A moving company's money does not move in a straight line. Customers pay deposits weeks before the job, the final bill often differs from the estimate, crews collect tips, storage customers pay every month, and one damaged piece of furniture can wipe out the profit on a job. On top of that, the busy season is short and the slow season is long.
Here is how to set up bookkeeping that fits the way a moving business actually runs, whether you operate locally with two trucks or handle interstate household goods moves.
Deposits, estimates, and the final bill
A deposit taken when a move is booked is not revenue yet. Record it as a liability, such as customer deposits, and move it to income on the day the job is performed. If the customer cancels and you keep the deposit under your cancellation policy, record it as income then. Booking deposits straight to sales makes a busy booking month in spring look like a great revenue month, and the summer months when the work actually happens look weaker than they were.
Record the final invoice at the full amount, and apply the deposit against it. For interstate household goods moves on a non-binding estimate, federal rules generally limit what you can require the customer to pay at delivery to 110 percent of the estimate, with any remaining charges billed afterward. Any balance billed after delivery belongs in accounts receivable until it is paid, so you can see what is outstanding and follow up on it.
Separate revenue by type so you can see what drives profit: local moves, long-distance moves, packing services, packing materials sold, and storage. Storage is recurring revenue and should be recorded month by month as it is earned. If a customer prepays several months, the unearned portion is a liability until those months pass.
Crews, tips, and seasonal labor
Labor is usually the largest cost in a moving company, so assign crew hours to each job. Even a simple record of crew size and hours per move lets you compare what you charged with what the job actually cost, which is the only way to know if your hourly rates and minimums are right.
Tips need careful handling. Tips paid on a card belong to the crew, not the business: record them as a liability when collected and clear it when you pay them out through payroll. Cash and card tips reported by employees are wages for payroll tax purposes, so make sure they go through payroll rather than being handed out off the books.
Many movers add helpers for the summer. Workers who show up when told, work on your trucks, and follow your instructions are generally employees, not independent contractors, even if they only work a few weeks. Misclassification is expensive to fix later, so ask your accountant or payroll provider before paying anyone as a contractor.
Trucks, equipment, and damage claims
Track fuel, repairs, tires, insurance, and registration by truck if you can. Per-truck costs show when an older truck is costing more to keep running than it would to replace, and they support your depreciation records. Trucks, trailers, and large equipment are fixed assets; dollies, pads, and straps that wear out quickly are usually expensed as supplies.
Set up a separate expense account for damage claims and settle each one against the job it came from. If insurance reimburses part of a claim, record that reimbursement separately rather than netting it out, so you can see your true claims cost. Interstate movers should keep claim files with the valuation option the customer chose, since full value protection and released value coverage lead to very different liability.
Moving revenue is seasonal and tends to bunch up at the end and start of each month. Use your monthly profit and loss to set aside cash in the summer for the winter months, for insurance renewals, and for estimated taxes.
Get your moving company's books in order
If deposits, tips, and claims have been mixed together and you are not sure what last season really made, start with a cleanup. Evolv Bookkeeping does a cleanup at $199 for each month behind, caught up within 2 days, guaranteed in writing.
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