Accounting and owner financial management: Overview

Easily organize and keep track of your business finances with Guesty’s accounting solution and owner financial management.

Getting started

Accounting by Guesty is a premium service. You will work with a dedicated Accounting professional services team member to understand your accounting needs and help you get started.

If you haven't already signed up for Accounting, please contact us.

If your onboarding call is already scheduled, review our checklist so you can prepare in advance for a smooth process.

Note:

Guesty's Accounting is based on your account currency. As such, related reports are based on the account currency.

Accounting terms and setup options

Accounting elements

Guesty uses universal accounting terminologies in recording transactions.

Account: A recording unit used to collect and store information on transactions of a similar classification.
Asset: A property or right owned by the business.
Liability: A payable or an economic obligation that the business needs to fulfill.
Capital: The total value of investments in the business. It is equal to the total assets after all liabilities are fulfilled.
Income: An increase in an asset or a decrease in a liability.
Expense: An increase in liability and a decrease in an asset.
Disbursement: Outward movement of funds from a source to various stakeholders.

Chart of accounts

A chart of accounts is a list of all accounts used by a company in its accounting system. Accounts are classified into the elements described above, and each account is assigned a unique account number.

Guesty’s accounting solution uses pre-selected accounts under assets and liabilities to record transactions. See more information below.

Assets

Cash

The Cash account records the movement of money to, from, and within the trust account.

Liabilities

Advanced deposits (guests)

The advanced deposits account records payments made by guests for services owed to them. When the services are rendered, corresponding transactions are recorded to decrease the amount owed to the guests.

Accounts payable (PMC, vendors, tax)

The accounts payable account keeps track of what is owed to third parties such as tax authorities, your property management company, and service providers called vendors.

Owners

The owners account records payments owed to the property owners.

Trust accounting

Guesty's accounting solution functions under the assumption that your business is managed using a trust account. Learn more.

Accrual vs cash basis accounting

When using Accounting by Guesty, you can choose between accrual or cash basis accounting based on local regulation requirements or your personal preferences. Both methods will recognize revenue based on your business model settings, such as at check-in or check-out. Learn more.

Double-entry bookkeeping

Each transaction is recorded in at least two accounts in debits and credits. A debit is an increase in an asset account or a decrease in a liability account. A credit is an increase in a liability account or a decrease in an asset account. Learn more.

Locking accounting period

Develop a strong compliance strategy by locking transactions after an accounting period ends, reducing the chance of errors in past reports and balances. After a period ends, you will have until the transactions lock to add and reverse transactions or reprocess reservations. Learn more.

Additional Accounting features

Accounting Folio

Track deposits, payments to vendors, and the owner's income and expenses generated from the business model for every reservation in the Accounting Folio.

Reviewing transactions and balances

Stay on top of your finances by using our Accounting reports. The reports are created based on the business models assigned to your listings.

Review and send owner statements to property owners to help them keep track of their listings' revenue.

Related to:

GFP: Accounting