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Trucking And Logistics
Cost per mile is the number the business runs on, and most books cannot produce it.
A rate is either profitable or it is not, and the only way to know is cost per mile calculated from real expenses attributed to real units. Most trucking books pool everything and can produce a company average at best.
Steingard Financial structures trucking books around units and miles, and records owner-operator settlements so the contractor side of the business is documented before January.
What makes these books different
Fuel, maintenance and tolls are not tracked per unit
Pooled into company accounts, they cannot tell the operator which truck is expensive or which lane is unprofitable.
Owner-operators and company drivers are paid and taxed differently
Both appear as money leaving the business, and recording them the same way creates a payroll and 1099 problem simultaneously.
Settlement statements never reach the books
Deductions for fuel advances, insurance, escrow and repairs are netted at settlement and lost unless recorded gross.
What the service includes
- Expense tracking by truck and by mile
- Fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls and permits categorized per unit
- Owner-operator settlement recording, gross with deductions itemized
- Contractor W-9 collection and 1099 preparation
- Driver payroll coordination, kept separate from contractor payments
- Equipment financing and lease tracking, with records organized to support IFTA reporting
How the engagement works
Establish the unit structure
Steingard defines how trucks, drivers and cost categories are represented so per-unit and per-mile reporting is possible.
Record settlements gross
Owner-operator settlements are recorded with deductions itemized rather than netted, so both the expense and the recovery are visible.
Report cost per mile monthly
The close produces per-unit cost detail alongside company statements, on the same calendar.
What is different here
Cost per mile, settlements, and multi-state obligations
Trucking runs on thin margins across a lot of revenue, in an industry with reporting obligations most businesses never encounter. Company-level profit tells an operator almost nothing useful.
Cost per mile is the measure
Revenue per mile against cost per mile is what decides whether a load, a lane or a truck is worth running. It requires fuel, maintenance, insurance and driver cost coded against miles — which ordinary bookkeeping does not do by default.
Settlements are their own discipline
Owner-operator and driver settlements involve advances, escrow, deductions and reimbursements. Recorded as simple payments, both cost and what is genuinely owed become unreliable.
Operating across state lines adds obligations
Fuel tax reporting and similar multi-state requirements depend on mileage and fuel records by jurisdiction. The obligation is met from records kept during the quarter, not assembled at the end of it.
Which obligations apply to your operation is a question for a qualified professional. The bookkeeping keeps records capable of supporting them.
Where this fits best
- Owner-operators running as their own business
- Small fleets managing several units
- Carriers mixing company drivers and owner-operators
- Businesses carrying equipment financing on multiple trucks
- Operators who cannot currently state their cost per mile
What the books need to handle
The mechanics that matter in transport
The areas below are where trucking bookkeeping differs most from generic small-business practice.
- Cost coded per truck and per mile. Fuel, maintenance, tyres, insurance and driver pay attributed to the unit that incurred them. Without it, an unprofitable truck is subsidised invisibly by the rest of the fleet.
- Fuel and mileage records kept by jurisdiction. Captured as they occur so quarterly reporting is compiled rather than reconstructed.
- Settlements recorded in full detail. Gross pay, advances, escrow, deductions and reimbursements each recorded, so what is owed and what has been paid are both clear.
- Owner-operator records kept current. Contractor details and payment totals maintained through the year — see sales tax and 1099 filing.
- Equipment and financing recorded properly. Tractors and trailers are financed assets, not expenses. Payments split between principal and interest, with major repairs distinguished from routine maintenance.
Per diem and driver expense treatment carry specific rules. Records are kept so your tax professional can apply them; the determination is theirs.
Frequently asked questions
Can you calculate our cost per mile?
Where costs are coded per truck and mileage is captured, yes — and it is one of the more useful figures the books can produce. For prior periods without that coding, it can be estimated rather than derived.
Do you handle IFTA reporting?
The mileage and fuel records that fuel tax reporting depends on are maintained as part of the process. Preparation and filing sit with the properly authorised professional.
We use owner-operators. Does that change the bookkeeping?
It adds settlement accounting and contractor record keeping. Both are routine when handled through the year and awkward when left to year end.
Can you tell us which lanes or customers are profitable?
Where revenue and cost are coded to the load or lane, yes. That structure is worth establishing deliberately — it is not something ordinary bookkeeping produces on its own.
How are driver advances handled?
As recoverable amounts rather than expenses, so the settlement resolves correctly and both cost and outstanding balances stay accurate.
Why gross recording matters
A netted settlement hides both halves of the transaction.
Owner-operator settlements are typically presented net: gross pay less fuel advances, insurance, escrow, repairs and other deductions, with one number paid out. Recorded as that single number, the books lose the gross payment and every deduction at once.
That matters twice. The 1099 obligation is based on gross, not net, so a netted record understates it. And the deductions themselves are real business activity — fuel the company advanced, insurance it carried — which simply disappears from the expense picture.
Recording settlements gross with deductions itemized takes marginally longer each week and prevents both problems entirely. It is the single highest-value structural change available in most trucking books.
Get to a cost per mile you can quote against.
Tell Steingard Financial how the operation is structured, and the review will cover what the books would need to report per unit.