Financial Statements

How has this idea enhanced your club's operation, etc.?

December 31st: End of the Month
January 12th: Accounting Department Issues the Monthly Financial Statement

The Club Industry – where no money is exchanged and receipts are often never reviewed by members until 3 months after the fact.

Staying on top of member charges/spending is one thing; coding and submitting invoices from outside companies to accounting is a whole other job! The Controller needs to close the month and ensure everything is perfect for the General Manager and Board of Directors. Then a month and a half later, you are analyzing last month’s expenses and reacting. Sometimes you are not even reacting because you are bogged down and last month seems like a distant memory.

What if you could monitor your spending along the way on your OWN? The Union League developed a custom mobile app that marries two parts of the process: tracking all expenses (in a declining checkbook Monthly & YTD Spending vs. Budget) and a communication tool (a checklist that shows you the budgeted monthly, quarterly, annual purchases).

The ability to look at the status on a Daily/Weekly/Monthly basis affords management the opportunity to make sound decisions when spending those sacred dollars.

How was this idea implemented, and what have been the club members' reactions?

We worked with HFA Bridge a local consultant, to take their existing application (utilized by our satellite restaurants to manage the daily payroll, cover counts, incurred expenses and revenues) and make it track our 30+ line expense page. Defined the needs and who the users would need to be to ensure accurate data.

Once the design phase was complete, managers with purchasing power (A La Carte Director, Banquet Director, Beverage Director) were trained on how to utilize the program. Managers now feel empowered to make educated decisions instead of “rolling the dice.” The entry alone, keeps peoples spending more honest and accountable. All the executive managers appreciate the data that is at their fingertips. In the future we will incorporate the restaurant managers and other supervisors to help them gain and respect the balance of budgeting and sticking to it.