Record Keeping Basics
for Professional Truck Drivers

As a professional driver, you have limited time and space for record keeping. While you're not an accountant, setting up a system whereby you keep records organized and up-to-date will help you save time and effort -- and maybe even money -- later.

If you've ever

• spent too much time looking through mounds of paper to try to find a specific document or folder;
• let newspapers, magazines or anything needing to be read pile up;
• missed an appointment, deadline or expiration date; or
• had to pay a late fee or penalty because you didn't send in a payment on time;

you understand why having a good record keeping system is important.

Types of records to keep

Depending on your situation, your own personal record keeping will need to be set up to file things like:

• receipts;
• load assignments;
• log sheets/books;
• settlement sheets;
• financial statements;
• tax records;
• tax returns;
• insurance policies;
• health records;
• truck maintenance and service records, etc.

In the days before Vicki started riding with Mike again full time, he kept receipts from purchases he'd made on the road during the week in his wallet. They were cleaned out when he came home. Now, they are cleaned out more often.

Vicki organizes the receipts by date and enters the information into the spreadsheet containing our personal budget. She has designed the spreadsheet so that all truck-related expenses -- especially the ice purchased to keep Mike's perishable food cold in his ice chest -- are recorded together in one place.

As we stated on our "Budgeting and Personal Finances for the Professional Driver" page: "If you are running your own trucking business -- or are just thinking about it -- you will want to keep your personal finances separate from your business finances."

If you are an owner operator, you'll need to determine which records are personal and which are business. Assign your expenses (and receipts) to the correct record keeping system, but not both.

Each day on the road, Mike sets aside time for record keeping. If he has eaten a meal in a restaurant, the price of the meal plus tax is printed on the receipt. We write in the amount of the tip separately.

OK now, we're going to look at records only in connection with your loads.

Trucker's record management: How to set up a record keeping system

Mike has an aluminum forms holder in which he stores his

• log book/sheets and log ruler,
• bills of lading for his current load,
• bar coded TRANSFLO and Trip Pak trip sheets,
• truck-related receipts for such things as CAT scale tickets,
• older scanned trip information on trips that have not yet been paid, and
• ballpoint pens.

He also has a spiral-bound load assignment notebook which he keeps nearby.

By keeping records all together in one place, it is easy to submit the receipts for all reimbursable expenses -- with the appropriate load's paperwork -- to his trucking company. (He never submits a receipt for one load with another load's paperwork.)

Not only that, but he writes down in his load assignment notebook all of the expenses he incurred during the time he handled that load, so that he can check his settlement sheet for reimbursement.

Mike has worked out this method of record keeping on load assignments: After receiving information on a load via QualComm, he transcribes the following data on a new page in his load assignment notebook:

• Date load assigned;
• Preplanned load (yes or no);
• Load/PRO number;
• Shipper name;
• Shipper address;
• Shipper city and state;
• Shipper telephone number;
• Load pick-up date and time;
• Load P.O. (purchase order) number;
• Bill of Lading number;
• P/U (pick-up) number;
• Additional info;
• Consignee name;
• Consignee address;
• Consignee city and state;
• Consignee telephone number;
• Load delivery appointment date and time;
• Loaded miles, empty miles, total miles;
• Scales;
• Fuel location;
• Route;
• Local directions;
• Extra pay; and
• Date paid.

We've formatted this information into a load assignment notebook page document which you may download, print and use.

When Mike's settlement sheets come in, he checks to see whether or not he was paid for all miles, reimbursements and extra pay.

Record retention: How long to keep records

Do not shortchange yourself on record keeping by failing to keep records for the proper length of time. You may wish to see the Internal Revenue Service document on record keeping.

Some professional drivers prefer to use the accounting services of a full-fledged accountant. That's fine. You may be able to speed things up by using the year-end tax plan found in Microsoft's Office Online Template.

There are other sorts of records you can keep, like an exercise log, a food inventory sheet, etc. Feel free to modify a system that has already been created -- or create your own from scratch -- so that it will meet your needs. Just be sure that you save the right records for the right amount of time.

Money saving tip: You don't have to spend big bucks to set up a record keeping system. For the number of files that you may be keeping, an expandable, portable filing system may work best for you. We have an expandable file in which we keep our receipts separated by month for the current month and the previous 11 months. Depending on their nature, we remove receipts older than 1 year either to another file or to the shredder. The kinds of receipts we remove to another file are for large or important purchases (such as an inverter). No matter what record keeping system you use, organize it with sections that are applicable and make sense to you. Remember, if you will invest just a few minutes a day in maintaining your record keeping, you can save a lot of time and money later on.