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Purpose – Competitive environment is forcing hotels to adapt new methods and techniques for monitoring revenue, cost and business performance. The term and concept of quality is a significant factor of business success. Therefore, more and more hotels incorporate quality costs objectives in their business policies and strategies. The fulfilment of the quality cost objectives requires the hotel to develop and implement quality costing, as well as to implement reliable tools to assess quality. The purpose of this paper is to determine the development of hotel quality costing system, based on previous research and literature review. Approach – This paper provides an overview of current research in the field of hotel quality costing and reporting, based on established knowledge about the hotel quality management system. The research has been done according to the review of articles in academic journals. Conclusions about the requirements for achieving hotel quality accounting system have been drawn. Findings – Previous studies have shown that quality costing and reporting in hotel business is weaker when compared to other industries, and that hotel industry still insufficiently use approach for measuring and managing quality costs. Originality – The study provides insights into the problem of quality costing in the hospitality industry, from the standpoint of measuring and reporting, as tools for assessing hotel impact on the quality system and for improving its business practice. By implementing quality cost system, hotels shall be able to gain bigger market share, enhanced profitability, reduction in quality costs and improve their reputation.

Hotel businesses are today oriented toward implementing environmental programmes, reduce costs and improve environmental performance as an effective competitive approach for survival in global markets. The term “green” or “eco” hotel, which describes hotels that strive to be more environmentally friendly through the efficient use of energy, water, and materials while providing quality service, are indicative of environmental management systems (EMS). Their basic orientation is to conservation and preserve by saving water, reducing energy use and solid waste to produce benefits such as reduced costs and liabilities, high return and low-risk investments, increased profits, and positive cash flows. Environmental management accounting (EMA) should be an important a part of hotel management information system, with a particular focus on sustainability-related information, according to the specific needs of management on different hierarchical levels. This paper reviews the role and relationship of environmental management accounting (EMA) in hotel management systems. It will discuss the potential for an EMA framework and ask how managers in the Croatian hospitality industry assess the improvement and protection of the hotel environment.? The main research questions are focused on whether (1) EMA is applied in the Croatian hospitality industry and, if so, (2) to what extent? Answers to these questions will provide data needed to direct and focus its further development. The paper’s findings are base on survey results conducted in large hotel companies in Croatia in late 2009 and early 2010.

This paper provides a conceptual and methodological framework for measuring customer profitability by introducing a market-oriented managerial accounting system in the hospitality industry. Customer accounting will be examined within the theoretical framework of strategic- oriented accounting. Particular emphasis is placed on the precise specification of the input into a profitability analysis and the measures of the degree of profit concentration among customers. Based on empirical research carried out in Croatian hotels, the aim of this paper is to examine the use of CPA and market-oriented managerial accounting in the Croatian hotel industry. Calculating customer profitability is not possible on the basis of the USALI system. However, marketing planning in hotels focuses on market segmentation, with specific marketing activities and packages targeted at individual market segments or customer groups. Thus there is a mismatch of information, with accountants producing information for departments, whilst revenue managers are making decisions on market segments and customer groups. Therefore, the activity-based costing (ABC) method should be implemented to trace the costs to customer segments (Dunn&Brooks, 1990 ; Noone&Griffin, 1999 ; Jankovic, 2001 ; Collini, 2006 ; Krahmal 2006) and meet the operating data requirements of revenue decision makers. However, the use of ABC in the hotel industry is very limited (Graham 2000 ; Pavlatos&Paggios 2009)

