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[ Hospitality ]

Accountants for hospitality businesses on the Gold Coast.

Hospitality businesses make hundreds of small financial decisions every week.

Wages, food and beverage costs, rent, pricing, equipment, tax and trading conditions all affect the result.

We work with established hospitality businesses from our Mermaid Beach office across accounting, tax and the commercial questions behind the numbers.

Talk to us →Start with margin ↓

Mermaid Beach, a few minutes from most of the coast.

1/3 Atlantic Ave, Mermaid Beach QLD 42181300 974 768TPB 26056643

[ The week ]

The result is decided in weeks, then reported in years.

  • Roster shape for the week ahead
  • Supplier pricing and what gets passed on
  • Menu and drinks pricing
  • Opening hours and which trading periods carry themselves
  • Whether to replace equipment or repair it
  • How much to leave in the account for GST, super and tax

None of those are accounting decisions. All of them land in the accounts. The useful reporting is the kind that gets back to the owner while the next week can still change.

[ Margin ]

Small movements can become large numbers.

Supplier increases, portion changes, discounting, a heavier roster on a quiet night — each is small on its own. Gross margin is where they all arrive together.

ILLUSTRATIVE CALCULATION

Annual revenue
$3,000,000
Movement in gross margin
2 percentage points
Effect on gross profit
$60,000

An illustrative calculation only, before considering any other change in the business. It is not a forecast, a benchmark or a claim about a particular venue.

Two points is the difference a supplier increase or a period of discounting can make without anyone deciding it. That is the argument for watching the margin weekly rather than discovering it after year end.

[ People ]

Revenue can grow while wage pressure absorbs the benefit.

Wages are rarely a single decision. They move with opening hours, roster shape, superannuation, workers compensation, the management layer a growing venue needs, and the hires made to take pressure off the owner.

Each of those can be justified individually. Together they can consume the additional revenue that paid for them — which is only visible when wage cost is tracked against revenue over time rather than as a total in the annual accounts.

We look at the cost, not the employment terms. Award interpretation and workplace relations advice sit with a specialist adviser.

What Does Another $1m of Revenue Actually Give Me? →

[ Cash ]

Busy does not necessarily mean cash is building.

Where Did the Cash Go? →
  • GST collected on trade but not yet remitted
  • Payroll and superannuation cycles
  • Supplier terms shorter than the trading cycle
  • Tax instalments
  • Equipment bought outright rather than financed
  • Loan principal, which never appears in profit
  • Owner distributions taken through the year
  • Working capital required to open the next week's trade

A strong trading month can end with less in the account than the month before it. The money is usually accounted for — it has simply gone somewhere that does not appear in the profit and loss.

[ Another location ]

The second venue changes the numbers.

The first venue was funded by a decision. The second is funded by the first — while it is still trading, still employing and still paying tax.

  • Fit-out
  • Deposits and bonds
  • Equipment
  • Wages before the doors open
  • Rent from handover, not from opening
  • Management — someone has to run one of them
  • Marketing to establish trade
  • Finance costs and repayments
  • Working capital until the venue funds itself
  • Whether some of the new trade comes from the existing venue

We do not tell owners whether to open a second venue. We help them see what it would require, and what the existing business would look like while it is being carried.

Business Stress Test →Your Next 12 Months →

[ Tax & accounting ]

The compliance work, prepared for the group.

Where a group runs several venues or entities, preparing them together keeps the distributions, loan accounts and tax positions consistent.

  • Annual financial statements across the group
  • Tax planning before 30 June
  • BAS and GST
  • Fringe Benefits Tax where it applies
  • Asset purchases and how they are treated
  • Structures across multiple venues or entities
  • Owner remuneration and distributions
  • ATO obligations and lodgement program
Tax & Accounting →Tax accountants, Gold Coast →Business advisory, Gold Coast →

[ Useful resources ]

Work through the numbers.

Article

Busy but unprofitable

Why full tables and a thin result often appear in the same month.

Article

The numbers to review weekly

A short list that changes the next roster rather than the next return.

Article

Working out your break-even point

What the venue has to turn over before anything is left.

Restaurants →Cafes →Bakeries →

[ Pricing ]

Ongoing business engagements start from $875 + GST per month.

See how pricing works →

Venues rarely change accountant mid-service. We take the records from your current accountant, handle the ATO changeover and work around the trading week.

Thinking about changing accountant? See how switching works →

[ Questions ]

What venue owners ask us.

What numbers should a hospitality business monitor?

+

Most venues get further with a weekly rhythm than a monthly one: revenue by venue and by trading period, gross margin on food and beverage, wage cost as a percentage of revenue, rent and merchant fees against turnover, and what is set aside for GST, super and tax. Which of those matters most depends on the format and the trading pattern.

Can you help us understand food and wage margins?

+

Yes. We work from the accounting information in the business — sales, cost of goods and payroll — and look at how the margin moves across weeks and venues rather than at a single month in isolation. Where the data is not clean enough to answer the question, we will say so before drawing conclusions from it.

Can you help us model another venue?

+

We can model what it does to the numbers: fit-out, deposits, equipment, wages before opening, rent, management, marketing, finance and the working capital required until it trades. We will not tell you whether to open it — that is your call, and it depends on more than the model.

Can you help with equipment and finance preparation?

+

We can prepare the current financials, forecasts and supporting documents a lender will ask for, and refer you to a licensed finance broker where finance is being considered. We are not a lender or a credit adviser and do not provide credit advice.

Can you help with tax planning?

+

Yes, and the timing matters. A conversation before 30 June can still consider equipment timing, structure, owner remuneration and distributions. The same conversation in November is a report.

Do you provide payroll processing?

+

No. We do not offer standalone payroll processing. We work from the payroll information in your business and can work alongside your internal team or external bookkeeper where required. Award interpretation and workplace relations advice sit with a specialist, not with us.

Do you work with multi-venue groups?

+

Yes. Where several entities are involved we prepare the group together so the reporting, the distributions and the tax positions line up rather than being answered venue by venue.

What does it cost?

+

Ongoing business engagements start from $875 + GST per month. What it looks like for a particular group depends on the number of entities and venues and how much reporting sits alongside the compliance work.

[ Start here ]

Tell us what is happening in the venue.

Margins, wages, another location, equipment or simply wanting to understand where the cash is going.

Talk to us →

1/3 Atlantic Ave, Mermaid Beach QLD 4218
1300 974 768 · hello@wakpac.au

Meet the people behind the work →