Accountant for hospitality businesses: could yours tell you today which site is making money?
Accountant for hospitality businesses running two sites or twenty, where payroll is the largest line on the page, margins move week to week, and the figures usually arrive long after the decision was made.
Most operators learn that a site was underwater when the year-end accounts land. By then the lease is signed and the rota has been wrong for nine months. The question worth asking is what you would have done differently in March.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for owner-managed hospitality businesses, run remotely from Chester by Gavin Jardine, an IAB member. It covers bookkeeping, payroll and auto-enrolment, VAT, year-end accounts and monthly management information reported by site. Fees are a monthly amount scoped to the work, and the handover from your current accountant is managed at no separate charge.
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
- IAB member (MIAB 292185)
- Anti-money-laundering supervised
- Established 2021
Three things you’d know before the rota goes out
Know which site earns and which one leans on the others
Management information split by site, produced monthly instead of once a year.
Approve the next hire knowing what it does to payroll
Payroll and auto-enrolment run here, so a rota change has a cost you can read.
Know on Monday what cash looks like on Friday
Banks reconciled to a routine, with debtor and creditor balances that make sense.
Three decisions hospitality operators made before the numbers caught up
Every one of these came from an operator who already had an accountant.
- Hire
“We put a second chef on at the new site in April. I found out in December that site had never covered its wage bill.”
Eight months of wages committed to a site that was never carrying them. Nothing reported payroll against sales by site, so there was nothing to see.
- Supplier
“We switched to a cheaper supplier to protect margin. Nobody costed the wastage, and gross profit fell for two quarters before I saw it.”
The saving on paper was real. The cost of it surfaced in the year-end accounts, by which point two quarters of margin had gone.
- Price
“We put prices up across every menu at once, because I couldn’t tell which dishes were carrying the kitchen and which were not.”
A blunt rise loses covers in the sites that were already fine. Without margin by line there was no way to be precise about it.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
By day ninety the management pack arrives on the same date each month, split by site. The second-site question gets opened with wage percentage, gross margin and cash in front of you, and settled in an afternoon. Price moves go to the lines that need them. The supplier conversation happens inside the quarter rather than after it.
Quick check · no email
If your accountant cannot tell you this week which of your sites carried its wage bill last month, and what the next hire would do to that, you have the wrong accountant
Three questions to put to whoever does your numbers now.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by Friday which site made money last month, after wages?
Could they tell you today what one more full-time chef does to your payroll percentage?
Could they give you last month’s figures on the same date they gave you the month before?
That is a real gap, and in a business where payroll is the biggest line it is an expensive one. The review is where we work out what closing it would take.
That is a reasonable position for a business your size, and the compliance is probably fine. The area to check is timing: figures that land on the same agreed date every month are what make a decision possible.
You are well served and there is nothing here you need. The guide on the first ninety days is worth reading if you ever want to compare your routine with ours.
Year-end accountant or a same-day answer: what each one actually gives you
Both are legitimate. They answer different questions, and only one of them answers yours in March.
A year-end accountant
Files the accounts and the corporation tax return correctly and on time.
Tells you what last year cost, once last year is closed.
Sees the business once, usually months after the trading it describes.
Fine for a single site with steady covers and little payroll movement.
A finance function reporting monthly
Reports wage percentage and gross margin by site, every month.
Prices the next hire before the offer goes out.
Keeps cash, debtors and creditors visible across the week.
Turns the year end into a confirmation of records you have already read.
Eight questions your numbers should answer before you commit to anything
Answer these about last month, not last year.
- 01
Can you say which site made money last month?
Site-level reporting, monthly, is the only way that answer exists in time.
- 02
Do you know wage percentage by site for last month?
Payroll is your biggest line, so it should be your most current figure.
- 03
Could you price a new full-time role before you offer it?
Salary, pension and the knock-on cost, calculated in advance.
- 04
Do you know gross margin by menu line or category?
