“We used to spend every morning reconciling tills and balancing spreadsheets until around 1 p.m. Now, with Wirely, all finance work is complete by about 8:30 a.m, giving us instant visibility of daily results.”
— Andrew Hinton, City Golf Club
Running a modern regional club is no longer a simple operation. With multiple business units, staffing challenges and increasing reporting expectations, venue operators are under pressure to maintain efficient and transparent financial oversight. For City Golf Club in Toowoomba, that challenge is particularly clear. The venue operates across multiple areas, including gaming, food and beverage, a motel, and recreational facilities, mini golf and the Tabatinga kids playzone, creating significant complexity behind the scenes.
Over the past 12 months, the club undertook a transformation of its finance and operational systems, implementing integrated platforms including Xero, Lightyear, Tanda and Wirely to streamline workflows and improve oversight. For General Manager Andrew Hinton, the goal was straightforward: remove manual work and provide management with clearer insight into the numbers driving the business.
The challenge: Manual workflows and operational risk.
Like many established venues, City Golf Club had historically relied heavily on spreadsheets to manage daily financial reporting.
“One of the biggest challenges in the industry right now is improving efficiency,” says Andrew. “With staffing pressures increasing, clubs need systems that streamline work rather than relying on manual processes.”
The reliance on experienced staff to manage these tasks also created risk. When a long-term team member responsible for till reconciliation left the business, it highlighted how much operational knowledge was sitting with individuals rather than being built into systems.
“It showed us how important it is to have systems that simplify processes and allow other team members to step in and manage them.”
Automating finance and improving accuracy.
A key focus for the club was improving the accuracy of wages reporting and gaining faster insight into daily trading performance. Historically, much of this work relied on spreadsheets and delayed reporting, meaning management decisions were often based on information that was already a day or two old. By integrating Wirely with the club’s payroll and finance systems, much of this reporting is now automated. Journals are generated automatically and flow directly into the club’s accounting platform, removing hours of manual data handling.
“The finance team previously spent an enormous amount of time pulling codes and preparing journals manually,” Andrew explains. “Automating that process alone has saved around three to four hours of work every day.”
Beyond the time savings, the club now has far greater confidence in the accuracy of its financial data.
From delayed reporting to daily insight.
One of the most significant improvements has been the ability to review daily performance far earlier in the day.
“With better visibility, we can analyse daily sales percentages and wages much more effectively,” Andrew says. “That helps us keep labour costs within scope and make better rostering decisions.”
For a venue currently undertaking a $17 million renovation, maintaining tight financial oversight has been particularly important as trade patterns fluctuate during construction.
Reallocating time back into the venue.
Perhaps the most tangible outcome has been the ability to redirect staff time away from administrative work. Prior to Wirely, a staff member responsible for finance reconciliation would often spend the morning working through spreadsheets until early afternoon. Today those tasks are completed before the venue reaches peak trade.
“The person handling the tills used to be working until around 1:00pm balancing spreadsheets,” Andrew explains. “Now the finance work is generally finished by about 8:30 in the morning.”
This efficiency has allowed the club to redirect labour hours away from administration and back into service areas of the venue.
Building a modern finance system.
City Golf Club didn’t just implement a new system, the team restructured how financial reporting works across the venue. For Andrew, the goal was to build a finance environment tailored to the way the club operates.
“Every venue runs a little differently, so it’s important to configure systems to suit your business rather than simply copying another club’s setup,” he explains.
Working closely with the Wirely team, the club configured its reporting structure to align with its multiple business units, including gaming, food and beverage, accommodation and recreation.
A more transparent financial future.
For City Golf Club, the biggest surprise has been the level of transparency created by the new system.
“The biggest positive has been the time savings and the visibility we now have in the numbers,” Andrew says. “With clearer data and fewer manual processes, it’s much easier for management to understand what’s happening in the business every day.”
As clubs across Australia face increasing operational complexity, systems that simplify financial workflows and deliver timely reporting are becoming increasingly important. For City Golf Club, the shift has already delivered measurable benefits, not just in efficiency, but in confidence.