Industries
Hospitality audit and accounting for hotels, lodges & restaurants
A partner-led hospitality audit, with the bookkeeping, tax and payroll work behind it, for hotels, lodges, tour operators and restaurants across Kenya.
Hotels, lodges and restaurants earn money at many points: rooms, restaurants, bars and events. They also hold perishable stock that turns over quickly. Adamjee Auditors audits and keeps the books for hospitality businesses from offices in Nairobi's Westlands and in Mombasa.
We carry out statutory and internal audits, prepare management accounts, file returns with KRA and run payroll. Our articles on the sector keep coming back to the same problems. Room, restaurant, bar and events income gets recorded together. Stock is lost to spoilage, wastage and theft. Cash and POS takings are not reconciled to the bank. Purchases come without the invoices KRA expects.
That last problem now has a direct tax cost. From 1 January 2026, KRA requires business expenses to be supported by valid eTIMS invoices. Expenses without them can be disallowed, which raises taxable income. As a member firm of SFAI Global, we work to ISA and IFRS. We aim to find these gaps before a tax assessment does, and to fix the systems that cause them.
Sector challenges
Where hospitality finances go wrong
Revenue streams mixed together
When room, restaurant, bar and events income are booked as one, management cannot see which department is losing money. A hotel can look profitable overall while it subsidises a loss-making restaurant.
Food and beverage stock
High turnover and perishable goods leave F&B open to spoilage, overproduction, theft and pricing errors. If cost of goods sold is not tracked, margins look better than they really are.
Cash, POS and mobile money
Unrecorded cash sales, weak shift reconciliations and undocumented manual adjustments add up to real revenue loss. Staff discounts, voids and complimentary items also need regular review.
Tax documentation
Missing supplier invoices, informal payments to casual workers and weak VAT tracking all lead to disallowed expenses, penalties and audit exposure. Through eTIMS, KRA links sales data with stock reporting, and unexplained variances can prompt a compliance investigation.
How we help
Services for hotels, lodges and restaurants
Audit & Assurance
Statutory and internal audits that compare stock used with stock bought and recorded revenue with actual sales. They also test staff and supplier costs and monitor wastage and losses.
Accounting Services
Separate accounts for rooms, restaurants and bars, regular stock reconciliations and monthly management accounts, so you can see profit by outlet.
Tax Compliance
VAT, corporate tax and withholding returns filed with KRA. We match VAT filings to POS data and check that purchases have valid eTIMS invoices.
Payroll
Payroll for shift and casual staff, with PAYE, NSSF, SHIF and Housing Levy deducted and filed on time. This helps catch overtime errors and ghost shifts.
CFO & Business Advisory
Cash flow forecasts that plan for low season, departmental budgets and KPIs such as food cost percentage, labour ratio and margin per menu item.
Getting audit-ready
Gather
Collect invoices, contracts and purchase records, with eTIMS invoices stored where they can be found.
Reconcile
Match POS sales, bank deposits and accounting entries, and investigate differences promptly.
Track
Record stock usage and wastage, and document staff discounts, voids and complimentary items.
Report
Prepare clear, organised reports for your auditors and for KRA.
Further reading
From our articles on hospitality
Common questions
Hospitality finance questions, answered
Get in touch
Need clearer numbers for your hotel or restaurant?
Speak to our team in Nairobi or Mombasa about audit, accounting, tax or payroll for your hospitality business. Tell us what you need and our team will respond promptly.
Our team will respond promptly.
