TAMS DATA INPUT DEFINITIONS (8/20/2011)

Transcription

1 TAMS DATA INPUT DEFINITIONS (8/20/2011) GENERAL DATA INPUT SUBJECTS 1. Click on general data subject area link. 2. Then click on specific data entry link [ ] you need to review the definition of and it will take you to the correct page.) Agency Data Staffing Data Sales Data Revenue Air Cruise Tour & Vacation Package Hotel Rental Car Other Travel Sources Other Service Fees CRS/GDS Revenue Other Operating Source Expenses Look at the definitions but ask yourself What is the purpose of this expenditure? If the postage is for a promotional mailing then it s advertising. Memo Items Extraordinary Revenues & Exp. Current Ratio Group Revenues Independent Contractor Rev. Interest Revenue & Expense Internet Sales & Revenue Owner Take Out Expense Preferred Supplier Support 1

2 Staffing Data (click on [ ] to go to definition) [ST1] Travel agent "employees" (Income producing) (FTE) [ST2] Accounting department "employees" [ST3] Support "employees" [ST4] Management "employees" (FTE) [ST5] Total Independent Contractors (# not FTE) Sales Data (click on [ ] to go to definition) [S1] Air $ Sales - ARC (BSP) [S2] Air $ Sales - Non ARC (BSP) [S3] Cruises $ Sales [S4] Tour $ Sales [S5] Insurance $ Sales [S6] Other $ Sales 2

3 Air Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R1] [R2] [R3] [R4] [R5] [R6] [R7] [R8] ARC (BSP) Air $ Commissions ARC (BSP) Air $ Overrides # Air "tickets" Sold (ARC, BSP & consolidators) Non-ARC (BSP) Air $ Commissions/Margins (including consolidators, charters, etc.) Non-ARC (BSP) Air $ Overrides Non-ARC (BSP) Air "tickets" Sold Debit Memo Expense ($) (Will total as a negative number for debit memo's paid out) Air $ Service Fees (include management fees) Cruise Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R9] Cruise $ Commissions (Net of rebates) [R9a] Cruise $ Shore Excursion Commissions [R10] Cruise $ Overrides [R11] Cruise $ Service Fees [R12] Cruises Sold (# of passengers) 3

4 Tour & Vacation Package Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R13] Tour $ Commissions [R14] Tour $ Overrides [R15] Tour $ Service Fees [R16] Number of Tour Passengers (# of paid travelers) Hotel Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R17] Hotel $ Commissions [R18] Hotel $ Service Fees [R19] Number of Hotel bookings (#) Rental Car Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R20] Rental Car $ Commissions [R21] Rental Car $ Service Fees [R22] Rental Car bookings (#) 4

5 Other Travel Sources Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R23] Co-Op Promotional Funds Received From Suppliers ($) [R24] Rail $ commissions [R25] Rail $ service fees [R26] Rail bookings (# of paid passengers) [R27] Insurance $ commissions and overrides [R28] Insurance $ service fees [R29] Insurance Policies Sold (# of policies sold) [R30] Other miscellaneous travel sales revenue ($) Other Service Fee Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R31] Cancellation fees (including commitment deposits) ($) [R32] FIT consulting fees ($) [R33] Visa and passport processing fees ($) [R34] Non-Air Corporate Consulting/Management Fees ($) [R35] Other Fees ($) CRS/GDS Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R36] All CRS/GDS revenue ($) 5

6 Other Operating Source Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [R37] Other agency operating revenue sources ($) Expense Definitions Start On Next Page 6

7 Expenses (click on [ ] to go to definition) [E1] Advertising & promotion (including yellow pages) ($) [E2] Web site & related Internet promotional expenses ($) [E3] Contributions, Charitable Donations & Community Support ($) [E4] Corporate Account Solicitation Compensation and Agency Marketing Personnel Compensation [E5] Client Gifts ($) [E6] Client entertainment ($) [E7] Travel for promotion ($) [E8] Rebates ($) [E9] Other advertising or promotional expenses ($) [E10] Accounting employee compensation ($) [E10.5] Support employee compensation ($) [E11] Payroll - Management employees ($) 7

8 [E12] Payroll - Agent employees ($) [E13] Payroll - Other employees ($) [E14] Compensation to Independent Contractors ($) [E15] Payroll - Taxes ($) [E16] Health/Disability Insurance ($) [E17] Retirement plan expenses and contributions ($) [E18] Training/Education FAMS ($) [E19] Training/education seminars, etc. ($) [E20] Agent Errors ($) [E21] Automation expense (including CRM) ($) [E22] Web site development and maintenance expense ($) [E23] Automobile expense (including delivery) ($) [E24] Bad Debt Expense ($) [E25] Bank, credit card merchant fees, etc. ($) [E26] Corporate Account Support Services ($) 8