Hotel organizations in transition economies must create effective competitive methods for survival, since they exist in an environment where both customer and investor are demanding more from every organization. In search of solutions they should develop environmental management accounting practices that support environmental strategies and management in hospitality industry. Environmental management is essentially about changing management practices and systems in response to the business implication of environmental issues. Environmental considerations must be integrated within normal business performance because they cannot stand alone by themselves. For hospitality management are crucial information primarily focused on the application of environmental accounting as a managerial accounting tool for business decisions. This paper develops framework for implementation of environmental management accounting (EMA) into hotel organizations and present the empirical evidence about EMA in Croatian hotel industry. The challenge of environmental management accounting as a trend of sustainable development is to provide accounting methods for presentation of economically-orientated information. Environmental management accounting has to be connected with the specific activity in hotel management system in all areas of identification, collection, estimation, analysis, internal environmental reporting, use of materials and energy flow information, preparing of environmental cost and other relevant information for decision making. Environmental hotel management accounting made accountants involved and responsible as members of the hotel management team. Environmental hotel management accounting task is to answer to the hotel management demand how it intends to use the information for decision making in different activities. The role of management accountants is to find the way to take into account quantifiable and tangible environmental factors in short term. In medium term accountants need to reorient systems to incorporate environmental improvement targets and their financial implications. In longer terms developments in eco-accounting, producing of environmental accounts in order to reflect full cost of production will be introduced. Environmental reports come in many shapes and sizes and the debate about the best kind of reporting is open. Every environmental report has to be consistent of goal information on relevant costs, revenue or financial results of actual environmental action. The most important items of every environmental report are cost information, based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) type of classifications. Based on the empirical research carried out in Croatian hotels, the aim of this paper is identify the stage of development of environmental management accounting in hotel organizations in Croatia. First, the necessary information for various decision-making levels will be introduced together with the criteria for efficiency performance measurement and then the basic hypothesis will be tested by relevant statistical methods.

The aim of this paper is to develop a benchmarking methodology for monitoring hotel business operations on the national and international level, based on the USALI standards and using the case study method, Performance benchmarking will be examined in the framework of globalization and advances of increasing needs of information technology, and based on the researched experience of application of USALI standards in Croatian’s hospitality industry, to help organizations in trespassing business crisis. The objectives of implementing an EPE program include better understanding of an organization’s impacts on the environment, providing a basis for benchmarking management, operational and environmental performance, identifying opportunities for improving efficiency of energy and resource usage, determining whether environmental objectives and targets are being met, demonstrating compliance with regulations, determining proper allocation of resources, increasing the awareness of employees and improving community and customer relations.

This paper develops framework for performance benchmarking in the Croatian hospitality industry. The framework consists of financial and nonfinancial performance measures, based on Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI) and International Financial Reporting Standard 8 (IFRS 8). They provide the possibility for comparing performance of specific business processes and operating segments in hotel on the national and worldwide level. Based on the adage, “what gets measured, gets managed”, in hospitality industry is also very important environmental performance evaluation to improve environmental performance, provide a basis for performance benchmarking, demonstrate compliance to regulations and increase operational efficiency. Benchmarking is defined as a set of activities that use performance indicators to assess and manage the performance of organizations. Benchmarking based on the USALI and MSFI 8 provides a snapshot of the performance of hotel business, and helps understanding their position and quality within same category and type of hotels. The possibilities of applying new IFRS 8 and USALI standards for external comparing of the internal results assess overall hotel competitiveness and productivity. The experiences of the segment reporting system used in worldwide hotel industry are also undoubtedly valuable to estimating the impact of IFRS 8 and USALI in the process of presenting internal information to the external users. Hotel segment reporting requires higher degree of harmonization of financial and management accounting. It is a process that abandons some traditional management accounting tools, and adopts different techniques in internal reporting. Segment reporting offers the possibility for comparing segment results with those of target firms, or in order to make improvements in relation to the best practice in Croatian and worldwide hotel industry. Application of benchmarking based on USALI and MSFI 8 standards involves understanding of existing business processes, comparing with own business performance, with goal to implement the steps necessary to close the performance gap. Environmental performance evaluation (ISO 14031) is a formal process of measuring, analyzing, reporting, and communicating an organization’s environmental performance against criteria set by its management. The process involves collecting information and measuring how effectively an organization manages its environmental aspects on an ongoing basis, and on identification and selection of environmental performance indicators, for use by all organizations, regardless of type, size, location and complexity. Based on the case study method, the aim of this paper is to develop a benchmarking methodology for monitoring hotel business operations on the national and international level. Performance benchmarking will be examined in the framework of globalization and advances of increasing needs of information technology, and based on the researched experience of application of USALI standards in Croatian’s hospitality industry, to help organizations in trespassing business crisis. The objectives of implementing an EPE program include better understanding of an organization’s impacts on the environment, providing a basis for benchmarking management, operational and environmental performance, identifying opportunities for improving efficiency of energy and resource usage, determining whether environmental objectives and targets are being met, demonstrating compliance with regulations, determining proper allocation of resources, increasing the awareness of employees and improving community and customer relations. Today's hospitality industry business owner is regularly confronted with new business problems and opportunities. Running a hotel requires the ability to look outside the business for solutions, ideas, and best practices. It allows hotel managers to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspects of performance. That included identifying appropriate criteria from environmental performance evaluation on national and international level on the hospitality industry comparing with the “best industry practices” and to fund the cost-effective ways of improving performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process that provide basis for making business decisions, improve profitability of hotel operations, and ensure surviving in global economic crisis.

