Trucking businesses run on thin margins and long payment cycles. A load is delivered today, invoiced to a broker, maybe sold to a factoring company, and paid net of fees weeks later, while fuel, tolls and repairs are paid immediately. Good bookkeeping is what tells you whether each mile actually made money.
Revenue by load
We record revenue per load or per invoice, including detention, lumper reimbursements and fuel surcharges, so you can compare what each broker or customer really pays.
Factoring
If you factor invoices, the factor advances part of the invoice, holds a reserve and charges a fee. Recording only the advance understates revenue and hides the cost of factoring. We record the full invoice, the fee as an expense and the reserve as a receivable until it is released.
Cost per mile
Fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance, truck payments and driver pay together make your cost per mile. With fuel cards and maintenance bills coded by truck, we can report cost per mile per unit each month.
Vehicle taxes and records
Owners of heavy highway vehicles may need to file Form 2290 for the heavy highway vehicle use tax, and interstate carriers keep fuel and mileage records for fuel tax reporting. The IRS explains depreciation of vehicles and equipment in Publication 946. We keep asset and loan records per truck.
What our trucking support covers
- Load-level revenue and factoring reconciliation
- Fuel card and maintenance coding by unit
- Driver settlement and payroll records
- Monthly profit and loss with cost per mile
See our bookkeeping services or book a consultation.
Key terms
Terms that come up often in trucking & transportation bookkeeping:
- Assets: Assets are resources a business owns or controls that are expected to provide future economic benefit.
- Use Tax: Use tax is a tax on taxable goods or services used in a state when sales tax was not collected at purchase.
- Depreciation: Depreciation spreads the cost of a long-lived business asset over the years it is used, rather than deducting it all at once.