9 [E27] Consortia, franchise, co-op fees, trade organizations, etc. (including TAMS) ($) [E28] Depreciation/Amortization ($) [E29] Dues/Publications ($) [E30] Insurance - property casualty & professional liability ($) [E31] Accounting outside professional services (inc. payroll services) ($) [E32] Legal and consulting fees ($) [E33] Occupancy expenses (rent, utilities, maintenance, fees) ($) [E34] Postage, delivery, express mail, etc. ($) [E35] Printing ($) [E36] Supplies ($) [E37] Business Taxes & Licenses ($) [E38] Telephone and Internet access expenses ($) [E39] Travel (non-training and education) [E40] Miscellaneous and other expenses ($) 9

10 Extraordinary Revenue & Expense (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M1] Extraordinary agency activity operating revenue sources ($) [M2] Extraordinary agency activity operating expenses ($) Current Ratio (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M3] Current Ratio (Current Assets/Current Liabilities) (#) Group Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M4] Number of group passengers (#) [M5] Group $ Commissions (Not deposits) [M6] Group $ "Net" Margins [M7] Group Other $ "Net" Revenue Independent Contractor Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M8] Total # of Independent Contractors [M9] Total Revenue generated from Independent Contractors ($) [M10] Total "NET" REVENUE generated by independent contractors ($) 10

11 Interest Revenue & Expense (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M11] Interest earned ($) [M12] Interest paid ($) Internet sales & Revenue (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M13] Percent of customer AIR purchases that they make directly from your web site(s) [M14] Percent of CRUISE sales that are web based (actual or best estimate) (%) [M15] Percent of TOUR/VACATION packages sales that are web based [M16] Percent of Total Sales that are Web Based (actual or estimate) (%) Owner Take Out Expense (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M17] Owner Take Out Expenses - Business Support ($) Preferred Supplier Support (click on [ ] to go to definition) [M18] [M19] Percent of Cruise Sales That Are Preferred (Actual or Best Estimate)(%) Percent of Tour Sales That Are Preferred (Actual or Best Estimate)(%) 11

12 [ST1] Travel agent employees" (Income producing) (FTE) The average number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) agent employees during the data period (The quarter for which you are entering data). A FTE is defined as an employee who works 40 hours per week. Part time employees are to be counted and entered as factional employees. Example: An employee who works 10 hours per week would be entered as: 10/40 = 0.25 FTE An "independent contractor" is NOT counted here UNLESS they work in a similar manner as employees ex. Have a desk in your office and you can verify the number of hours they work each week. If you elect to treat these IC s as employees then you must also treat them as employees in all other TAMS data entry areas. A few TAMS members employ agent assistants, typically to provide research and transactional support for a full time consultant. If you employ agent employee assistants, they are to be counted as agent employees both here and in terms of their compensation. 12

13 [ST2] Accounting department "employees" (FTE) Average number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) accounting department employees during the data period. An employee that performs IT functions, generates corporate reports for clients, etc. is not an accounting employee. See [ST3]. [ST3] Support "employees" (FTE) This category includes support employees such as commercial account support employees associated with QC/QA, management reports, etc. It also includes general office personnel that do not sell or service travel customers but support the operation such as a receptionist, IT people, HR personnel, etc. This category does not include accounting personnel (see [ST2]). [ST4] Management "employees" (FTE) All FTE (full time equivalent) management employees including owners. To be considered a "manager" this person must supervise at least three full time employees. In many circumstances an owner or manager may perform activities in a number of categories. For example, an owner of a small agency may spend 50% of their time selling travel (an agent function), 40% on agency management issues and 10% on agency accounting. In this case the appropriate TAMS staffing entries would be: [ST1] = 0.5 [ST2] = 0.1[ST3] = 0.4 Perfection may not be possible but your best attempt is. 13

