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This article analyses the adoption of the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI) in Portugal based on a sample of four and five star hotels located in the Algarve region, the country´s prime tourist destination. The USALI presupposes a model of cost accounting which is widely adopted, providing guidance and enabling comparability and therefore benchmarking analysis. Since its inception in 1926, in the USA, the USALI had eleven editions. After a brief description of the USALI’s theoretical background and a literature review of the empirical papers on USALI’s use, the paper provides insight about the USALI’s adoption, the reasons for not adopting it, who takes the decision to adopt the USALI and its importance in relation to other standards. Lastly, the paper tries to identify contingent factors that influence the use of USALI by hotels.
Data was collected from financial executives of 66 hotels through personal interviews, using a structured questionnaire. The results show that the USALI is adopted by half of the hotels and that category (number of stars) and the implementation of the management accounting system by external resources influence the adoption of the standard. The study expands the knowledge in the area as it examines in depth various aspects related to the adoption of the USALI in hotels located in Algarve.
