It’s easy to understand the appeal of using the same accounting software as the accountants who handle finances for major Fortune 500 companies. But learning how to use those software programs takes time and sometimes a working knowledge of accounting. The reality is that accounting software works for those accountants. But the same solution likely isn’t necessary for trucking fleet managers or owner-operators. Truckers need a trucking accounting software solution instead of a “one size fits all” program .
The benefits of using a trucking accounting software solution instead of a generic one reach across all areas of the business, too.
You save time. Learning how traditional accounting software works takes a lot of time. There’s a reason that accountants have to go to college and pass tests. It’s a complicated field, from basic accounting to corporate taxes.
When you get your numbers in a format you understand, then you have the data you need to
- know how to run your business effectively and efficiently
- examine opportunities for growth
- build your business.
When you get the numbers in a way that makes sense in your industry, you have the advantage over all those other truckers and fleet managers. You’ll make the right decisions for your business.
Fleet managers who use trucking accounting software regret not making the switch from their old solution sooner.
Hassle-Free Access to Important Documents
Every industry has to deal with paperwork and records. But trucking is different from most other businesses. The sheer volume of paperwork can be overwhelming. Lose a critical paper and a shipper might not pay you.
Just about every paper document a fleet manager or owner-operator comes across should be saved or stored in a safe place. Many truckers have come up with solutions, such as using their smartphones to take pictures. Then they have to search through their phone pictures to find them. Some people email images or pictures they’ve taken with their smartphones. But later, they have to search the email posts to find those images. Or they upload pictures to dropbox or google drive. But those pictures often have incomprehensible labels or file names! There’s got to be a better way.
With trucking accounting software created with truckers in mind, it’s easy to save and store any paper document thanks to FileSafe. FileSafe allows TruckingOffice users to easily scan and upload any document they wish. Whenever an invoice to a customer goes out, TruckingOffice users can scan the paperwork directly into their TruckingOffice account.
Trucking Accounting Software Speeds Up Your Billing
The one thing that slows down getting our invoices paid is losing the paperwork.
Lost BOL? Lost fuel receipts? You know what that means. Lost pay from the shipper.
That’s why FileSafe is so useful. The images and records are kept inside TruckingOffice trucking software. You don’t have to download and attach to an email or upload to two places. Just put everything in TruckingOffice and you’ll have access everywhere. Smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop – your TruckingOffice files are available anywhere. So if you’re going to send your invoice to your shipper from your cab (which you can do with TruckingOffice), you can be confident that the files you need are there.
You can find your files easier than ever to maintain files that could easily be misplaced otherwise. Not only are the files stored safely, but users also have access to backups. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ways a trucking software solution for accounting can help improve the lives of trucking industry pros.
Seamlessly Collect Important Data
Accounting is mostly about getting paid. But your accounts have a lot of information for you. Maybe things you’ve never thought about.
You know you spend money when you’re on the road. Some of those things are expenses that are tax-deductible, some aren’t. Some of those expenses are fixed. You can’t negotiate cheaper fuel. But you can perhaps cut some expenses, such as food, housing, or paying for a repair twice because you can’t find the warranty for work you had done.
When you know what you’re spending and where you’re spending it, you can find the cracks that your money is slipping through.
IFTA Data
Taxes are not the only thing you need your business data for. But they’re pretty important that they’re done right.
Take Interstate Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) matters for example. By using trucking software designed for the trucking industry, truckers can easily keep track of things like miles traveled and fuel gallons by state. We’ve never found an accounting software that tracks those things specifically. But if we don’t, we’re off the road.
Accountants have lots of metrics – ways that they use our data to determine how well the business is doing. What metrics do truckers need?
Take another look at the IFTA. ( Yeah, we don’t want to either, but it’s important.)
Without knowing what to track or how to track them, the likelihood of an IFTA audit steadily increases. Along with helping to avoid IFTA audits, proper tracking and storage of records could also help prevent overpaying IFTA fees, too.
While there are likely several great aspects about using the same accounting software, IFTA tracking is a key example of how regular accounting software doesn’t do much to solve many of the problems truckers face on a regular basis.
Spend Less Time Dealing with Financials
Ultimately, truckers by and large don’t have much experience in the accounting department. So using tools designed for accountants can seem daunting. Even worse is the prospect of spending time and effort learning how to use accounting software only to find that it’s causing more confusion than it resolves.
Luckily for trucking industry professionals, there’s a trucking accounting software solution built to help overcome the difficulties that come with standard accounting programs called TruckingOffice. TruckingOffice was created by truckers, for truckers. To get more information on whether or not TruckingOffice is the software solution for you, get in touch with one of our trusted experts today.
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