14 [ST5] Total Independent Contractors (# not FTE) Independent contractors are generally NOT to be treated as employees UNLESS they work in a similar manner as employees ex. Have a desk in your office and you can verify the number of hours they work each week. If you elect to treat these IC s as employees then you must also treat them as employees in all other TAMS data entry areas. Do not attempt to estimate FTE status here. Each IC counts as 1. PART #2: AGENCY SALES DATA ($) [S] SPECIAL NOTE: What is a "Sale" A "SALE" counts as a "SALE" at the time of final payment. Sales include sales from IC's. Although technically deposits should not count as SALES revenue, many agencies do. Normally deposits should be a balance sheet item only adding to cash on the Asset side and as a Liability on the Liability side. If you count a deposit as SALES "revenue," you must also count deposit refunds as negative SALES revenue. [S1] Air $ Sales - ARC (BSP) All air SALES reported through ARC or BSP. [S2] Air $ Sales - Non ARC (BSP) All air SALES not reported on ARC or BSP. This includes air sales, such as consolidator sales, where the sale is not reported in the settlement plan and direct airline sales agreements. 14

15 [S3] Cruises $ Sales Air purchases not part of a cruise package purchase should be reported as air sales even though they may be on the same invoice. The same goes for shore excursions the sales of which should be reported in Other Sales [which. These are to be reported in [S6]. Optional pre/post tours not offered as shore excursions should be reported in tour sales. An insurance sale is an insurance sale whether or not it was supplier insurance or from a third party. Insurance sales are reported in [S5]. [S4] Tour $ Sales The same definitions apply here as for Cruise Sales. See [S3] above. [S5] Insurance $ Sales Insurance sales have become a vitally important part of travel agency profitability. This category should include insurance sales whether the insurance option purchased was from the suppliers or from a third party insurance provider. [S6] Other $ Sales All travel SALES not "fitting" in the sales definition categories above. This includes hotel sales if your agency collects or calculates hotel sales data. Examples of Other Sales might include rail sales, GDS "hosting" revenue, sales of travelers checks, guide services, etc.. 15

16 PART #3: AGENCY REVENUE DATA ($) [R] SPECIAL NOTE: Service Fees TAMS requires that you track service fees according to where they are earned. If your accounting system has not yet been adjusted to reflect this you are asked to make your best estimate of where your service fees were earned by dividing the total service fees collected into the specific categories requested. DO NOT report all your service fees in the "OTHER SERVICE FEE & FEE REVENUE ($)" category found later in the date input. If you are estimating, you are expected to adjust your accounting system to track services fees by source as soon as possible. A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. [R1] ARC (BSP) Air $ Commissions Any payment associated with an air sale that is guaranteed at a fixed amount, or percentage, whether received at the time of purchase or at a later date. [R2] ARC (BSP) Air $ Overrides Any incentive payment for air sales processed through ARC or BSP that is not guaranteed and/or the amount of which is variable or based on agency air sales performance. [R3] # Air "tickets" Sold (ARC, BSP & consolidators) Net airline tickets sold. One traveler equals a "ticket." 16

17 [R4] Non-ARC (BSP) Air $ Commissions/Margins (including consolidators, charters, direct airline reporting, etc.) Any payment that is guaranteed at a fixed amount or percentage whether received at the time of purchase or at a later date. This includes agency established mark-ups on consolidator tickets sold. [R5] Non-ARC (BSP) Air $ Overrides Any incentive payment associated with the sale of non-arc or non- BSP air tickets that is not guaranteed and/or the amount of which is variable or based on agency performance. [R6] Non-ARC (BSP) Air "tickets" Sold Net non-arc and non-bsp tickets sold. One traveler equals a "ticket." [R7] Debit Memo Expense ($) (Will total as a negative number for debit memo's paid out) Enter this as a positive number. The amount of all air sales debit memos paid during period, includes fines." For a debit memos paid, enter as positive number. If a debit memo was refunded to you, enter this as a negative number. 17

18 [R8] Air $ Service Fees (include management fees) All reservation fees associated with an original air reservation plus air cancellation/change fees, fees for processing frequent flier reservations, fees for making web based purchases on a client s behalf and air related management fees for commercial accounts. CRUISE REVENUE ($) SPECIAL NOTE ON DEPOSITS: Revenue counts as revenue at the time when the revenue (commissions, overrides, etc.) is received. Your revenue reported here includes revenue from IC sales even though IC revenue will be reported a second time in the memo Item section of data entry. Although technically deposits should not be counted as revenue until final payment, many agencies do. Normally deposits should be a balance sheet item only adding to cash on the Asset side and as a liability on the Liability side. If you count a deposit as "revenue" you must also treat deposit refunds as negative revenue. [R9] Cruise $ Commissions Net of rebates (Treat deposits as you normally do See Special Note Above On Deposits) Any payment that is guaranteed at a fixed amount or percentage when it is received if your account is on a cash basis or when you record a sale on final payment if your accounting is on an accrual basis. Be consistent. Rebates in all forms including shipboard credits should be treated as negative cruise revenue. 18