New approach to the management accounting is a task to prepare those accounting information, which has the possibility to indicate what costs, revenue and result should be. The goal of quality accounting information in Croatian hospitality industry are connected with thesis, that someone has to be held responsible for each cost, because if no one is responsible for them, they will inevitably grow out of control. Management attention has to be focus to efforts where they will do the most good. Simply measuring and reporting quality costs does not solve quality problems, because problems can be solved only by action on the part of management. It is a task of management accounting information system, a subsystem in a management information system. It is designed to identifying, collecting, processing and communicating financial and other data, and to transforming it in to economic information. Management accounting information has to be prepared on high quality level, because they are very important for manager’ s decision making. Especially, manager should be responsible for those items of revenues and costs that he/she is able to control, and also for deviations between budgeted goals and actual results. Responsibility accounting is presumption of quality management accounting information. It is a part of management accounting, able to present to each manager those information, that are connected with performance and items, and only those items, about which he/she is responsible to decide and are directly under his/her control. The results of responsibility accounting are segment reports, which personalize accounting information, to looking at result from a personal control standpoint. Four-stage model characteristics of cost and performance management system, indicates that management accounting in Croatian hospitality industry is mainly in the second stage of development (financial reporting driven), and have to be implemented Activity Based Costing methods, and quality cost reporting system, like a part of Activity Based Management.

Environmental strategies (green strategies) and their related costs now are being recognized by a range corporation in hospitality industry-worldwide. The paper offers recommendations for the initial development of environmental accounting practices at the hotel enterprise and department level and argues for the importance of developing relevant cost management systems that support environmental strategies and management. Focus is on environmental cost categories and potential classifications and approaches for hospitality management decision-making and control purposes. It is a task of environmental management accounting, where the development of the accountant’ s role will be set within an environmental management context. Environmental management accounting information have to be helpful for hospitality management, in decision making in the range of responses about environmental issues in reviewing their environmental position, developing and implementing policies and strategies to improve that position and in changing management system to ensure ongoing improvement and effective management. Environmental costs are the most interesting area in hospitality managerial accounting.

The transformation process of accounting in Croatian hospitality industry is a part of global process of change and restructuring. In the global economy information are the means of market competition. This is particularly important for hospitality industry, which continuously grows and substantially changes. Therefore, transparency in business becomes a necessary prerequisite for success. The accounting information is needed for comparison of the operational results in similar hospitality properties. Therefore, management accounting system has to be based on accounting theories, methods and practice, international accounting standards (IAS), generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)– known as U.S. accounting standards, and standards used in hospitality industry – Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI).