How to Handle Payroll Process and Concerns in Hotels

The payroll process should be coordinated by as large a staff as may be required in relation to the number of employees and frequency of paydays. Master payroll files should be routinely matched with master personnel files to ensure that everyone on the payroll is currently employed by the property.

Payroll process theft may occur when someone either creates a fictitious employee or continues to carry an employee on the payroll who has departed. Unclaimed wages of departed employees may also be stolen.

Payroll may be padded when employees claim to have worked more hours than they actually did. This problem can be lessened or eliminated through the use of an effective timekeeping system. The possibility of collusion in this type of theft may also be lessened by separating the timekeeping and check distribution duties. There should be a payroll verification with photo identification every six months.

Other concerns include keeping pay records in a secure storage area and providing appropriate physical security for payroll checks. Protection for all accounting records may be enhanced through the use of fire-and theft-resistant facilities. Computer controls such as keeping a separate record of on-premises computer data at an off-premises site should also be considered.

Sequential Numbering Systems:

All order forms, blank checks, invoices, and other forms required for a specific function in the hotel or motel should be provided in a sequential numbering system. Every number should be accounted for, including voids and the reasons for any voids. Any variation from sequential control may allow an employee to misuse a purchase order, invoice, or check for his or her personal advantage. Check writing or printing equipment and signature plates or stamps should be secured. Except in an operation run by an on-premises owner/ manager, there should be a two-signature requirement on all checks.

Bank Deposits:

Bank deposits are frequently handled by a member of the staff in smaller properties. Larger properties, on the other hand, often have their bank deposits picked up by an armored car service. In both instances, every effort should be made to avoid either a typical pattern of pick-up by the outside service or a routine of an individual, route, and time of delivery to the bank by a member of the accounting department. When feasible, the member of the accounting department should be accompanied by another member of the property's staff.

While security staff would seem logical for this assignment, an employee accompanied by a uniformed (and, in most cases, unarmed) security officer might be an equally vulnerable but more obvious target.

If a property uses an armored car service, that service should provide a list containing personnel signatures and photo IDs for verification purposes. When the armored car arrives to pick up a bank deposit, the property has the personnel sign for the deposit. The property then compares the signatures and photo ID with those on its list to ensure that they match before turning the deposit over.

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