Accounting Practices For A Campground

7 Pages 1858 Words

Midwest. (Sasser, 2002). The typical RV camper is white, 50 years old and married. The mean household income is $71,900 and they spend about 19 days a year in their RV. (Yin, 2003). As the demographics change for camping, so must the campground owner and the accounting system that accompanies the business. It is crucial that the business understand each function of accounting and how it relates to operating a profitable business.
Scope and References
The paper will look at the accounting system used by a typical campground that would be located in the South. Data has been compiled from an industry expert Mr. Dale Bourdette who kindly mailed me actual industry average details, campground cash flow statements, balance sheets, and other financial details from actual operating campgrounds located in Florida. Over the last 22 years Dale has been involved in the buying and selling of over 160 RV parks throughout the United States and is actively involved in the promotion of the RV park business.


Accounting Functions

Campground accounting includes a variety of items depending on the type of operation.
The type of campground and the clientele that the campground is focusing on will determine the type of accounting functions that would be necessary to operate the business properly.
Some campgrounds cater to the needs of backpackers, hikers, and tent campers. These campgrounds would typically be low cost simple operations that have low overhead and simple site maintenance. The owner typically does not look at financial statements often as the income (cash flow) is based mainly on the site rentals. If the small campground had 55 sites available the owner can easily gauge the performance on one number – the daily site rental. This number can be further extrapolated into weekly and monthly averages. If the average nightly rental is 46 during the months of September and the number was to be 35 the owner knows that the park is way b...