Small Haulage Fleet Accountants

The figures stop being readable

One profit figure across three vehicles hides the one that is losing money. Without per-vehicle coding you cannot tell whether the problem is the truck, the driver, the customer or the lane.

Financial standing rises with every vehicle

Each additional heavy goods vehicle on the licence adds to the capital and reserves you have to be able to demonstrate. Adding a truck is a balance sheet decision before it is a commercial one. Work out the figure.

Payroll arrives with obligations attached

A driver on the payroll brings PAYE, employer National Insurance, automatic enrolment pension duties, and the approval and checking requirements for any night-out payments. See HGV payroll and driver allowances.

Cash flow decouples from profit

Three finance agreements, quarterly VAT, monthly payroll and customers paying on 60 days means the bank balance stops resembling the profit and loss account. Most small fleets that fail are profitable when they do.

• Per-vehicle profit and loss, built into the bookkeeping so it arrives monthly rather than being reconstructed once a year.
• Financial standing tracking against your authorised vehicle count, with headroom reported before you commit to another truck.
• Driver payroll, including night-out and tramping allowances handled under the rules rather than as cash.
• The cash flow effect of the next vehicle modelled before the agreement is signed: deposit, monthly payment, VAT timing, insurance, and the revenue the truck has to bring to stand still.
• VAT returns and fuel card reconciliation across multiple vehicles and cards.
• Year-end accounts and Corporation Tax or Self Assessment, depending on structure.
• The move from sole trader to limited company where the growth makes it the right structure, with the licence consequence dealt with rather than discovered. See from one truck to a small fleet.

• A fourth truck is added on the strength of a busy month, and the financial standing requirement for the extra vehicle is discovered at the licence variation rather than before.
• The owner's own driving is unpaid and uncosted, so the fleet looks more profitable than it is and the rates accepted reflect that.
• Night-out money is paid in cash alongside the payslip. It is earnings, and paying it outside the payroll creates a PAYE liability with penalties attached.
• Maintenance is treated as a surprise rather than a per-mile cost, so the year a truck needs a major repair looks like a bad year rather than a normal one.
• Everything is coded to one bank account and one set of nominal codes, so the per-vehicle picture cannot be recovered without redoing the year.
• Growth is funded by the VAT account. The money is not yours and the quarter it is due is the quarter it hurts.

Fixed fee, agreed before anything starts, covering the monthly cycle and the year end. Where the books need restructuring so per-vehicle reporting is possible, that is quoted once and separately so you can see what it costs to get the visibility.

Tell us how many vehicles you run, your licence type and your driver mix. We come back with a fixed quote and what the first month would look like.