Hospitality Accountants

Industries · Hospitality

Accountants who understand a business run on labour and full rooms.

Hospitality earns its margin a table and a shift at a time, where wage cost and trade have to be matched closely or the night runs at a loss. Across a group of venues, labour, margin and payroll tax all compound. We work with established hospitality groups and multi-venue operators, on the labour, margin and structure decisions that keep venues profitable as the group grows.

Talk to us→How we work→
In short

Prime Partners advises established hospitality groups and multi-venue operators on the financial decisions that come with running venues on tight margins and high labour costs. That covers wage cost control and award compliance, margin venue by venue, payroll tax grouping across the entities, structure as the group grows, and succession or sale. We bring the technical depth of a specialist practice and the accessibility of a team that knows your business by name.

We work with restaurant and bar groups, hotel and pub operators, cafe and quick-service groups, catering and events businesses, and venue groups across food, beverage and accommodation.

The pressures you carryWhat we doHow we workMoments that matterCommon questions
The pressures you carry

The financial questions that sit underneath every venue.

A hospitality business earns its margin on volume and timing, with labour as the single largest cost and trade that swings by the hour. Across a group, the decisions that matter most are about controlling cost, reading each venue clearly, and structuring for scale. These are the recurring pressures we help operators hold.

Wage cost and award compliance
Labour is the largest controllable cost in hospitality, and award rates, penalties and on-costs make the true cost of a shift higher than the headline rate. Matching rosters to trade, and reporting wage percentage by venue, is what keeps a night from running at a loss.
Margin venue by venue
A group average hides as much as it reveals. Understanding the true margin of each venue, after food cost, labour and overhead, is what tells you which sites carry the group and which need attention.
Payroll tax grouping
Related venues are grouped for payroll tax, so the wages across the whole group are combined against the threshold. For a multi-venue operator this can lift the payroll tax materially, and the structure affects the outcome.
Cash flow and seasonality
Trade swings with the season, the week and the weather, while rent, wages and suppliers do not. Forecasting cash through the quiet periods and funding the busy ones is a constant discipline.
Structure across the group
A group holding leases, equipment, licences and brand value needs a structure that protects those assets, manages payroll tax, and allows venues to be opened, sold or closed cleanly.
What we do

The same journey we take every client on, told for a hospitality group.

Most operators come to us for one thing and stay for the rest. The work tends to follow a natural order, from getting the reporting and foundations right through to planning how the group is eventually handed on or sold. Each step below is a service in its own right, and each one links through to the full detail.

Accounting clean-up→
Where the books across several venues have fallen behind a busy run, we bring them back to a standard you can rely on, so each venue’s position is clear before any decision is made on it.
Business accounting and tax→
Year-end accounts, tax and the venue and group reporting, prepared with the way hospitality earns its margin properly understood. The foundation everything else sits on.
External finance team→
The reporting a hospitality group actually needs, including wage percentage and margin by venue, cash flow through the season, and the consolidated group picture, run by a team alongside the business rather than a once-a-year file. Where labour and margin get controlled.
Business structure review→
The structure that holds a venue group, manages payroll tax grouping and protects the leases and licences. We review whether yours still fits the scale and the way the group now operates.
Business growth→
The decisions that come with opening the next venue, from funding the fit-out and reading the numbers on a new site to managing the cash and payroll tax that another location brings.
Business succession→
Planning the sale of the group or individual venues, or the handover to the next owner, so the brand and the value you have built are realised and the tax is managed when the time comes.
Private client advisory and SMSF→
The personal side of owning a hospitality group, including individual tax position, investment structures, self managed super and holding venue property in the right hands.
R&D tax incentive→
A specialised area in its own right. Where your business develops genuinely new methods, products or systems behind the venues, we assess eligibility and prepare the claim properly.
How we work

A senior-led relationship, not a once-a-year file.

Every engagement is led by a senior practitioner who knows the business and stays close to it. The way we work follows the same shape, whatever the group.

1
Understand the business
We start with the venues you run, how each one trades, where labour and margin sit, and what you are trying to build across the group over the next few years.
2
Get the foundations right
Compliance, reporting and venue-level wage and margin reporting brought to a standard you can rely on, so the routine work stops being a source of friction and each venue’s position is clear.
3
Advise on the decisions that count
Labour cost, payroll tax, new venues and structure addressed as they arise, with the analysis to support a real decision rather than a hunch.
4
Stay alongside the business
A continuing relationship where you can pick up the phone before you sign a new lease or open a venue, rather than explain it after the fact.
5
Plan the handover
When the time comes to sell or step back, we plan it well ahead, getting the group sale-ready and managing the tax, so the brand and the value you have built are realised on your terms.
Moments that matter

The decisions that shape a hospitality group deserve more than a once-a-year accountant.

Signing the lease on the venue that doubles the group. Reading the numbers honestly on a site that is not working. Restructuring before payroll tax grouping bites. Selling the group you built and realising the value well. These are the moments where good advice is worth far more than the work that surrounds it, and they are the moments Prime Partners exists for.

Common questions

Questions hospitality operators ask us.

What does an accountant for a hospitality business do?
An accountant for a hospitality group handles the financial work that comes with running venues on tight margins and high labour costs. That means controlling wage costs against award rates, understanding margin venue by venue, managing payroll tax across a group of entities, and handling the structure, tax and succession of the business. At Prime Partners we cover the routine accounting as a matter of course and focus the relationship on the labour, margin and structure decisions that decide whether a venue makes money.
How do you control wage costs in a hospitality business?
Wage cost is the largest controllable cost in hospitality, usually measured as a percentage of revenue and watched closely against award rates and penalty loadings. Controlling it comes from accurate rostering against forecast trade, understanding the true cost of each shift once penalties and on-costs are counted, and reporting wage percentage by venue and by day. We build the reporting that shows where labour is running ahead of trade so it can be managed before it erodes the margin.
How does payroll tax grouping affect hospitality groups?
Payroll tax grouping means related entities are treated as a single employer for payroll tax, so the wages across all your venues are added together to determine whether you exceed the threshold and at what rate. For a multi-venue group this can substantially increase the payroll tax payable, and how the business is structured affects the outcome. We review your structure and grouping position so the payroll tax is understood and managed rather than discovered at assessment.
What is a good wage cost percentage for a venue?
Wage cost as a percentage of revenue varies by venue type, with a casual cafe, a full-service restaurant and a wet-led bar all sitting at different benchmarks. What matters is measuring it accurately for each venue, including penalty rates, superannuation and on-costs, and tracking it against trade so it stays in the range that leaves a margin. Rather than a single target, we help you set the right benchmark for each venue and report against it so labour stays in control.
Do you work with multi-venue hospitality groups?
Yes, we work with established hospitality groups running several venues, from restaurant and bar groups to hotels, pubs and catering businesses. The work covers venue-level reporting and margin, payroll tax grouping across the entities, the structure that holds the group, and the tax and succession decisions that come with a business of real scale. Our focus is on established operators rather than a single first venue.
Where is Prime Partners located?
Prime Partners has offices in North Sydney and Orange, NSW. We work with hospitality groups and venue operators across both metropolitan and regional New South Wales, and nationally where the relationship calls for it.
Talk to us

Start a conversation about your venues.

If you are weighing a new venue, getting labour cost under control, reviewing your structure before payroll tax bites, or planning a sale, we would be glad to talk it through.

Get in touch→