12 Key Trucking Company Bookkeeping Tips and Best Practices

This gives the option to manually fill out a report when you need to save on admin costs or you can use the automatic report feature when you’d prefer to save on time. For example, their IFTA mileage tracker auto-records toll and non-toll mileage to automatically create IFTA tax reports. Any questions involving an invoice will only result in a delay in payment. If you are working with an invoice factoring company, make sure you provide your client with the proper information. Including the bill of lading with the relevant invoices can save both you and your client from dealing with a lot of confusion.

  • You could also try a template for bookkeeping that is specifically for truckers, as offered by QuickBooks.
  • And you should be documenting them for your finances on a regular basis.
  • Opening a separate account for your trucking business will help you save yourself from trouble.
  • Additionally, Quickbooks integrates with multiple trucking management solutions so companies that start with Quickbooks can always add on additional trucking software down the line.

Keep in mind that your business could affect your personal finances if something goes awry, making this the easiest yet also the riskiest option. Accounting for truckers is one of the most important factors to consider when scaling a business. An accountant can create business forecasts to show your business in the best and worst case scenarios. In turn, they can analyze your business accordingly and decide for themselves if they would like to invest in your company. If you think of bookkeepers as financial administrators, accountants are a financial analysis team.

Remember, it can be surprisingly hard to catch up on trucking records once you’ve fallen behind. It becomes even worse if you also neglect to separate your business and personal transactions. IFTA compliance is one of the additional accounting responsibilities unique to trucking companies. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to take up too much time or energy if you plan ahead. The ever-expanding capabilities of modern software have made many aspects of business ownership significantly easier.

Kevin’s Trucking Company: Balance Sheet, January 1, 2020

Once the transactions are entered, here’s how we can assess the Financials Overview of the business. Once we click on the button, this automatically inserts a new income transaction with today’s date (by default). This can also be equally helpful for other types of businesses as we will see in the tutorial video attached below. Instead, the company prefers to provide a unique proposal to each client, after showing a free demo.

  • Trucking bookkeeping can be challenging if you’re using your personal credit or debit card for your business.
  • Truck drivers should consider their specific financial situation and need before deciding whether or not to hire a bookkeeper.
  • There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.
  • Apart from the daily tasks of running a trucking business, the back-office duties need your attention just as much.
  • All you have to do is place your receipts into the postage-paid envelope that can sit on your dashboard during long hauls and then send it off to our scanning facility at the end of the month.
  • Logbooks are your best proof of entitlement to per diem expenses, which are primarily comprised of meal costs.

When first starting out, market yourself as a professional who is well-versed in managing accounts, reconciling transactions, providing financial overviews and balancing budgets. Ask for testimonials from people who have utilized your services in the past and spread the word about your offerings through a website or social media. While they seem similar at first glance, bookkeeping and accounting are two very different mediums. Bookkeeping serves as more of a preliminary function through the straightforward recording and organizing of financial information.

How to assess Key Business Analytics of the Truck Driver

Setting up your business as a sole proprietorship is extremely simple and will help you avoid having to process payroll yourself but it’ll subject all of your net income to self-employment tax. A small business can likely do all its own bookkeeping using accounting software. Many of the operations are automated in the software, making it easy to get accurate debits and credits entered.

An accounting basis is a definition of how your fiscal activity will be tracked and reported. This entails how revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities will be displayed in your financial statements. Avoid missed payments and stay on top of the money going out of your bank account by switching to electronic billing. That way, all of your bills can be accessed through any computer or mobile device, no matter where you are in the world. For any bills that don’t have an option to go digital, you can use Shoeboxed to scan your paper copies and save them to the cloud. If you’re experienced in bookkeeping and are managing a small or medium-sized trucking company, consider Q7.

Keep a Notebook in Your Truck

Building credit for your business is important, but it is equally as important to make sure that your liquid cash flow is available when you need it. There are a host of credit cards designed for businesses with perks that will help you save money. It is important to price your services right so that you can cover these expenses and make a profit. You can also start with a small fleet and add to it as your company grows. This will free up your cash flow and let you scale as your business attracts new customers. Bookkeeping focuses on recording and organizing financial data, including tasks such as invoicing, billing, payroll and reconciling transactions.

Grow your business faster with bookkeeping services that save you time

By letting professionals help you manage invoices, handle accounting and help with other invoice management processes you can get the assistance you require to be successful. Save yourself the trouble at the end of every month by applying for a business credit card and bank account. That way, you won’t have any mix-ups between personal and business expenses. The last thing you want is to end up paying a business expense out of your own pocket. You can document trucking costs manually, but connecting your business accounts to accounting software is much easier.

When you’re always on the road, keeping your financial records organized can be hard. You may not always have time to document your transactions, and it can be easy to lose track of receipts. Keeping up with your IFTA data is one of the most important https://adprun.net/bookkeeping-for-truck-drivers/ parts of running a trucking business. With the right trucking software program in place, you can organize your fleet’s miles or fuel gallons by state. The miles are automatically calculated using the tools incorporated in the system.

Using software for accounting can help you manage the different components you need to determine the financial well-being of your company. For smaller or growing companies, it may allow you to operate without needing an in-house accounting department or accounting personnel. The income statement shows how money flows through the company over a period of time. Unlike the balance sheet, the income statement covers a certain time period (usually a month, a quarter, or a year). Most of the time, you do not think to save your receipt before you throw it away.

Tailwind TMS provides a full range of invoicing and bill payment features. It’s an ideal solution for businesses needing a comprehensive trucking management system. It does not include payroll or bank reconciliation but can integrate with Quickbooks to give a complete accounting service.

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