Tracking Owner/Operator Expenses

DanH:

I'm confused a little about the service you are proposing to offer. Are you just scanning, organizing and posting receipts to the internet? Or, are you proposing to actually catagorize those receipts in some form of accounting tabulation for our tax preparers? Or, are you offering a one stop shop for all of it?

 

I am having a bit of trouble with understanding how by adding forgotten expenses these guys are actually figuring out they made a bigger profit, as adding expenses should only decrease your profit, but i will assume you are talking about profit saved by not giving more to the IRS.

However I like your idea and have brainstormed a business model like that for years.

Of course I have been too busy trying to truck. My wife and I went through some pretty bad times until I snapped and forced her to pay attention and learn quickbooks. You are 100% correct all of those hours add up in the end.

However if you have and understand quickbooks and accounting in general it does no take that much. As long as you stay on top of it.

I think a comprehensive program that includes set up and training would be a great value. If i had a dollar for every O/O who has no idea of what a chart of accounts is I would be a wealthy man. Once set up the seemless integration of expenses being entered into his QB program would be worth every penny.

However this needs to be done without your service having access to his bank accounts or payables invoices ect. They do have remote access programs that would allow you access to his desktop. I have tried that before and I am not sold on it.

The need for this though is huge. If every O/O out there actually knew what it costs to run a truck, and ran it like a business the rates would go up nearly overnight.

The trucking industry is hugely subsidized by morons that come in lose all thier money destroy thier credit and end up driving for someone else again.

As for the engineer a few posts up. Ask yourself why they are pushing the O/O route? Enough said.

Great idea though good luck. If i had known about a service like this about 10 years ago I might not be bald now. I am blaming my hair loss on stress.

Thanks

 

Hello,
I was reading your thread on the board and wanted to know if you ever got the company up and running, if so I would like to get information about it.

 

Being an accountant, and speaking as a woman who is trying to be the business end of my trucker's business, thank you SO much for passing that info along. This is one of the things that I seem to be telling him every other day, and he still only gives me the things HE thinks are relevant to the business.

Again, thank you and please ya'll take it to heart!

 

Its been my experience that it takes about as much time to enter the expenses from the receipts as it does to enter them off the credit card statements. the only difference is that when I get the receipts on a pretty regular basis (at least once a week or so) it makes it a whole lot easier to know at any given moment where we are profit or loss wise

 

We just started using the Easy Trucking software version for up to 5 trucks. Love it, so far.
In the past, we had problems getting some drivers to send the receipts to us, had one that when we did get them, the receipts were for Burger King, sunglasses, etc. Never sent the oil, tires, truck "stuff". What you're proposing sounds good but how do you get drivers to send them in to begin with? That was always the problem.

 

Tell them they will be fired if they don't send them in on a timely basis. Make them sign a document acknowledging this as a condition of employment. Be very specific as to what constitutes a "timely basis" such as every 7, 10, or 14 days (employers choice).

Just an idea. May not be feasible in your particular situation.

 

That happened years ago and we learned from those situations. Those days are gone and so are those drivers.

 

Don't know if Dan ever got this idea up and running, but drivers give some thought to this before you do anything with your receipts. I know Dan's post is an old one, but I'd like to share a few things for people to consider.

1. If you mail your receipts by regular usps mail and they get lost in the mail, where are your receipts then?
2. If you mail your fuel receipts to be scanned, etc, how are your receipts going to get to the person/company that is preparing your ifta?
3. Where are your original receipts going to be if your mail them somewhere since they need to be retained with your tax returns?
4. If you use anyone that will be scanning, setting up your accounting system, etc., do they know the bookkeeping/IRS rules so when you see if you are profitable from their reports, is it worth the paper it's written on.
5. What happens if you accidently put your BOL that is needed for invoicing in the receipts envelope? How do you get it back and when?

I do feel that anyone driving a truck needs to know "if and how profitable" they are. Maybe then it would be realized that hauling cheap freight is just driving the rates down further because brokers/companies know they can still get someone to take the load because they know a driver needs to make at least something for their truck/trailer payment.

I hear more drivers saying, "Well it's better than nothing." Not realizing they are driving their life away. Everyone needs to know how much it costs for fuel per mile, insurance per mile, average amount of money per day made (load amount divided by days to do the load). Also, other costs of operating a truck needs to be factored in to your $ per mile.

For the people that are getting into the transportation industry, be careful. Remember the saying, "If it's too good to be true ......"

Dan, if you by any chance read this, I would like to know if you guys ever got this up and running and how's it going.