19 [R9a] Cruise $ Shore Excursion Commissions Commissions and fee revenue for the sale of shore excursions. For information on how to collect this data find the [G2] Shore Excursion Data Collection Guide in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site. [R10] Cruise $ Overrides Any incentive payment that is not guaranteed and/or the amount of which is variable and/or based on agency performance. [R11] Cruise $ Service Fees All service fees associated with original cruise purchases (including changes but NOT cancellations). A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. [R12] Cruises Sold (# of passengers) Number of passengers sold, not cabins. Many members do not track the number of passengers when they first join TAMS. A procedure for estimating this entry can be found in the next paragraph until the process for collecting such information is implemented. A guide for tracking the number of cruise passengers (and tour passengers) is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G3] Passenger Data Collection Guide. Continued on next page 19

20 If you track cabins sold or cruises sold in another manner, make your best estimate of the number of passengers involved. One way to do this is to track the number of passengers traveling on the last X number of cruises sold and calculating the average passengers per cruise sold. Then use this average to make your best estimate in this data entry category using the number of cruises sold. If you use this estimating procedure, you should recalculate this average at least once a year. [R13] Tour $ Commissions (Treat deposits as you normally do - See Special Note Above On Deposits) Any payment that is guaranteed at a fixed amount or percentage when it is received if your account is on a cash basis or when you record a sale on final payment if your accounting is on an accrual basis. Be consistent. [R14] Tour $ Overrides Any incentive payment that is not guaranteed and/or the amount of which is variable and/or based on agency performance. [R15] Tour $ Service Fees All service fees associated with original tour purchases (including changes but NOT cancellations). A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. 20

21 [R16] Number of Tour Passengers (# of paid travelers) Number of passengers on tours sold. The number of passengers is available on the agency invoice for most agencies. If you track tours sold in another manner, make your best estimate of the number of passengers involved. One way to do this is to track the number of passengers traveling on the last X number of tours sold and calculating the average passengers per tour sold. Then use this average to make your best estimate in this data entry category using the number of tours sold. If you use this estimating procedure, you should recalculate this average at least once a year. [R17] Hotel $ Commissions Payments received for a hotel sale. [R18] Hotel $ Service Fees All service fees associated with hotel reservations (including changes and cancellations) including management fees for commercial account hotel bookings. A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. [R19] Hotel bookings (#) The number of hotel reservations booked, whether or not a commission is received later. If you do not currently collect this data TAMS encourages you to either do so, or create and estimation procedure. 21

22 [R20] Rental Car $ Commissions Any commission received for a rental car sale. [R21] Rental Car $ Service Fees All service fees associated with rental car reservations (including changes but and cancellations) including management fees for commercial account rental car bookings. A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. [R22] Rental Car bookings (#) The number of rental car reservations booked whether or not a commission is received later. If you do not currently collect this data TAMS encourages you to either do so, or create and estimation procedure. [R23] Co-Op Promotional Funds Received From Suppliers ($) Many agencies record co-op funds received as a negative promotional expenditure instead of a revenue item. Because specific and optional effort is required to generate co-op, TAMS treat co-op as a revenue entry. This category includes monetary payments paid directly to your agency from suppliers to reimburse your agency for promotional expenditures. Although it is understood that this underestimates the dollars spent on your promotion, if a supplier makes a payment directly to a media vendor instead of your agency, do not include that payment here. 22

23 [R24] Rail $ commissions Any payment that is guaranteed at a fixed amount or percentage whether received at the time of purchase (final payment) or at a later date. [R25] Rail $ service fees All service fees associated with a rail transportation sale (but NOT cancellation fees) including management fees for commercial accounts. A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. [R26] Rail bookings (# of paid passengers) The number of rail passengers booked. If you track rail bookings sold in another manner, make your best estimate of the number of passengers involved. One way to do this is to track the number of passengers traveling on the last X number of rail bookings sold and calculating the average passengers per rail booking sold. Then use this average to make your best estimate in this data entry category using the number of rail bookings sold. If you use this estimating procedure, you should recalculate this average at least once a year. [R27] Insurance $ commissions and overrides Any payment (or override) for an insurance sale to be counted when payment is received. 23

