as an accounting or bookkeeping term, specifically in the context of a
restaurant business, what does the acronym "PSA" mean?

There are dozens upon dozens of different organizations, concepts, and
things which utilize the acronym "PSA," but I have found only a few
that seem likely to be related to accounting in the restaurant
business. Here is a summary of my findings; more details may be found
by visiting the Web sites I've linked. I've narrowed things down in
hopes that the information below will help you to determine what "PSA"
refers to within your context.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These first two are long shots, since in both cases the Web sites
using the term are universities, not restaurants. However, the concept
is easily extensible, and it is possible that the terms "Purchased
Service Agreement" and "Professional Service Agreement" might be
appropriate in any business where contract labor is utilized. Both of
these terms refer to the documents related to independent contracting
arrangements.

"Purchased Service Agreement"

"MedStar employees that work on sponsored activity at Georgetown
University will have salary and fringe benefit expenditures detailed
in a Purchased Services Agreement (PSA) in accordance with sponsor and
GU guidelines."

Georgetown University: Financial Affairs Manual
http://www.georgetown.edu/finaff/sao/sao_svcs.htm

"Professional Service Agreement"

"PSAs are used when UCC agrees to pay an individual or an organization
to deliver instruction or services that aren't covered under a PTIC or
honoraria, and they should only be used after determination that the
individual or organization is an independent contractor."

Cariboo: Finance Procedures Manual
http://www.cariboo.bc.ca/finance/PMMAN/contract/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PSA as an acronym of "Professional Services Automation" is widespread.
A Google search turns up over 14,000 sites using this term, which
Webopedia defines in this way:

"Professional Services Automation (PSA) refers to a suite of software
enabling IT service organizations to manage people and skilled
resources."

Webopedia: Professional Services Automation
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/Professional_Services_Automation.html

Here is an entire page devoted to describing Professional Services
Automation:

Knowledge Portal: What Is Professional Service Automation? 
http://www.knowledge-portal.com/psa.htm

More citations of "Professional Services Automation" may be found on
the sites linked below:

"Professional Services Automation: Optimizing Project & Service
Oriented Organizations... SPO/PSA should be viewed by the market as a
cost of doing business or, in other words, a competitive necessity for
conducting business in the services economy... This book is a perfect
starting point for any organization wishing to improve their services
delivery through the implementation of a PSA product. It provides a
clear overview of all of the aspects to consider when evaluating PSA
products as well as how to avoid the stumbling blocks to successful
PSA implementation."

John Wiley & Sons: Professional Services Automation: Optimizing
Project & Service Oriented Organizations
http://www.wiley.com/cda/product/0,,0471230189,00.html

"Epicor's solution for professional services organizations is more
than just another Professional Services Automation (PSA) solution."

Epicor: Enterprise Services Automation
http://e.epicor.com/industry/profservices.asp

"Professional Services Automation: A tool for enhancing the service
delivery process. Provides an effective tool for managing resources,
finances, projects and customer relationships."

ADEO: Professional Services Automation
http://www.atlantic-ec.com/adeo/psa/index.html

"Exigen Group today announced that it has acquired Portera's
professional services automation (PSA) business. In a statement
released today, Exigen Group said the addition of Portera's
ServicePort suite to its portfolio is part of the company's strategy
to develop business process utilities that are designed to enable
firms across the services industry to lower their total cost of
operations."

Internet News: Portera Acquired by Exigen Group 
http://www.internetnews.com/asp-news/article.php/1358951

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have found only one usage of the acronym PSA which is specific to
accounting in the restaurant business. Pay Systems of America is a
payroll-processing firm specializing in restaurants:

"Pay Systems of America, a payroll processing company providing
payroll, human resources, time tracking, and payment solutions to
customers nationwide... Pay Systems's unintentional niche is providing
services within the restaurant industry."

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2002/01/28/smallb2.html

My Google search strategy:

"psa"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=psa

"psa" + "accounting"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=psa+accounting

"psa" + "restaurant"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=psa+restaurant

"professional services automation"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22professional+services+automation

"pay systems of america" + "restaurant"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22pay+systems+of+america%22+restaurant

I hope this helps. If further information is needed, if anything in my
answer is unclear, or if any of the links do not function, please do
not hesitate to ask for clarification.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

---

Request for Answer Clarification by mxforster-ga on 25 Sep 2002 14:23 PDT

I appreciate your work, but I don't think we've got it yet. The
context it is expressed as  "PSA net sales"; any add'l thought will be
further appreciated.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by mxforster-ga on 25 Sep 2002 14:27 PDT

that's not quite it: in context it is expressed -- as an example -- 
as "PSA net sales" any further thoughts?

