Trucking companies are complex with multiple financial entities that operate independently but are related to each other. These entities include operating companies, leasing companies, and freight brokerages. While these entities operate separately, they are still a part of the same business, and their financial performance has an impact on the overall profitability of the company.
For this reason, it is critical for ownership and management to understand the consolidated financial performance and financial health of these related companies. Banks and lessors serving the trucking industry also require consolidated financials to assess the financial stability of the companies they are dealing with.
Generating consolidated financial statements can be challenging and time-consuming. The traditional way of generating these statements involves manually consolidating financial data from each entity, which can be prone to errors and take a significant amount of time.
However, modern technology has made this process much more manageable. Many top trucking companies are now consolidating their related company financial data in a common database and generating financial statements using modern reporting tools like Power BI. This gives ownership and management the ability to drill down from top-level financial statement information all the way down to account or even journal entry level detail.
Intra-company eliminations can be included or excluded as necessary, and any combination of related companies can be viewed together or separately. Yearly, quarterly, and monthly financial statements can all be generated with ease. Management and ownership can use filters to analyze and examine financial data in near real-time in any way they wish.
This modern approach to consolidated financial statement generation offers numerous benefits for trucking companies. Ownership and management can now easily access accurate and up-to-date financial information, allowing them to make informed decisions regarding the business. This increased visibility into the financial health of the company also provides an opportunity to identify areas for improvement, which can lead to increased profitability.
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