24 [R28] Insurance $ service fees Any service fee paid to the agency by the customer associated with insurance purchases. A guide for doing this is provided in the RESOURCE LIBRARY of the TAMS web site entitled [G1] Service Fee Data Entry Guide. [R29] Insurance Policies Sold (# of policies sold) Number of insurance policies sold. Ideally this would include supplier insurance policies as well as third party insurance providers. [R30] Other miscellaneous travel sales revenue ($) Any operating travel agency revenue that does not fit in any other category. This category does not include non-traditional travel agency revenue sources, such as GDS hosting revenue, the sale or licensing of software, travel school revenue and the like. If a typical agency does not generate revenue from a given activity it should not be included here. If you want TAMS members to know about non-traditional revenue sources please report these as a Memo Item [M1] Extraordinary agency activity operating revenue sources. [R31] Cancellation fees (including commitment deposits retained for travel purchases not made) ($) All fees charged for cancellation of cruise, tour, rental car, hotel or any other travel purchases except air. This category includes commitment deposits (or "Plan To Go" deposits) that your agency keeps if a client cancels or chooses not to book with you. 24

25 [R32] FIT consulting fees ($) Fees charged to customers for travel advice/planning not booking tasks. This fee is in addition to any commissions and other service fees received. Typically this is an hourly consulting fee but it can be a fixed fee. It does not include commitment deposits which, when claimed as revenue when the client does not travel, becomes a cancellation fee. [R33] Visa and passport processing fees ($) No explanation needed. [R34] Non-Air Corporate Consulting/Management Fees ($) Fees for corporate services such as developing/running custom management reports, vendor negotiations, etc. [R35] Other Fees ($) Includes any service fees not included in previous fees categories. This is NOT to be used as a "dump" category for fees not tracked by product area sales. If you do not yet track fees by product category you are to make your best effort to allocate fees to the appropriate categories. 25

26 [R36] All CRS/GDS revenue ($) All CRS/GDS revenue received during period including segment revenue and a quarterly amortization of any front end signing bonus payment received. Front-end signing bonuses are NOT to be reported in any revenue category unless they are amortized over the term of the contract on a quarterly basis. If not amortized, such revenue should be reported as a Memo Item in Extraordinary agency activity operating revenue sources data entry category (See [M8]). If you elect to do this, or report all of a signing bonus in the quarter it was received, your comparative TAMS analysis relative to GDS income will be useless for the term of your GDS contract. [R37] Other agency operating revenue sources ($) All other traditional travel agency operating revenue sources not reported in other categories. This does NOT include revenues from owned tour bus and limo services, event ticket speculations, interest on deposits, currency speculation, etc. These can be reported as a Memo Item in the Extraordinary agency activity operating revenue sources data entry category (See [M8]) at your individual discretion. Expense Entry Definitions Begin On Next Page 26

27 [E1] Advertising & Promotion (including yellow pages) ($) Includes ALL agency expenditures in this category including co-op funds received from suppliers that you spent if such funds pass through your accounting system. In other words, this entry should reflect the gross expenditure on advertising and not the net expenditure after supplier co-op. Co-op fund received are to be entered as a revenue item [R23]. [E2] Web site & related Internet marketing expenses ($) Includes marketing/promotion related expenditures for agency web site and web site maintenance for promotion purposes including SEO, "Key Word" positioning and site optimization expenditures. This does NOT include expenditures for web based corporate selfbooking services support or web site development expenses. These expenses are to be entered in [E22]. [E3] Contributions, Charitable Donations & Community Support ($) When a business makes a donation or supports community organizations there is nothing wrong with promoting itself as a benevolent organization being one of the underlying motives. In fact, it is recommended that such support and donations take into consideration the agency market segments. TAMS views this expense as a marketing expense if it is done right. 27

28 [E4] Corporate Account Solicitation Compensation and Agency Marketing Personnel Compensation ($) When it comes to entering data TAMS cares about what the purpose of the expenditure is. Nowhere is this more clear than in this category where personnel compensation paid to employees for business development and marketing purposes is to be reported here and not in traditional compensation categories. When it comes to calculations regarding employee compensation this entry will be taken into account. This category includes compensation paid for corporate account solicitation activities, including commissions for either an employee or IC performing these activities. This is compensation for bringing in a corporate account, not account maintenance. Maintenance compensation should be in [E10.5] Support Employee Compensation. Also in this category is compensation for any agency employee hired to plan, organize and/or oversee agency marketing and promotional programs. If an employee splits their time between various activities, allocate their compensation accordingly. For example, If a manager may spend 1/3 of their time accounting, 1/3 selling travel and 1/3 marketing, the preferred method would be to divide their compensation into these expense categories in that proportion. [E5] Client Gifts ($) The cost of all client gifts. 28