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Sep 2002 14:43 PDT

I am sorry that my research was not on the mark. Since you initially
gave no context other than "a restaurant business," with no mention of
"net sales," my search involved usage of PSA as an acronym that might
be used in accounting, and as it might be applied to the restaurant
business.

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Sep 2002 15:25 PDT

I have done another search with the new information you've provided, I
have not found any references to 'PSA' which are specifically related
to net sales in the restaurant business.

I have requested assistance from other researchers in this matter, and
have emailed a friend who owns a restaurant in California in hopes of
turning up more information for you.

~pinkfreud

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Sep 2002 15:37 PDT

One of my fellow researchers has suggested that PSA may stand for
Purchase and Sales Agreement. There are many citations of this usage
on the Web:

Google Web Search: "purchase and sales agreement"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22purchase+and+sales+agreement

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Sep 2002 15:44 PDT

Another colleague has suggested that you might want to look through a
list of 76 'PSA' acronyms as provided by the Acronym Finder site:

Acronym Finder: PSA
http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?acronym=psa&String=exact&page=1

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 25 Sep 2002 15:52 PDT

Here are two more good suggestions from other researchers:

"Pooled Separate Account"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22pooled+separate+account

Or possibly 'PSA' could stand for something specific to the particular
restaurant or location (e.g., "Pierce Street Annex" or "Pizzaland -
Santa Ana").

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 26 Sep 2002 06:39 PDT

I received an email from my friend who is a restaurant owner, and he
said that the only PSA he uses in his accounting procedures is Pay
Systems of America, the payroll-processing service that I mentioned in
my original answer. He had not heard of "Product, Service, Alcohol"
combined in an acronymic form. Perhaps this is a regionalism from the
opposite coast (my friend's restaurant is in California.)

In the future, when responding to an answer which is less than
satisfactory for any reason, you may want to consider using the
clarification process before assigning a rating. You have nothing to
lose by waiting until a researcher makes further efforts, then rating
the question in view of those efforts. For many of us, the rating is
the "carrot" that keeps us running. ;-)

~pinkfreud

MxForster:

Unless Pink's contact in the restaurant business comes through with a
specific understanding of the term PSA Net Sales, I have come to think
it means Product, Service, Alcohol summarized to Net Sales. It would
seem to me that a restaurant may keep tabs on the value of the product
sold, service received (tips), and alcohol sold in separate accounts
then summarized into Net Sales.  Each of these accounts has different
costs associated with them and different profit margins.

Now, I must have you know that I am imagining this from my other
business experience having not been in the restaurant business ever.
This is a difficult term to examine online.  Pink has done yeoperson
service in seeking out the answer.  We will hope one of her contacts
can satisfy us with the "real" terminology.

Thank you for using Google Answers.

seedy

I agree, Pink has done 5-star yeoperson work  -- but seedy-ga I think
you've wrung the bell. I'd still like to hear from Pink's restaurant
fried, but I'm pretty sure "Product, Service and Alcohol" is right.
I'm also very impressed with what my $5.00 investment brought me -- in
a very timely fashion. I have no doubt I will use the service again. 
Thank you. mx

mxforster:

My niece graduated from the Culinary Institute of America last year
and works for a major high end contract feeder (business caterer) in
NYC.  I sent her an email regarding the PSA Net Sales idea to which
she replied:

"Hi Uncle xxxx, I am very excited if you get the chance to come visit
next week, my only plans are i have to work late on tuesday, but
that's no later than 730pm. Every other night i am finished between
330pm and 430pm.

Well that answer you wrote makes sense from what i learned in school
about the different categories being kept because of the different
costs and mark ups associated with them, as well as the business has
to be classified as a bar or restaurant based on the amount of sales
that come from liquor verus food. Many of my collegues have years of
experience in the restaurant business and i will run it by them
tomorrow and get back to you to find the specific answer hopefully."

I hope she will be able to help further.  Your $5.00 goes a long way
with GA when a very capable researcher such as Pinkfreud answers your
question and also asks for help from other researchers when the answer
is a bit obscure....

seedy

In a Jack in the Box annual report, the PSA is used for "per store average".
You can see this in context in the Revenues section.

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/011211/jbx.html

One more link. I also found the "per store average" used in a Motley
Fool article. If you are not familiar with Motley Fool, they are
fairly respected
when it comes to finance. The context was with regards to Boston
Market.
They actually used the acronym "WPSA" for "weekly per store average".
You can check out the article at

http://www.fool.com/EveningNews/1997/EveningNews971022.htm

good luck,
urbanite

Thank you Urbanite-ga -- you got it -- "per store average"; a
collective 5-star-plus!! Thank you.

Thanks mxforster. Glad it was what you were looking for!