Even if your business is profitable and meeting its benchmarks, that doesn’t mean your operational costs are where they should be. As a shop owner, part of your job is to ensure that all items in your shop are accounted for at all times. Even if an item gets misplaced, it’s important to track where it went so you know what items need to be ordered or sold off before something gets lost forever.

It includes your shop’s Average RO in Sales and Profits, your Profit Margin, your Gross Sales, and your Gross Profit. You’ve got a good crew, and operations seem to be smooth at your auto repair shop, but something isn’t quite adding up on the bottom line. Superior vehicle maintenance accounting software is designed to free up time for company management by reducing the amount of time needed to administer the program. An integrated and company-specific accounting system is beneficial for an auto repair business.

High Operational Costs

You could make it a policy that service writers can only order parts from certain vendors within Tekmetric, and if they want to bypass that, they have to get permission from you first. Then, you could tell them that they must log each part that’s ordered and used as soon as possible. That way, the chance that they forget to input a part order or add a part to a repair order will be minimized, and you won’t have to scroll through pages of statements down the line. While the End-of-Day Report defaults to showing your shop’s earnings for the day, it can be set to show your shop’s earnings for any date range that you want.

Perhaps a service advisor ordered those parts outside of Tekmetric and didn’t properly log them in the system. Or, perhaps an ex-employee is using your shop’s charge account on accident—or on purpose. The combination of Tekmetric’s Parts Purchased Report, Parts Usage Report, and your accounting software add up to a powerful reconciliation tool. (Since QuickBooks is one of the most commonly used in the industry, that’s the example we’ll be using). Minimizing loss is what Tekmetric’s two parts reports—the Parts Purchased Report and Parts Usage Report—do best.

This data fuels more accurate reporting on your business’s financial health, too. Clover Reporting tracks and sorts your data to help you measure your business’s health with sales metrics, profit margin, weekly/monthly average transactions, average customer lifetime value, and revenue growth rate. Additionally, they may handle tax preparation, track inventory, and offer financial analysis to help the shop optimize its operations and profitability. They ensure accurate financial records, allowing owners to track expenses, revenue, and profitability effectively. Bookkeepers also handle invoicing, payroll, and tax-related tasks, saving valuable time for shop owners.

Auto Shop Accounting Features

Furthermore, the platform enables the owners to track and monitor technicians, staff, and charges regarding all aspects of the business operation. Bookkeeping software like the one that Less Accounting offers allows you to boost the profitability of your auto repair shop. If you are the owner of an auto repair shop and need to know worthwhile information about bookkeeping, then you are at the right place.

What can end up happening as a result is the labor profit margin in Tekmetric will almost always be higher than the real-life number in QuickBooks. And depending on what your shop’s compensation structure is, it might be impossible to get the numbers to match 100% in both systems. However, be sure to follow that win by tweaking your shop’s parts markup matrix. Your shop’s parts matrix is what helps you markup parts in a fair way, and in turn, earn the appropriate profit on each part you sell.

The interesting part of sending an invoice to a customer is that invoices are not just beneficial to your customer; your bookkeeping agent can keep a copy of the invoices to record income sources. Sending an invoice enables you to save time effortlessly and keep a record of your income. Users can add tracked time and costs to their invoices, ensuring you never lose money. What Arndt and Hall agree on most is the importance of monitoring business health in real-time. “It was all paper and pencil when I first started, and I used an accountant for years,” Arndt says. “He would generate a profit-and-loss statement for me maybe once a year from my ledger and the stuff I kept by hand.

Check-In on Your Business Anywhere

If you don’t have a system or process to ensure that all parts are accurately tracked and reconciled to a repair order, there is no stopping employees from walking off with parts, side-work, or freebies. Accounting software can be incredibly useful for an auto repair shop to manage and track the financial aspects of your business. Another benefit of being able to photograph your receipts and add them into Quickbooks is that you can attach them to banking transactions as you go. When it comes to handling an auto repair shop’s operations, AutoLeap is a strong all-in-one solution that can handle everything from booking a meeting to managing personnel and creating invoices.

