What Drives You?

I was at a bike race this weekend. This is not a bike race as in motocross, this is a bicycle race. Not just a little 10 mile course either, a 60 mile round trip trek across the Ouachita Mountains. Not a race for the faint of heart I can assure you. The furthest I have made it on this race is 30 miles. As these guys and girls were crossing the finish line, I started wondering, what drives them to go such a distance over some of the roughest terrain for biking just to cross a finish line, with no prize at the end? The first place finisher made it in 4 hours and 50 minutes. The last person to cross the line was at about 8 hours and 30 minutes. So 239 racers started and 189 finished. As a matter of fact, the person that finished 189 also had bib number 189, I thought that was interesting. So what drives em? Certainly not fame or money. What can cause people to dig to the deepest part of their physical and emotional beings to run this race and get squat for it? Why are some so disappointed when they do not reach the cutoff in time or have a mechanical breakdown that causes them to drop out of the race? Some collapsed at the finish line exhausted with muscle cramps from dehydration and fatigue. Some popped wheelies across the line later to find out that it was not such a good idea as their legs seized up as they stood there waiting on their finishing cards. Some crossed and kept going and probably could have done it again. When you are out on this type of race it is you and the trail, you reaching down into the depths of your soul and trying to talk yourself into not dropping out at the next checkpoint. Isn’t it like that in business sometimes? When times get tough, we have to talk our way through not just dropping out. No one knows what is really going on deep down inside because their tails are not on the line. With the uncertainty in the economy and the strife that is going on around the world, you as a business owner have to know what drives you. No one will care as much about your business as you do. No one will work any harder than you do. So what drives you to continue when times are tough? The hug from your kids or grandkids when you get home? The quick peck on the cheek you give your wife after a rough day? Money? If it were money, you would have been out of it a long time ago. Obligation? Fear of failure? What drives you when there is no prize at the end? I do not know how you would choose to answer this question, but for me, family and friends are what drives me. There is nothing more important to me in this world than my family and friends. They will always be there at the finish line waiting on you. So why do you do it, to show your family that you can, to show your kids that you can do anything? Guess what, your family will be there if you do not make the finish line, to them it is all about you, and to you it should be all about them. Also, pay if forward, be a part of something that is greater than yourself. What does this have to do with trucking you might ask, nothing, it has to do with life.

When times are tough, Keep Peddling!
By Jeff Lovelady, CPA

Are you asleep at the technology wheel?

By Jeff Lovelady, CPA

I had a meeting this week with the IT department here at Bell & Company. WOW what an eye opener. We have some technology that is being implemented here at the firm that just blows me away. The things you can do with it are almost limitless. Down time is virtually nonexistent baring a natural disaster.(Knock on wood, right) The ease of working within the systems while people are still working is a breeze. They refer to it as “Cloud” computing. In our industry protecting the information of our clients is top priority. I would say that we are 100% paperless at this time. That does not mean that we do not have paper lying around, that will never change but all of our workpapers, etc are online. Us older coots have to spread paper out on our desk at times and until they give me a 4 monitor system, I will still have to sometimes print it all out to see the big picture, you know, to grind in the details and formulate a conclusion. Which brings me to the point of my message: If you do not have the technology in place to manage your business in such a tight market as it is today, you are setting yourself up for failure. You as a business owner need real time accurate information that you can use to manage your business. You need numbers weekly from your systems that give you rate per mile, deadhead, Fuel Surcharge per mile, Miles per truck, revenue per truck or a plethora of other benchmarks that you may use. What we see is most companies have their own set of benchmarks that they like to analyz. The important thing is that you get something that works for you. Also, don’t just accept the numbers for what they are, dig into the details and try to understand where they come from. You may be surprised at what you find. If your technology is suffering the “I do not want to change” attitude, change it, you’ll be glad you did. After all, you have hundreds or even thousands of mouths to feed. Don’t let the attitude of the few impact the lives of the many.

Have an attitude of gratitude!

Multi State Taxation

Multi State Taxation
Post by Jeff Lovelady, CPA

I am amazed at the amount of times I run across trucking companies that have no idea that they should be filing “income tax” returns in states other than where they are domiciled. This is NOT in regards to IFTA tax. They seem to believe that I am referring to IFTA tax. So just for your information, states have various definitions on what qualifies as “doing business” in their state or another term that is often referred to is having “Nexus” in the state. Now all this means is that you are required to file an income tax return in the state apportioning your income based on the states apportionment rules. Also, in order to file a return or do business in a state, you have to be registered to do business in that state. This is NOT your authority that you renew every year. This is a registration of your business with the department of revenues of the various states in which you have Nexus. Most of the time you have to file an annual franchise tax report and an income tax return. This is not an additional tax over and above your resident state income tax. I would guess that if you do not know about this that you are not apportioning your income to your resident state in which case, if you are “caught” doing business in another state and that state determines that you have Nexus, then it would be an additional tax since you have already reported and paid income tax to your state on 100% of the revenue. I kind of went around the world on that statement. Most of the time what we see is that the trucking company files a franchise tax return, pays the minimum and files an income tax return and pays a small amount. Now what I would propose is that the various state trucking associations and the American Trucking Association get together and put together some sort of plan and one authority like IFTA so the trucking companies can file one return with that authority and then the proceeds would be split to the various states based on a revenue apportionment factor. That would get everyone a fair share of the tax and not cost the trucking company in tax preparation fees to prepare the various state returns. Often times we prepare these returns and the client owes no tax, however, if they do not file the return, then the states will usually assess them a minimum tax and then they will have to get the CPA to write a letter or prepare a return explaining why they do not owe the tax. In some instances, (New Jersey) we have seen states impound trucks and assess a minimum tax for 10 years and require the company to pay the state a minimum of $10,000 to get the truck out of hock. Then the company has to go back, calculate what they actually owe which 99% of the time is about 25% of that amount plus accounting fees to prepare all the returns.

Do you file multi-state income tax returns? If not, get ready, you will be caught sooner or later. These states are running out of money and looking for revenue. Don’t be surprised to see a state vehicles traveling around to the various weigh stations, toll booths and truck stops writing down names and checking their records to see if you are registered to do business there.

Keep trucking the “Good Stuff”!

Part-time CFO's

An Article appeared in the Bostom Globe today about companies who hook up with executives on a part time basis, to be their outside CFO. To read article please go to click on this link.

Bell and Company has been doing this for years with our trucking clients. As pointed out in the article, part time CFO’s provide seasoned experts in the financial transportation sector that a company could not afford on a full time basis. Bell is able to assist the owners and help them chart thru the economic downturn the transportation industry has been in the last three years. Companies with CFO’s have used Bell as well, making our firm part of their consulting group, constantly looking for outside experience to assist them in retaining profitability for their companies. Join the Bell group today, and give me a call. If we do not work out , as the article points out, it is easy to send a consultant out the door, than a full time executive employee. Give us a call at 501.753.9700.

Moving Tonnage

With the expansion of the Panama Canal to be completed by 2014, the canal will be able to accommodate more and bigger ships to pass through, this being the case, it is anticipated that the route and flow of shipments from Asia could potentially move more tonnage through the canal and up the Mississippi River where it will be moved by truck or rail to the eastern states, instead of passing through the port at Long Beach, California. Federal Highway funds are currently being spent on the expansion of high speed rail in the north and east and not for the public interstate highway system. This is going to force the responsibility back on state government to fix their own highways.