accounting for trucking business

This can make it difficult to find an accounting solution that meets all of the needs of both trucking companies and truck drivers. Focus on growing your business with our cloud-based accounting and bookkeeping solutions. Our cloud-based accounting services eliminate the need for time-consuming paperwork and data entry, allowing you to streamline your business. With cloud accounting, you get to access your financial data anytime and anywhere. As an example, small business owners can expense only 50% of meal expenses, but truckers can take up to 80% of the actual cost or their per diem allowances. When in doubt, reach out to a professional versed in this type of accounting.

accounting for trucking business

Operating permits for the International Registration Plan are estimated to be about $700/year per jurisdiction (varies by percentage of distance travelled). Axon is another all-inclusive, fully integrated solution for trucking management and accounting, with payroll as an add-on. The software is made up of modules that can be combined in various ways, so it can be customized for a large variety of trucking company types and interface with an array of systems.

Receivables Management

However, Q7 does offer training and technical support to help you get going. ProTransport modules cover all of the major accounting needs, as well as dispatching and maintenance management. Fleet management offerings are also robust with features like live GPS tracking, two-way messaging, and maintenance reminder alerts.

Go to our detailed review of RAMA Logistics Software or visit RAMA Logistics Software for more information. One of the best ways to streamline your IFTA reporting is by using a dedicated fuel card. These work much like any other credit card, except they’re tied to a unique driver number and provide fuel discounts. In addition to keeping records of your expenses, you should have documents that prove their validity, such as receipts, trip logs, and account statements. The accrual basis of accounting requires that you recognize revenues when you earn them and expenses when you incur them, regardless of when funds enter or leave your accounts.

This is an important statement for small businesses and entrepreneurs because it shows a company’s day-to-day financial health. While the income statement shows how your company performed in the past, the cash flow statement shows how cash is being generated or used. A company can show a profit on its income statement, yet still go out of business because of a temporary negative cash flow. For example, transportation management software, also known simply as trucking software, is a must-have for owner-operators. It serves as a digital hub and tax center from which you can manage all of your paperwork and filing responsibilities. All business owners must make quarterly estimated tax payments to cover their income and self-employment taxes, and truck drivers are no exception.

Accounting is perhaps one of the most crucial departments of any business, including trucking and transportation. A good and efficient accounting department omni calculator logo helps retain customers and keep your employees happy. If there is a way your business could be saving money, a CPA can help you find it.

Sample Chart of Accounts

It can provide key insights into your profits and losses so you can find areas to improve and grow your business. As a comprehensive accounting platform, Q7 will cover your fleet’s financial needs. This software can do everything from safety reports to payroll, so accounting has never been easier. In addition, Q7 is a single-entry system, meaning that once you put an order into the software, you can easily manage all the dispatch, billing, payments and other functions. SSB recognizes that federal and multistate tax issues are a major concern of the trucking industry and stays on top of the ever-changing tax laws.

accounting for trucking business

Not all accounting service providers are suitable for trucking businesses. It’s best to hire a company specializing in the trucking industry, like Factoring Express. This way, your accounting firm knows how your business works, and you need to manage your finances.

Which trucking accounting software is best for you?

When you are more familiar with the costs of your trucking company it becomes easier to adjust some of your highest expenses. Using trucking jargon like reefer, deadhead, TONU, hot shot loads, and alligator can sound like a totally different language to people not in the trucking industry. While accounting words like assets, equity, and expenses seem foreign to most truckers. According to Kevin Rutherford, an owner-operator accounting software creator, only 10% of owner-operators actually know their own cost per mile. There is a big difference between knowing a lot about trucking and knowing a lot about how to have a successful trucking company.

  • Gusto offers fully integrated online payroll services that includes HR, benefits, and everything else you need for your business.
  • For trucking businesses, the question of whether to do bookkeeping in-house or to outsource often comes up.
  • It has no trucking-specific features, but when you add RLS, it becomes a powerful trucking management system (TMS) and accounting software combined.
  • TruckLogics streamlines bookkeeping by limiting manual record entry and delivering one-click financial reports.
  • Technically not a software solution but an alternative, TruckBytes provides free pre-made spreadsheets to streamline invoicing, trip reports, and IFTA filing.
  • By understanding all of the factors that impact your bottom line, you can make sure that your trucking businesses are successful and profitable.

Overall, there’s no single accounting or trucking management software that can cover all the various needs of truck drivers and fleet managers. To determine the right fit for your company, you have to assess your budget and needs and know what particular features you require. The best trucking accounting software should be able to manage and track dispatches, orders, fuel and mileage, driver settlements, and IFTA reporting. We ranked trucking accounting software based on pricing, ease of use, and how it performed across the general accounting and trucking-specific features we look for. To ensure the accuracy and integrity of our list, we evaluated all applications using an internal rubric scoring system with five categories, each with a calculated weighted score.

Factors to Consider When Selecting Accounting Software

We signed up for a free trial and tried the software ourselves to determine how easy it is to use. We also considered the available customer service options and how quickly the provider responds to a concern. Although there are other QuickBooks trucking integrations available, RLS stands out due to its direct integration with QuickBooks. This means the platform can be purchased directly from the QuickBooks App Store, and you can launch it from your QuickBooks account. Other QuickBooks trucking integrations require complicated setup and third-party connectors. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.

Paradigm Transportation Suite (PTS)

All businesses need to keep track of their expenses, but it’s more challenging in some industries than others. Unfortunately, trucking is a business that requires you to be particularly diligent in your record keeping. It’s often even more difficult for truck drivers, whose gas and food expenses could easily be personal costs if they occurred outside of a trucking trip. As a result, you probably shouldn’t try to manage your trucking business’s accounting function without help. It may be worth handling some lower-level aspects, but you’re better off outsourcing the more complex and time-consuming parts.

Best Trucking Accounting Software in 2023

The software targets larger trucking businesses that want to minimize their office staffing. As a result, accounting software can help trucking businesses to run more efficiently and effectively. Under the international fuel tax agreement, trucking businesses are required to make estimated tax payments every quarter.