• Clover Reporting tracks and sorts your data to help you measure your business’s health with sales metrics, profit margin, weekly/monthly average transactions, average customer lifetime value, and revenue growth rate.
• Xero is cloud-based accounting software that allows small company owners running auto repair shops to monitor their accounts from anywhere and integrates with over a thousand apps.
• And when your whole team uses FreshBooks accounting software to track their hours, everyone’s productivity is in one clear place.
• The right accounting software would help you monitor efficiency, pinpoint the most lucrative operations, and provide reports.
• As your income rises, so do the chances of experiencing an IRS audit, which is a complicated situation.

We recommend the pay once offer, as it is the best offer and once you made this payment, you need not worry about renewing your recommendation per month or annually. However, you can choose the plan suitable for your purse due to the different sizes in the pocket. FreshBooks offers three great tiered plans to suit your needs and the size of your business.

The cloud-based software lets you detail and fine-tune your estimates to fit specific jobs. Invoice assembly and delivery is a breeze, and automatic payment reminders means you don’t have to remind your customers when it’s time to pay. The best accounting software for auto repair shops right now is Freshbooks and Zoho Books. When you are a mechanic and own an auto repair shop, you will need the right software to monitor not just the cost of the repairs but also the hours you put in.

If you’re okay with doing the majority of your shop’s accounting on phones and tablets, Auto Repair Invoice is a solid choice. The software combines industry-leading accounting features with those designed specifically for this business. It also fully integrates with well-known vehicle repairs databases such as Carfax and CarMD. This software typically includes features such as appointment scheduling, inventory management, customer management, invoicing, and financial reporting.

Keep in mind that the bookkeeping method you choose may impact your business cash flow and tax calculations. This is where auto repair shop accounting services can be transformative for your business. You not only get accurate bookkeeping and accounting services, but you can also get insights as to how to better run your auto care business. FreshBooks specializes in workshop software for time tracking, reporting, invoicing, and other accounting duties for service-based businesses, and car repair shops suit the bill perfectly. Even if you have little to no expertise with previous accounting tools, FreshBooks will allow you to effortlessly keep track of accounting. Most of all, owing to FreshBooks’ free trial, you can test if it works for your company before committing.

Track Every Second of Your Precious Time

Pulling your invoices and reviewing them helps you see how much revenue you’ve generated every month, quarter, and year. This can help you track trends or seasonality and see how your business revenue is increasing or decreasing over time. You can also use past revenue numbers to help you predict the revenue you will make in the future. If you use Mobile Tech RX, you can create estimates and invoices that will be saved in your app and Admin Portal.

Bookkeeping Best Practices for Auto Repair Shops

As a result, it includes auto shop-specific functionality such as spare parts inventory tracking, vehicle lookup, and license plate scanning. It also covers “conventional” accounting functions such as invoicing, payment monitoring, and financial reporting. Real-Time Lobor Guide is a cloud-based solution system that allows auto repair shop owners to operate the business in a smooth way.

AutoFluent ($95 Per Month)

Using mobile devices, shop owners can track all the vehicles in their store. As a small business owner, keeping track of your finances should be one of your top priorities. However, you also have a long list of tasks and responsibilities to keep your business operating, so finances can often feel like a burden.

If they input the wrong information in Tekmetric or forget to do so at all, it’ll have a trickle-down effect. You’ll end up scratching your head when things don’t line up in  QuickBooks and the Parts Purchased Report and Parts Usage Report in Tekmetric. Plus, if you’ve been facing those pesky IRS penalty notices, a payroll service will stop them. Perpetual and subscription licenses are the two most common pricing models for any automobile software system.

You can easily invite your whole team to collaborate, manage, and share information so work is completed to the highest standard. The software makes it easy for you to track every second of your working Bookkeeping for auto repair shops time, so you never miss a paying opportunity. The auto care industry can give business owners impressive profits as well as the ability to scale up, especially if you have the right tools in place.