Bookkeeping for Transportation Companies
Automating financial processes (e.g., linking QuickBooks to your bank account)
Categorizing vendor receipts, revenue, and liabilities
Categorizing credit card transactions
Financial clean-up of income statements and balance sheets specific to transportation operations
- Accounting for Transportation
- Financial statement analysis for transportation companies
- Journal entries and reconciliations
- Fixed asset management, including schedule maintenance and depreciation relevant to transportation assets
- Recording loans, prepaid assets, inventory balances, and more, with a focus on transportation needs
- Managing accrual and cash basis of accounting
- Accounting for insurance expenses
- Accounting for tariffs, shipping expenses, fuel costs, software costs, and leases (including capital and operating leases)
- Accounting for freight out, freight in, freight on board (FOB), free on board origin, free on board destination, taxes, and custom fees
- Managing accounting software, ensuring vendor and customer names and addresses are up to date
- Payroll Management
- Payroll processing for transportation staff
- Payroll audit ensuring compliance with industry standards
- Payroll journal entries
- Foreign currency transaction journal entries as needed
- Recording commission expenses and revenues for transportation professionals
- Systems implementation and improvement
- Full-Cycle Accounts Payable
- Creating and managing AP/expense bills in ERP for transportation services
- Gathering and paying vendor invoices for transportation companies
- Setting up and applying ACH payments to vendors
- Paying vendors, including via checks and ACH
- AP reconciliation specific to transportation accounting
- Full-Cycle Accounts Receivable
- Creating AR bills in customer ERP
- Mailing/emailing AR invoices to clients
- AR reconciliation with a focus on transportation services
- Recording unearned revenue and applying payments to AR bills
- Tracking and presenting aging of accounts receivable reports
- Customized Excel Templates for Transportation Operations
- Tracking billable hours to clients
- Specialized Services for Transportation Companies
- Organizing chart of accounts specific to transportation operations
- Maintaining the chart of accounts
- Creating custom financial reports and analyzing business data for transportation companies
- Retirement accounting for transportation professionals
- Developing and tracking KPIs tailored to transportation services
- Managing specialized niche services and ad-hoc assignments for transportation companies
- Tax services, including sales and use tax filings and payments
- Ensuring compliance with all accounting standards
- Producing time-based reports, including non-billable time, time billed/collected, and revenue by service
- Understanding and supporting the transportation, warehousing, inventory management, and distribution tracking aspects of your business
- Accurately tracking expenses such as freight charges, fuel costs, warehouse storage fees, labor costs, and customs duties associated with moving goods
- Providing claims management accounting to account for any damage or loss during transportation and managing related insurance claims
- Calculating the true cost of delivery to customers by considering all transportation expenses, enabling accurate pricing strategies
- Generating financial reports that provide insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) like delivery times, cost per shipment, and warehouse utilization
- Purchase order management
Specific Challenges in Transportation Accounting:
- Complex Cost Structures: Dealing with fluctuating fuel costs, variable transportation rates, and diverse shipping methods.
- Large Transaction Volumes: Managing a high number of individual shipments and related invoices.
- Cross-Border Transactions: Accounting for international regulations and currency fluctuations when operating in multiple countries.
- Familiarity with Shipping Terms: Ensuring all transportation and shipping terminology is accurately understood and applied in financial operations.