Industries
Hospitality
Finbryn keeps books for Australian cafes, restaurants and venues split correctly between GST-free food and taxable items, with casual and permanent staff paid and reported through Single Touch Payroll, super moving to the same clock as wages under Payday Super, and BAS figures prepared each quarter inside Xero or MYOB.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
AUD
| Line | Aug | Jul | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 142,380 | 131,904 | +10,476 |
| Cost of sales | (51,260) | (48,115) | (3,145) |
| Gross profit | 91,120 | 83,789 | +7,331 |
| Payroll | (46,300) | (45,900) | (400) |
| SoftwareNoted | (6,480) | (5,490) | (990) |
| Rent | (8,000) | (8,000) | 0 |
| Other operating | (9,215) | (9,870) | +655 |
| Net income | 21,125 | 14,529 | +6,596 |
Reviewer's note
Software is up on last month after two seats were added mid-month. Revenue includes one milestone invoice that will not repeat next month.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Exceptions report
Where the books usually hurt
Booking platform payouts arrive net of commission and fees, hiding the actual nightly rate and occupancy
Multiple properties or units get tracked in one file with no way to see which one is actually profitable
Cleaning, maintenance and management fees get coded inconsistently across units
Occupancy tax collected from guests gets mixed into general revenue instead of held and reported separately
GST splits inside a single till, not a lump sum
A day's takings from a cafe or restaurant are not one GST figure. Basic food items can be GST-free while prepared meals, drinks and takeaway coffee are taxable, and a point-of-sale system that lumps everything into one sales total makes it impossible to work out the correct GST-inclusive figure for the BAS. Finbryn reconciles daily till and point-of-sale exports so GST-free and taxable sales are separated before they hit the ledger, rather than estimated with a blended percentage that drifts as the menu changes.
Casual staff, penalty rates and Single Touch Payroll
Hospitality runs on a mix of casual, part-time and permanent staff working under award-driven penalty rates and loadings that change by day and time, which makes payroll coding one of the easiest places for errors to creep in. Every pay run also has to be reported to the ATO through Single Touch Payroll, so a coding mistake shows up almost immediately rather than surfacing months later at reconciliation. We coordinate with the venue's payroll processor to keep casual loadings, penalty rates and STP reporting consistent pay run after pay run.
Payday Super and the minimum contribution rate
From 1 July 2026, super has to be paid at the same time as wages rather than quarterly, landing in an employee's fund within 7 business days of payday under Payday Super, which matters most in a sector that pays a high proportion of casual staff on rosters that change weekly. The minimum super contribution rate itself sits at 12 per cent of qualifying earnings. We align payroll timing with this cycle so super does not quietly fall behind wages during a busy trading month.
BAS, seasonality and working with Finbryn
Once GST turnover crosses A$75,000, most venues lodge BAS quarterly, and we prepare the GST and wage figures behind each one from reconciled sales and payroll, ready for a TPB-registered practitioner to review and lodge. Trading swings hard around holidays and events, so cash flow reporting flags the weeks that carry the rest of the quarter. You keep the Xero or MYOB file, with a named pod on the account, weekly reconciliation and a close by business day five, priced on our pricing page.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Hospitality
How do you split GST-free food from taxable items?
Daily till and point-of-sale exports are reconciled so GST-free basic food is separated from taxable prepared meals, drinks and takeaway items before the figures reach the ledger.
Can you handle payroll for a large casual workforce?
We coordinate with your existing payroll processor to keep casual loadings and penalty rates coded consistently, with each pay run reported through Single Touch Payroll.
Are you set up for Payday Super?
Yes. Since its 1 July 2026 start, we align payroll timing so super contributions land within the required window of each payday rather than running on the old quarterly cycle.
Do you account for seasonal trading swings?
Cash flow reporting is built to flag strong and weak trading weeks separately, so a busy holiday period does not mask a quieter month sitting right behind it.
Do you reconcile point-of-sale takings against bank deposits?
Yes. Daily point-of-sale summaries are reconciled to what actually settles into the bank, including card fees and any float variance, so the recorded sales figure matches real cash movement.
Can you break out booking platform payouts by rate, fees and commission?
Yes, payout detail from the booking platform is used to split gross revenue from fees before it reaches the ledger.
Do you track profitability by property or unit?
Yes, each property or unit can be tracked separately for income and direct costs.
What are the common bookkeeping challenges for a hospitality business?
Beyond the basics, cleaning, maintenance and management fees get coded inconsistently across units and occupancy tax collected from guests gets mixed into general revenue instead of held and reported separately come up often in this industry. We build the chart of accounts and reconciliation process around those specific patterns rather than a generic template that ignores how the business actually operates.
What software do you support for hospitality?
We work inside QuickBooks Online and Xero, along with the other tools listed on this page that are common in the hospitality industry. If you have no file yet, we set one up in your name so you own it from day one.
Related services
- BookkeepingMonthly bookkeepingOngoing monthly bookkeeping: transactions sorted into categories, accounts reconciled and month-end reports delivered in the software you already use.
- BookkeepingCatch-up and cleanup bookkeepingMonths or years of books brought up to date and reconciled, with a written record of every adjustment, so monthly bookkeeping can start from a clean base.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.