29 [E6] Client entertainment ($) Client entertainment for promotional purposes. [E7] Travel for promotion ($) Sites inspections associated with developing group, meeting or incentive business. Travel to make commercial account sales presentations. This category does not include FAMS trips which are to be posted in [E18] or miscellaneous owner/manager travel which is to be posted in [E39]. [E8] Rebates ($) A rebate is generally regarded as a promotion expenditure designed to win or retain business. For the purposes of TAMS a monetary price discount or shipboard credit on a cruise sale is not treated in TAMS as a rebate but should be treated as a negative cruise commission. See [R9]. This category also includes payments made to customers as a gesture of goodwill when they are unhappy but not an agent error. [E9] Other advertising or promotional expenses ($) All advertising or promotional expenses not reported elsewhere. Examples might be document holders, bag tags, novelty items, etc. 29

30 [E10] Accounting employee compensation ($) If owner is a part time accountant or bookkeeper, include that proportion of owner compensation appropriate to accounting or bookkeeping activities. Includes bonuses. For example, if an owner or employee spends 40% of their time on accounting activities then 40% of their compensation should be entered here. [E10.5] Support employee compensation ($) This category includes non-management (does not supervise three or more employees) support personnel including commercial account support employees such as those associated with QC/QA, management reports, IT personnel, receptionists, trainers, HR personnel, etc. [E11] Payroll - Management employees ($) Management employees (including owner compensation) as defined by agency. If owner fills multiple roles, include that proportion of owner compensation appropriate to management activities. Includes bonuses. To be a "management" employee a person must supervise at least three full time employees. 30

31 [E12] Payroll - Agent employees ($) Includes fixed salary and incentive based compensation (for example, commissions and incentive bonuses) when compensation plan is incentive based or partially incentive based. Excludes compensation to Independent Contractors unless you elect the exception in paragraph #2. If owner is a part time agent, include that proportion of owner compensation appropriate to agent activities. Independent contractors are generally NOT to be treated as employees UNLESS they work in a similar manner as employees ex. Have a desk in your office and you can verify the number of hours they work each week. If you elect to treat these IC s as employees then you must also treat them as employees in all other TAMS data entry areas, especially staffing categories. See [ST1]. [E13] Payroll - Other employees ($) Any employee compensation not included in another category. Hard to imagine but if you can [E14] Compensation to Independent Contractors ($) This is the income that IC s get to keep. It includes their percent of shared commissions, service fees and all other monetary forms of compensation (not expenses). [E15] Payroll - Taxes ($) Includes social security, Medicare, unemployment taxes, etc. Does NOT include agency income taxes. [E16] Health/Disability Insurance ($) 31

32 Agency payments for employee health/disability insurance premiums or a self-insurance plan. [E17] Retirement plan expenses and contributions ($) No definition required. [E18] Training/Education FAMS ($) Includes investments in familiarization travel (FAMS) and other FAM expenses. Ideally, it does not include owner vacation travel treated as FAMS which should be entered in [E39]. [E19] Training/education seminars, etc. ($) Includes investments in employee training including travel but excluding FAMS s. Examples would be costs for consortia events and training, training at TRAMS summer camp, etc. [E20] Agent Errors ($) Payments made to clients or suppliers for agent errors. This category does not include debit memos related to air sales (See [R7]) - or payments made to clients for goodwill when they are unhappy but the agent did not make an error which should be reported in Rebates (See [E8]). [E21] Automation expense such as GDS (including CRM) ($) Very few agencies pay for GDS services. If you do the expense is recorded here. This category of expenses would also include those 32

33 expenses for outside programming and server services as well computer purchases, copy machines, etc. [E22] Web site development and maintenance expense ($) Does not include marketing initiatives. See [E2]. [E23] Automobile expense (including document delivery) ($) Payments and purchase expenses associated with company owned vehicles, including maintenance and insurance. This category also includes employee mileage reimbursement. [E24] Bad Debt Expense ($) Enter as a positive number. Can be entered as a negative number if something that was expensed as a bad debt is recovered later. [E25] Bank Fees, credit card merchant fees, etc. ($) Includes credit card merchant fees for credit cards processed through ARC. Does NOT include interest payments. [E26] Corporate Account Support Services ($) Expenses/fees for contracted support services such 24 hour emergency services, report services (ibank), Correx, Conerstone, Get There, Cliqbook, etc. [E27] Consortia, franchise, co-op fees, trade organizations, etc. (including TAMS) ($) This expense is for payments made to belong to such organizations but not for optional services they provide such as promotions and training. Includes TAMS dues. [E28] Depreciation/Amortization ($) 33

