If you’re also using truck management software, you can usually link the two and automate your IFTA responsibilities completely. One of the primary problems with managing your small business accounting is the sheer amount of time and energy it takes. Running a trucking company alone is enough work to keep you busy, and trying to do both is a lot to handle at once. The IFTA is a way to redistribute the fuel taxes truck drivers pay in the lower 48 states and the 10 Canadian provinces. It ensures your funds go to the areas where you used your fuel instead of the ones where you purchased it. For many trucking or other transportation companies, 10% is about 2 months’ worth of expenses.
Factors Affecting Software Choice
Accounting software is exceptionally important for transportation businesses and owner-operators alike, but it’s not going to solve every problem. Your accounting management software only adds value if you’re maintaining proper financial records, cash flow statements, tax planning strategies, and forecasting practices. The trucking industry is a backbone for economies worldwide, but trucking business owners know well that the accounting process and practices within the industry are…dicey, at best. The first is the TMS, or trucking management software, which will include accounting functions.
Ongoing Customer Support
If you have a small accounting team or don’t have an in-house accounting team, you can hire Transpo CFO to take care of accounting and tax preparation. They’ll monitor your accounts, process your expenses, pay your bills and give you reports to track your profits and business growth. Filing International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) reports for interstate or international trucking jobs can take time. First, you must create the necessary fuel and mileage reports for your fleet. Throughout the entire process, you need to track receipts, manage mileage logs, and match fuel to taxes in each state or province.
- The cost of operating a truck surpassed $2 per mile for the first time in recent years.
- A user-friendly interface makes it faster and easier for you and your team to get started, process transactions and negotiations, and generate essential reports.
- If you link your trucking accounting software to your business bank account and credit card, it should track your every invoice and expense automatically.
- Whether you’re a team of owner operators or drivers working for trucking companies, managing finances can be challenging.
However, your ideal situation is to never have to use your line of credit at all. Instead, a line of credit is there for major emergencies and significant disruptions to your cash flow that will help your business stay afloat until your cash flow improves. You can calculate how much cash on hand you need pretty easily as long as you have your financial data in your spreadsheets or business accounting software. Having a solid amount of cash on hand will help protect your business against some unexpected disruptions and events, but it’s not where you should stop.
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Some popular trucking accounting software with customizable invoicing features include Tailwind TMS, Q7, and Zoho Books. These programs allow you to create templates tailored to your business, significantly reducing the time spent generating invoices. Furthermore, features such as discounts, add-on charges, and freight billing can be applied to the invoices, making it flexible enough to adapt to various scenarios. This ensures truckers can maintain healthy relationships with both clients and suppliers by paying bills and collecting payments on time. The software enables manual expense logging with categorization options and the ability to set up recurring expenses.
Rigbooks (Best trucking owner operator software)
This makes it an accessible choice for both small and growing trucking operations. Trucking accounting software can help create a chart of accounts that aligns with the needs of your trucking business. Tailwind TMS can be pricey for very small trucking company software, but it has a lot to offer mid-size and larger companies. For instance, Tailwind’s Unlimited package enables tracking an unlimited number of shipments per month. It also is capable of managing multiple business branches under the same umbrella. Truckers report liking the user-friendly system and find the software has all the basic tools to run their business.
It tracks fixed and variable costs but lacks the functionality to track the checking or credit card account used. Profit and loss reports are available and can be customized for multiple trucks, showing key financial metrics such as total loaded miles and revenue per truck. Rigbooks supports IFTA compliance by tracking mileage per jurisdiction and providing detailed information for tax reporting. Rigbooks is a straightforward bookkeeping application that was designed specifically for trucking businesses. The software places a top focus on translating costs into per-mile calculations. This focus is intended to make it easier to calculate load values and stay on top of receipts for tax filing.
Accounting software makes bookkeeping easier by letting you scan receipts or enter data in one place so that it’s readily available when needed. Finding the right accounting software for your trucking business can seem daunting but choosing the right one will save time and money in the long run. A line of credit can feel like a loan, and this can make some trucking businesses nervous to open one.
These vendors offer all such features such as accounting and trucking database software. Whether you’re looking for tools owners-operators or truckers accounting software, this basic accounting article will have the right system for your trucking business needs. Truck driver pay errors happen constantly, especially when you’re trying to balance different pay scales based on mileage and loads. Many drivers forget to include important reimbursement details on their trip reports.