Like all other types of businesses, tour operators needs to reconcile their accounts to make sure that they match those on the corresponding bank statement.
Reconciling your accounts is the only way to make sure that no mistakes have been made (for example, you accidentally entered a payment for $800 when you meant $80).
But if you don’t have an accountant to take care of it for you, it can be hard.
Here are some great tips shared by the folks behind the For Dummies books.
Try to divvy up your to-be-reconciled bank accounts into 3 categories:
As long as you make sure you actually get to all of them, you should be fine.
If your bank account doesn’t balance, there are a few things you can do to try to figure out where the error is:
If you’re still at a loss, you have no choice but to painstakingly search for the source of your error. Which is why you should…
Making sure you have your process nailed down is essential to eliminating any balance sheet inaccuracies.
Try to automate any manual steps in the process that you have. While you could try to do it all by hand or in an Excel spreadsheet, manual processes leave your data open to human error.
According to AccountingWeb, “automation of the account reconciliation process is a critical step in the road to achieving ‘balance sheet integrity’.”
Reconciling the commission you pay to your agents is all part of the regular bank reconciliations you’ll be doing for your business.
You need to reconcile these accounts regularly, and continue to monitor it to make sure it matches up with your accounting records.
From your agents’ point of view, your commission is one of many other suppliers that they need to reconcile. They may have staff internally whose job it is to do this – spending up to 20 hours per week doing so!
If you don’t have software to help, it can be tough. That’s because your agent may say, “I sent you 5 bookings” but 2 of them cancelled. They then expect 5 payments and get only 3, coming back to you demanding more.
It’s a pain on both ends – your agents don’t want to deal with it, and neither do you. Automating the commission reconciliation process helps both sides save money because the numbers are more accurate, and staff can be more productive.
Rezdy’s tour booking software can manage your agent commissions for you. Take a free trial and see how it works: