Dhaka · 
Thimphu · 
Vancouver · Since 2012
The night audit is where a hotel's day becomes a set of numbers the owner can trust. A clear hotel night audit checklist turns that job from a late-night scramble into a calm routine: check every room, every outlet and every payment, close the business date and hand the general manager accurate reports before breakfast.
This guide sets out a step-by-step routine that works for hotels, resorts and guest houses in Bangladesh and Bhutan. Adapt it to your own property, print it, and keep it at the front desk for whoever is on the night shift.
What the night audit is for
The night audit has three jobs. It confirms that every charge earned during the day has been posted to the right guest or account. It checks that money received matches what the system says was received. And it closes the business date so that room charges for the new night are posted and the next day starts clean.
When it is skipped or rushed, problems pile up quietly: unbilled room service, wrong discounts, no-shows never charged, cash that does not match and tax figures that need correcting weeks later.
Before you start
Pick a fixed time to begin, usually after the restaurant and bar have closed their last bills. Make sure every outlet cashier has closed their shift and handed over cash and card slips. Check that housekeeping room status for the evening has been updated, and that late arrivals expected tonight are listed so they are not marked as no-shows by mistake.
The hotel night audit checklist, step by step
Work through these steps in order. Each one depends on the one before it.
- Review in-house guests against the room status report and resolve any room showing occupied in one place and vacant in another
- Check today's arrivals: confirm check-ins, then decide on no-shows according to your policy
- Check today's departures: make sure every departed guest is checked out and settled, or moved to the city ledger
- Confirm that all restaurant, bar, room service, laundry and minibar charges have reached the guest folios
- Review discounts, complimentary items, rebates and cancelled bills, and check each one was approved
- Reconcile cash, card and other payments for each cashier and shift against the system
- Check taxes and service charge totals on the day's sales
- Post room and rate charges for the night and close the business date
- Print or send the morning reports and back up the database
Reconciling VAT, taxes and service charge
Tax treatment differs between countries. Hotels in Bangladesh and Nepal deal with VAT, India uses GST, and Bhutan has its own tax and reporting requirements. Many properties also add a service charge, and some apply it before tax while others do not. Whatever the rules, the night auditor's task is the same: make sure the tax and service charge on each bill were calculated by the system's configured rates and were not overridden by hand without approval.
Compare the day's sales summary with the tax totals by outlet. If a bill was corrected after printing, check that the correction is visible in the audit trail. Leave the rules themselves to your accountant, who should review the configuration whenever rates or regulations change.
Reports to have ready each morning
A good night audit ends with a short pack of reports that tell management how the property is doing at a glance.
- Manager's flash report with room revenue, outlet revenue, occupancy and ADR
- Night audit summary and daily sales and settlement statement
- Collection statement by payment type and cashier
- Arrivals, departures, in-house and no-show lists
- City ledger and company credit position
- Room status summary for housekeeping
Common night audit mistakes
The most frequent mistake is closing the day before every outlet has finished, which pushes late bills into the wrong date. Another is accepting a cash difference without writing down why. Others include charging no-shows without checking the booking terms, ignoring complimentary bills that have no approval, and forgetting the backup. A written checklist and a system that will not let the day close with open shifts prevent most of these.
How FLEX PMS supports the night audit
In FLEX PMS the night audit sits in the Back Office alongside the manager's report, shift and cash management, revenue summary with ADR, occupancy chart, room status summary and daily summary reports. Auditors can review and approve sales, receipts, city ledger postings and collections, and every change is kept in the audit trail. Because FLEX PMS can apply any combination of taxes, discounts, fees and service charges in one transaction, tax and service charge totals come straight from the bills rather than from manual adding up.
The desktop version of FLEX PMS runs on the property's local network, so the audit can be completed on time even when the internet is down, and Back Office backup and restore keeps the day's data safe.
Frequently asked questions
What time should the hotel night audit be done?
Most hotels run it after the last outlet closes, often between midnight and 2 am, but the exact time matters less than consistency. Pick a fixed time, make sure every cashier has closed their shift first, and keep late arrivals in mind so confirmed guests who are still on the road are not marked as no-shows by mistake.
Who should do the night audit in a small hotel?
In a small hotel or guest house the night receptionist often doubles as night auditor. That works if the steps are written down and the software guides the process. The owner or accountant should still review the morning reports and approve exceptions such as discounts, complimentary bills and cash differences, so no one checks their own work.
Can the night audit run if the internet is down?
It depends on the system. A cloud-only system needs a connection to close the day. FLEX PMS has a desktop version that runs on the property's local network without depending on the internet, so the audit, reports and backup can be completed on time and remote users can review the figures later.
Which report should the general manager read first?
Start with the manager's flash report, which brings together room revenue, outlet revenue, occupancy and average daily rate. Then look at the collection statement and the list of exceptions such as discounts, complimentary bills and cash differences. Together they show whether yesterday was good and whether the figures behind it can be trusted.