34 The preferred method here is to amortize this expense on a quarterly basis versus reporting it once a year. Year-end adjustments to incorrect amortization can be made in the quarter the adjustment is made. 34

35 [E29] Dues/Publications ($) The entry for dues and publications for business purposes. Examples include dues for civic organizations and travel 0rganizations such as CLIA. Publications include trade publications and business related publications. This category DOES NOT include consortia/franchise/tams fees that should be recorded elsewhere (See [E27]). [E30] Insurance - property casualty & professional liability ($) Includes property insurance and errors and omissions insurance. Does not include health, life or disability insurance. [E31] Accounting and outside professional accounting related services (including payroll services) ($) Outside CPA, bookkeeping and/or payroll services. [E32] Legal and consulting fees ($) No definition required. 35

36 [E33] Occupancy expenses (rent, utilities, maintenance, fees) ($) Includes all expenditures associated with your physical facilities. If you utilize off site storage facilities that expense would be included here. IF YOU OWN YOUR FACILITIES you should enter the fair market rent you would pay to a landlord other than yourself. If you pay yourself more rent than this value please enter the additional cost in [E40] Miscellaneous and Other Expenses. This amount should also become part of [M17] Owner Takeout Expenses. [E34] Postage, delivery, express mail, etc. ($) This entry is for postage, express mail and delivery expense for non-promotional purchases. Postage for promotional mailings should be included in [E1]. This means you will need a separate GL account or you can estimate. [E35] Printing ($) This category is for non-promotional printing such as company letterhead, business cards, business forms, etc. Printing for promotional purposes should be reported in the Advertising & Promotion data entry category (See [E1]). 36

37 [E36] Supplies ($) Really supplies, not including printed supplies like stationery. This is a favorite category for owners to dump in perks (ex. spa days) they want to run through the company in a somewhat transparent manner. All this does is to make this category of benchmark comparison useless. For TAMS enter the dumped perks into [E40] Miscellaneous and Other Expenses. This amount should also become part of [M17] Owner Takeout Expenses. [E37] Business Taxes & Licenses ($) Excludes payroll taxes that are covered elsewhere (See [E15]). [E38] Telephone and Internet access expenses ($) Includes basic service plus long distance but not yellow pages advertising which is included in the Advertising & Promotion expense category (See [E1]). Also includes expenses associated with Internet access such as VOIP costs, TI lines, etc. [E39] Travel (Other than for training and education). This category is for travel that is technically not for education and training, typically owner manager FAMS. 37

38 [E40] Miscellaneous and other expenses ($) All expenses not included in other expense categories. Plus: IF YOU OWN YOUR FACILITIES you should enter the fair market rent you would pay to a landlord other than yourself. If you pay yourself more rent than this value please enter the additional cost here. For TAMS enter the dumped perks often entered into other categories such as Supplies in this entry area. Memo Item Definitions Start On Next Page MEMO ITEMS SPECIAL NOTE IMPORTANT! Memo Items are a special category of data input for independent analysis totally apart from the sales, revenue and expense data you have provided in all other areas of data 38

39 submission. Think of Memo Items as appearing on a separate web site having nothing to do with any data previously entered. In some cases you will be asked for data previously supplied for another purpose. When that is the case, supply the data again. No Memo Item will affect data previous provided and no data previously provided affects a Memo Item. For example, one memo category asks for data about independent contractor sales and revenue. IC sales and revenue were reported in those categories and this will not relate to that in any manner. Memo Items relate to specialized areas of analysis not formally addressed in TAMS composite reports. These items and the analysis associated with them will evolve over time. If IC s were treated as employees earlier DO NOT report them as IC s here. [M1] Extraordinary agency activity operating revenue sources ($) Read top of page. All extraordinary agency revenue sources not generally associated with "traditional" agency services. Examples include revenues from owned tour bus operations and limo services, a cruise company, event ticket speculations, investment gains, currency speculation, and the imaginative ways some entrepreneurs generate revenue. If you have a meeting, incentive and or group business department treated as a separate profit center or company, do NOT report this data in agency income categories but DO report it here. This revenue should NOT appear in any other revenue category. 39

40 [M2] Extraordinary agency activity operating expenses ($) Those expenses associated with extraordinary operating revenue sources including all categories reported above in [M1]. [M3] Current Ratio (Current Assets/Current Liabilities) (#) The ONLY Balance Sheet item TAMS asks for and one that requires a simple calculation before data entry. Simply divide current assets by current liabilities at the close of the data period (quarter) being entered. Current Ratio = Current Assets/Current Liabilities Current Assets = Cash + Accounts Receivable + Investments that can be turned into cash within one year. Current Liabilities = Any and all payments due that the company will be required to pay within one year. This includes payments due vendors + deposits yet to be paid to vendors + loan payments and interest that will come due + payments that are due for taxes. [M4] Number of group passengers (#) The number of passengers that traveled in what your company has defined as a group movement during the data entry period. If you do not collect this data make your best estimate of the number of passengers. 40

