Planning for the centralization of accounting in chain hotels

Burgess, Cathy

doi:10.1080/1479053042000251098

Cited by 8 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…However, additional data has been gathered from these that consider the relationship between the financial manager and the rest of the management team, and the attitudes of controllers as to the financial skills required. First, a survey was performed to review attitudes towards outsourcing and centralisation of accounting functions in hotels, followed by a focus group discussion amongst a series of controllers, the methodology of both having been discussed in Burgess (2004Burgess ( , 2007.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do hotel managers have sufficient financial skills to help them manage their areas?

Burgess

2007

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

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Purpose-The purpose of this article is to investigate whether managers in hotels have sufficient financial skills to help them effectively manage their areas, within the context of a changing industry. Design/methodology/approach-Additional findings from a series of recent research projects amongst hospitality financial controllers have been utilised to give an alternative viewpoint to those found from literature. Findings-A review of literature identified a strong need for managers to have financial skills, but there is little recent evidence as to whether they actually hold these skills. Hotels are changing fast with pressure to maintain profits resulting in new approaches to management, but there is concern that the development of systems has meant an over-reliance on these to control costs. Financial controllers consider that departmental and general managers do not have enough business skillsand finance skills in particular-to optimise costs and revenues and hence maintain profits. Research limitations/implications-The findings were based on a fairly small sample of respondents, utilising projects designed for alternative purposes. However, the findings raise questions as to the trust that hotel companies have placed in their systems and approaches. Practical implications-If the concerns expressed by controllers are not addressed by hotels, then inevitably standards of control will suffer, costs will rise and hence profitability will be negatively affected Originality/value-There has been little recent consideration of the realities and the impact of systems changes on management, the majority of earlier projects considering the need for skills rather than the actual possession of these amongst managers.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do hotel managers have sufficient financial skills to help them manage their areas?

Burgess

2007

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

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“…The GMs are often responsible for deciding how to reach specific financial objectives for their properties (Harris and Mongiello 2001) but that latitude does not necessarily extend to all governance structures. Burgess (2004) suggests that HMCs may effectively maintain company standards by centralizing financial and accounting processes at corporate levels and delegating some decision making to the property. Even when the GM has a choice of financial performance indicators, that selection is often influenced by the corporate level in HMC-operated hotels (Mongiello and Harris 2006).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The chief argument against GM autonomy is the principals' wish to maintain control over their operation. This seems to be a current hotel industry trend, as evidenced by increasingly higher degrees of centralization (Burgess 2004). Reduced GM autonomy would mean greater involvement by principals in the hotel's key decisions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Who’s in Charge Now? The Decision Autonomy of Hotel General Managers

Hodari¹,

Sturman

2014

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly

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The general manager (GM) is the key position in a hotel, but the changing structure of the industry has altered the scope of the GM's decision-making autonomy. In many hotels, the GM is an employee of a hotel operating firm and is effectively an agent of the operator or owner (and sometimes both parties). These principals have authority over several aspects of hotel operation, although the GM also has responsibility. A study of the GM's role and authority in 115 upscale European hotels finds a mixed picture in decision autonomy, depending on the individual's experience and education, as well as whether the hotel is independent or chain managed. Overall, independent GMs have greater autonomy in their properties than chain GMs, and highly experienced managers are often given greater autonomy by independent owners, while operating companies give greater autonomy to GMs who offer a combination of education and experience. With regard to individual functional areas, chain GMs have relatively greater authority in human resources, marketing, and strategy but limited autonomy in finance and operations.

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“…According to McWilliams (1996) , the types of operations within the chain which are candidates for centralisation are operations (i) whose performance is diffi cult to measure; (ii) which are regular operations carried out by various business units; (iii) oriented to turnover or transactions; (iv) sensitive to economies of scale and (v) dependent on costly technical knowledge. The use of centralised management for marketing, reservations and accounting can provide hotels with a system that functions more effectively ( Burgess, 2004 ).…”

Section: Operations Centralisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perceived Influence of Centralising Operations in Chain Hotels

Espino‐Rodríguez

Taylor

2006

Tourism and Hospitality Research

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This paper makes an exploratory study of the centralisation of operations in hotels that belong to a chain and are located in a tourist destination. Although hotels are increasingly using a strategy of operations centralisation, little research has addressed the impact of that centralisation on the strategic business units (hotels). First, this study analyses the degree of centralisation of the hotel operations across the hotel chains examined. These operations constitute the activities or business processes that are necessary to provide the hotel service. Secondly, this work examines the perceived influence that operations centralisation has on the operation's competitive value for the strategic business unit from the resource-based view of the firm. Thirdly, it analyses the influence of operations centralisation on the operational performance of the hotel. A survey instrument was developed and data were collected from a field study of 32 hotels belonging to 16 different hotel chains operating in a European tourist destination. The results of this study indicate that the most centralised operations are those that require specific skills and knowledge, as well as those that are less valuable for the hotels. They also show that the degree of centralisation has an influence on some aspects of operational performance related to human resources. This work shows the influence that each operation has on operational performance, depending on its degree of centralisation.

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Planning for the centralization of accounting in chain hotels

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Do hotel managers have sufficient financial skills to help them manage their areas?

Do hotel managers have sufficient financial skills to help them manage their areas?

Who’s in Charge Now? The Decision Autonomy of Hotel General Managers

The Perceived Influence of Centralising Operations in Chain Hotels

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