Without it, a price rise has to go to everyone at once.
- 05
Can you see cash a fortnight ahead of VAT and payroll dates?
Weekly cash movement needs weekly visibility, not a quarterly look back.
- 06
Would a cheaper supplier show up in your figures within a month?
Wastage and yield move gross profit long before anyone mentions it.
- 07
Do your reports arrive on the same date each month?
A date you can plan a meeting around is worth more than extra detail.
- 08
Does your year end confirm what you already knew?
If it surprises you, the monthly records were not doing their job.
What we run so the answer is ready when you ask for it
One monthly engagement covering the whole finance function, not a list of separate jobs.
Management information by site
Sales, wage percentage, gross margin, cash, debtors and creditors, reported on an agreed date.
Payroll and auto-enrolment handled
Weekly or monthly runs and pension duties dealt with on schedule, so rota changes have a known cost.
VAT, year-end accounts and corporation tax
Prepared from reconciled records, with the tax liability visible long before it falls due.
Entry 01
The date your numbers land, and what that date is worth
One promise does more work in hospitality than anything else we do.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
What clients say
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
What changes between your first week here and day ninety
The first ninety days follow a set order, and you run none of it.
You stop running the handover
We agree scope, complete AML checks, contact your current accountant and collect the records.
Every site reconciles
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, supplier and customer balances that make sense, and any historic gaps named.
Payroll and supplier bills stop being a weekly scramble
Routines for bookkeeping, bills, credit control, payroll and reporting, with the duplication taken out.
The site decision takes an afternoon
Monthly management information by site, on an agreed date, with cash, debtors and creditors visible.
When we are not the right accountant for a hospitality business
We work with registered companies and organisations, and we do not take on cash businesses.
This is a monthly engagement covering the finance function, not a one-off year-end filing.
We take on a maximum of four new clients a month, so the start date may not be immediate.
The relationship needs an owner who can explain the business and complete AML checks.
If you are not sure which side of that you fall on, the review will tell you quickly.
Questions operators ask before they get in touch
Is the review just a sales call?
No. It is a structured review of how your finance runs now: bookkeeping and reporting workflow, debtor and creditor visibility, payroll, systems, and the five things we would fix first. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding. If we are not the right fit for your sites, we say so.
We already have an accountant. Is it worth speaking to you?
Most of our clients had one when they came to us, and the year-end filing was usually being done properly. What was missing was the month-by-month picture: wage percentage by site, margin by line, and cash visibility while the quarter could still be changed. That is the part we run.
What happens with our current accountant if we switch?
We manage it. We write for professional clearance, collect the records, agree what the outgoing firm still completes, and set a transition plan around your year end. There is no separate charge for the normal handover. You are not asked to chase anyone or explain the decision on our behalf.
How long are we committing to?
The engagement is monthly and scoped after we have seen your records, so both sides know what is included before anything starts. New capacity is capped at four clients a month, which is how the attention stays where it should be. You are not tied into a long fixed term.
What does an accountant for hospitality businesses do differently?
The compliance work is the same. The difference is what gets reported and how often: payroll and wage percentage by site, gross margin by menu line, supplier costs and cash across a week rather than a quarter. Payroll and auto-enrolment are run here, so a rota change has a cost you can see.
Can an accountant for hospitality businesses work with us remotely across several sites?
Yes. Ardein works UK-wide and remotely from a base in Chester, with clients from Edinburgh down to Exeter. Multi-site reporting suits remote working, because the numbers come from the systems rather than a filing cabinet. We work in Xero and rebuild the chart of accounts where it cannot separate sites properly.
Three ways to take the next step
Start with the review
You get the five things we would fix first and an indicative monthly structure, and you decide from there.
See what you’d be told 02 · A question firstNot sure it fits your sites?
Send Gavin the question and you will get a straight answer about whether this is worth your time.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The first ninety days guide sets out what changes in each month, so you can compare it with how your finance runs now.
Read the guides →