amount of transaction and the new balance of the account.
  

3. 
   Automated system:
   

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  Electronic folios are maintained on the computers.
  
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  POS transactions may be automatically posted to an electronic folio.
  
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  Computer based systems maintain accurate current balances for all the folios.