41 [M5] Group $ Commissions or $ Revenue (Not deposits) This is the commission revenue earned from what your company defined as group movements during the data entry period. [M6] Group $ "Net" Margins The total revenue generated from mark-ups and fees added to a net group (what your company defined as group movements during the data entry period) price to arrive at the final selling price. This revenue is in place of, or in addition to, commissions. [M7] Group Other $ "Net" Revenue Any ancillary revenue associated with group sales such as commissions from individual group member purchases from retail vendors visited while the group traveled. [M8] Total # of Independent Contractors Independent contractors are NOT employees UNLESS you chose to treat them as such (see [ST1]). If you chose the option to treat them as employees do not report them here. For information regarding government tax qualifications required to maintain independent contractor status contact TAMS. [M9] Total Revenue generated from Independent Contractors ($) Includes all types of revenue (commissions & fees) (not sales). A mistake some TAMS members make is to enter IC sales in this category. Revenue means commissions and fees. [M10] Total "NET" REVENUE generated by independent contractors 41

42 This entry is the net revenue to the agency after the agency pas/shares Independent Contractor compensation. Example: IC agreement is that IC gets 60% of commissions earned. Commissions earned = $10, Agency net revenue = $4, The entry here is $4, [M11] Interest earned ($) This includes interest from agency deposits. [M12] Interest paid ($) Interest paid on loans to lenders other than owners. 42

43 [M13] Percent of AIR purchases made directly by customers from booking engines on your web site(s) (actual or best estimate) (%) Based on dollars. For those with Internet based customer air booking engines, please provide your best estimate of the percentage of air purchases made by your customers in this manner. This does NOT mean Internet purchases made by agency employees on a client s behalf. [M14] Percent of customer CRUISE purchases that that customers make directly from your web site(s) (actual or best estimate) (%) Best estimated based on dollar sales. This includes sales booked with an on-line booking engine and/or by an agent, where the lead originated from your internet marketing activities. [M15] Percent of customer Tour purchases that they make directly from your web site(s) (actual or best estimate) (%) Best estimated based on dollar sales. This includes sales booked with an on-line booking engine and/or by an agent, where the lead originated from your Internet marketing activities. 43

44 [M16] Percent of Total customer purchases that are made directly on your web site(s) (actual or estimate) (%) Estimated percent of total agency revenue derived from sales booked with an on-line booking engine and/or by an agent, where the lead originated from your Internet marketing activities. [M17] Owner Take Out Expenses ($) One of the most important data entry items in TAMS is a "Memo Item" called "Owner T. O. (Take Out) Expense." If you do not report this, or do so inaccurately, you will be doing yourself a disservice in that it makes a number of key TAMS benchmarks meaningless. The entry here is the best estimate (or actual) of the money an owner takes out of the business in all forms that are expensed. This includes salary, bonuses and perks. It does not include profit distribution that is a balance sheet entry and not an expense. If your agency has multiple owners the best TAMS approach for normalizing data is to use the following formula. In an effort to deal with multiple owners please apply the following rule for the number you enter into "Owner T.O. Expense". "Owner T.O. Expense" = one owner's salary + all owners bonus' + all owner's "perks" costs. If it expensed it should be included. [M18] Percent of Cruise Sales That Are Preferred (Actual or Best Estimate)(%) This is a data entry that too many TAMS members guess at because they do not measure this metric. That is a terribly mistake. While you can use your own definition of preferred TAMS recommends that you have an agency preferred supplier list that includes selected suppliers from your consortia preferred supplier list (not necessarily all) and selected suppliers that may not be on 44

45 your consortia preferred suppler list but you decide should be on yours because of your clientele, market positioning or geographic considerations. [M19] Percent of Tour Sales That Are Preferred (Actual or Best Estimate)(%) This is a data entry that too many TAMS members guess at because they do not measure this metric. That is a terribly mistake. While you can use your own definition of preferred TAMS recommends that you have an agency preferred supplier list that includes selected suppliers from your consortia preferred supplier list (not necessarily all) and selected suppliers that may not be on your consortia preferred suppler list but you decide should be on yours because of your clientele, market positioning or geographic considerations. 45