HFTP Begins Development of a Global Hospitality Accounting System Users Guide

"Currently, there is not a global resource like this," said Frank Wolfe, CAE, HFTP's CEO. "We are the only global association dedicated to hospitality finance and technology and our Global Board is investing heavily to create a benchmark that stakeholders can use to compile accounts, compare regional differences and define the value of a hospitality operation. Our plan is to document how the industry is actually performing the process, as opposed to mandating a process."

The global guide will provide the industry with a comprehensive glossary of inventory terminology, charts of accounts and will benchmark common allocation for specific regions of the world. The project is planned as a three step process:

1. Final year bachelor students at Ecole Hôtelière De Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland working on their Student Business Project are gathering data, surveying hotel operations and assembling terms of reference.
2. Once the data is assembled, it will be distributed to regional teams of industry professionals that are chaired by industry consultants. These teams will develop sample charts of accounts and common allocations for their specific areas.
3. The team chairs will finalize the project by authoring a discussion on similarities or differences of allocations. The initial guide will be published in English, with plans to distribute globally in multiple languages.

HFTP is working with members of several organizations including, EHL, HFTP's Research Institute at the University of Houston, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hospitality Professionals Association (HOSPA). HFTP is also collecting information from several volunteers from around the world who want to participate. Interested companies and/or financial professionals who are interested in participating or helping to sponsor the project may contact HFTP at [email protected].