Office programs

I am using Quickbooks Pro 2011 and it was about $165/user, if I recall. Any accounting software intended for commercial use comes with basic functionality. You or a consultant will have to prepare custom accounts, transactions, and reports to make it fit your business. The main benefit is that any CPA will be able to use your data file to prepare taxes and financial statements you may want. The downside is there will be extra effort to generate trucking-related views on your data.

A couple of interesting things to mention about Quicken specifically:

1. Some transactions can be confusing to do. Factoring is interesting to balance. Add a load with a short pay on a claim and you might be scratching your head a minute to figure out how to post it. Fuel tickets are fun too, especially when you combine purchases to save on transaction fees.

2. Do fuel tickets right and you will make an easy time of IFTA. I use the comment line to record the state abbreviation, gallons, and unit number on each transaction with the values separated by a semicolon. End of quarter I export an account detail report to Excel, text-to-columns function on the semicolon, and sumif function against a table of states to create my gallons report.​

When I explored options just over a year ago, it seemed like the trucking-specific software did a great job of force-fitting a trip envelope method into some interesting reports, but the accounting export seemed sketchy.

Best bet is to buy whatever you like, and make sure your accountant likes it too before clicking the pay button.

 

Quickbooks is more preferred for a manufacturing or sales type industry. Quicken Home and Business do a pretty decent job when you are a service business like trucking.

 

The Quicken products, including Home and Business, work with the Turbotax personal products and Schedule C on your 1040. Quickbooks does not, it works with the business products.

 

i use some program that i paid $28 for. it requires office. to which i use openoffice.org FOR FREE.

it's just a simple spreadsheet already laid out. but it does the job for me.

it does your fuel mileage. and all your calucations

 

OK . Just curious . What is the Name of the program ?

 

I have quickbooks had it for over a year now trust me I wouldn't wast my time I had to hire a lady just to come set it up than after six months my CPA said it was all wrong the payroll is nice and easy to use but all your fuel you get at different chains all have to be entered I'm going back to a book keeper the first of the year I'll pay my $125 a month!!!

 

KISS....


Fuel is a Schedule C line item. It's not THAT hard to set up Quicken or Quickbooks to do that either.

Sounds like working more to understand the business side of the accounting would be in order for more O/O.

 

But when you have five drivers getting fuel at different places everyday you having to enter all that stations info if they all got fuel at flying j it wouldn't be a big deal enter that store one time your good we don't use it for invoicing just to do accounting what money is coming in and out

If it's so easy how about you come and fix mine I'll pay you $1,000 even my CPA said I needed to get away from QB it does not fit trucking