Fundamentals of Revenue Control – a Game Plan
By Ruth Beaman and Kyle Cashion Football
teams that practice the fundamen-
tals correctly – especially those that block and tackle well – and successfully execute their game plans are often the most consis- tent winners. Parking operators can
learn some valuable lessons from standout gridiron per- formances. Building a busi- ness plan on the fundamentals of revenue control can result in fewer losses and all-pro profitability.
Separation of Duties Controlling your revenue,
and thereby growing your profit margin, starts with win- ning the battle in the trenches – on the front lines where pay- ments are collected and seem- ingly accounted for by park- ing attendants or those that oversee automated collection systems. One key to winning this
battle is separation of duties. The temptation for theft at the garage level of your operation is always present. Therefore, the person who is completing paper- work for a shift or a day of revenue should certainly never be the one who is counting cash for the deposit. For example, it’s very easy for someone preparing paper-
work for a shift to claim they should deposit $500, when they actually collected $525, thus the $500 is deposited. Imagine this occurring on a daily basis, across multiple parking facilities – penalty for illegal procedure, to say the least. Simply put, at the most fundamental level of revenue control, these duties should be separated. As on a football roster, there should be levels of control and
accountability throughout your operation. Players are account- able not only to one another, but also to the coaching staff and the overarching game plan. When duties are separated into units – offense, defense and special teams – victory can be achieved.
The Best Offense Is a Good Defense Basic separation of duties should be but one facet of your
fundamental revenue control game plan. Automating your oper- ations with software that ensures proper revenue and cash con- trol is the ultimate defense against theft. A number of such software solutions are available and scala-
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ble for parking operations large and small. The best include advanced security features and automate virtually every facet of collections, leases, contract parking and parker tracking. One oft-overlooked deficiency that such software can cover
is timely reconciliation of cash revenue to bank deposits. Without an automated system, it’s easy for a rogue employee
to claim they deposited an amount – say $100 – for a Monday’s tickets. But, in fact, this employee may have pocketed the cash until Friday, because he needed a little money to tide him over until payday. Without an automated line of defense, such shenanigans
may not be noticed until weeks later, when bank reconciliation is done. The right automated system allows you to check the validated date of the bank deposit with the date it was record- ed as revenue. Along with ensuring that your game plan runs smoothly at
the garage level, some parking software developers have taken things a step further by automatically consolidating a vast array of revenue sources into general ledger and management reports. Through such software solutions, not only is cash easily and
securely reconciled with revenue, but also everyday collections data are transformed into a powerful resource that illuminates
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