Bookkeeping for Moving Companies: Fuel, Trucks and Cash Jobs

What moving company books need to track

A move is not one line in your books. It is a mix of fuel, crew pay, truck costs and sometimes storage, all spent on one job before you get paid for it.

Your books need to track all of that by move. When you do, you can see which moves paid and which ones cost more than they brought in. When you do not, you get one big pile of fuel and one big pile of labor, and no way to tell which move was the good one.

A move uses a truck, a driver and a crew. Some moves need two trucks. Some need storage for a week or a month. Some jobs pay cash. Some pay by card. Some pay later, after you send an invoice. Each piece needs its own line on the move so the profit is real.

Here is what a clean move looks like.

When each line ties to the move, your profit per move is real. When the lines sit in one account, you can not tell which move made money.

How to track fuel per truck

Fuel is the cost that hides the most in a moving company. You fill up the truck in the morning, and it runs all day on two or three moves. If the fuel goes into one cost bucket, you never know which move used the most. The truck that drives farther costs more to run, and that should show up on that move.

The simplest way is to tag the fuel card to the truck. Every fuel charge has the truck name on it. Then you look at the moves each truck did that day and split the fuel across them. You do not need it to be perfect. You need it to be close and the same way every month.

Some owners keep a log in the truck. They write the start miles and end miles for each move. That is even cleaner, because the miles tie the fuel to the move. If you keep a log like that, hand it over with the receipts and we will use it.

Here is a simple way to keep fuel straight.

• **Tag each fuel charge to the truck: ** the card receipt shows the truck name or the pump number.
• - **Split the fuel across the moves that truck did that day: ** by miles if you log them, or by hours if you do not.
• - **Reconcile the fuel card statement to the bank: ** what you paid should match what cleared.
• - **Add up the fuel cost per move at month end: ** that total feeds your profit per move.

When fuel sits by truck and by move, your profit per move is real. When it sits in one bucket, you are guessing.

How to track truck costs

Trucks are the big cost in a moving company. Repairs, tires, insurance, plates and loan payments all sit on the truck. If you put all of it in one repair bucket, you lose the picture of which truck earns its keep.

Tag every truck cost to the truck. The repair goes to truck one or truck two. The tire goes to truck one or truck two. The insurance for the fleet gets split across the trucks it covers. When each truck has its own costs, you can see which one costs you the most to keep on the road.

This matters when one truck is older. It needs more repairs and more tires. If those costs sit on that truck, you can see it in the books. Then you can decide whether to keep fixing it or replace it. That choice is hard to make when all the repairs sit in one bucket.

A truck that costs more than it earns is a cost you can fix. The books show it first.

Here is what to keep straight.

• **Repairs go to the truck: ** the shop bill names the truck.
• - **Tires go to the truck: ** a tire is a big cost, so it needs its own line.
• - **Insurance and plates split by truck: ** even if one bill covers the fleet.
• - **Loan payments go to the truck: ** the truck loan ties to the truck that uses it.

How to handle cash jobs

Cash is the part that gets most moving companies in trouble. A customer pays cash on the day of the move. The cash goes in the drawer or the pocket. If it never gets to the books, the move looks free, and the income is lost.

Every cash job should get a receipt, even if the customer does not want one. Write the move, the date, the crew and the amount. Then bring the cash in and record it. When you do, the move shows its real income and the real profit.

Tips are the same. If the crew gets a tip, record it. If you keep the tip as the owner, record it. Cash that sits outside the books is cash that is not in your profit number.

Here is a simple rule.

• **Write a receipt for every cash job: ** the move, the date and the amount.
• - **Record the cash the day you get it: ** not at the end of the week.
• - **Record tips too: ** tips are income, even if the crew keeps them.
• - **Deposit the cash and match it to the bank: ** what you record should match what clears.

When cash jobs get recorded, your income is real. When they do not, the books show less than you earned, and your profit per move is a guess.

How to see profit per move

Profit per move is the whole reason to track costs by move. You take what you charged for the move. You take out the fuel for that move. You take out the crew pay for that move. You take out the truck costs for that truck that month. What is left is what that move earned.

You do not need to get this exact to the penny every time. You need it the same way every month. When you look at a list of moves and what each one earned, the pattern shows up. Some moves pay well. Some pay just a little. Some cost you money.

The moves that pay well are the ones you want more of. The moves that cost you money tell you something about your prices or your routing. Maybe the drive was too long. Maybe the crew took more hours than you planned. Maybe the truck broke down on the way.

Here is a simple check you can run every month.

• **Add up the price charged for each move: ** what the customer paid.
• - **Add up the fuel for each move: ** what it cost to drive there and back.
• - **Add up the crew pay for each move: ** what the crew cost for that job.
• - **Add up the truck costs for the month: ** repairs, tires and insurance, split by truck.
• - **Subtract the costs from the price: ** what is left is the profit on that move.

When you see it this way, the moves that earn and the moves that drain stand out. That is the whole point of job costing in a moving company.

A situation we clean up

The cash jobs that never made the books

A moving company owner takes cash on about half the moves. The cash goes in a drawer and pays for fuel and crew lunches. The card jobs go through the bank and show up in the books. At the end of the month, the books show half the income and all of the costs. The profit looks wrong, and the owner can not tell which moves were the good ones.

Here is how we handle it. We look at the move list for the month. We match each cash job to a receipt or a note from the crew. We record the cash income for each move. We tie each fuel charge to the truck and split it across the moves. We tag each repair to the truck. When we are done, the owner can see the real income and the real profit per move. We set up a simple rule so the next cash job gets a receipt and a record the same day.

How we do it

We do monthly bookkeeping and payroll. We work in QuickBooks Online and Xero, and we are QuickBooks Online Accountants, called QBOA. Each client gets one dedicated bookkeeper who learns your business.

We categorize and reconcile in the first week. We send you one list of questions on day 8. We close your books by day 10 and send a profit and loss statement, a balance sheet, and a cash summary. We use read only access, and we never ask for your bank password.

We serve small businesses in Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, San Bernardino, and across the Inland Empire and the country. There is no long contract. It is month to month, with 30 days notice to stop. You can read more about how we work on our bookkeeping service page.

Mistakes we fix

• Fuel in one cost bucket with no truck tag
• Cash jobs with no receipt and no record
• Repairs in one repair line with no truck tag
• Moves with no cost list, so profit is a guess
• Tips that never made the books
• A truck that costs more than it earns, hidden in the totals

What we do

We do two things: monthly bookkeeping and payroll. For bookkeeping, we categorize and reconcile in the first week, send one list of questions on day 8, and close the books by day 10. You get a profit and loss report, a balance sheet, and a cash summary. We start with a free 20 minute call and reply with a fixed quote in one business day.

Common questions

Do I need to record cash jobs? Yes. A cash job is still income. Write a receipt, record it the day you get it, and deposit it. When the cash shows in the books, your profit per move is real.

How do I track fuel per move? Tag each fuel charge to the truck, then split the fuel across the moves that truck did that day. A mile log is even cleaner. You do not need it perfect, you need it the same way every month.

What if I have more than one truck? Tag every truck cost to the truck. Repairs, tires, insurance and plates each go to the truck that used them. Then you can see which truck earns its keep and which one costs you more than it makes.

Do you do payroll for my crew? Yes. Payroll is one of our two services, along with monthly bookkeeping.