Can a Blog Help Increase Foot Traffic at Your Dealership?
Sure it can. That question leads to another one; have you fully embraced the Internet and its potential to help increase vehicle sales? Social media is upon us. Automotive manufacturers are designing...
View ArticleFirst Year Write-off for Heavy SUVs in 2012
Last September, I wrote a blog about how to get 100% write-off for a new heavy SUV (loaded gross vehicle weight greater than 6,000 pounds) through the use of the bonus depreciation rules in 2011. Well,...
View ArticleStaying Current on Receivables
Collecting receivables is very important to keeping a positive cash flow and, ultimately, increasing profits in your dealership. Receivables are generally classified in the following groups: • Vehicle...
View ArticleSuccession and Estate Planning for Your Dealership
Most dealership owners consider succession planning to be an important concept for their dealership, but less than half probably actually institute a succession plan. As the owner, you may not have a...
View ArticleRelated Party Transactions
A common occurrence at automotive dealerships is related party transactions. For the most part, these transactions, if material, are needed for disclosure in the dealership’s annual financial...
View Article2010 Affordable Care Act – Employee Notice Requirement
With all of the election news coverage lately, most dealership operators and other business owners that I have talked to seem to be aware of the looming health insurance mandate that goes into effect...
View ArticleDownloading to Excel
In this day and age, most Dealer Management Systems allow you to download data from the system to Microsoft Excel. This is not new to the automotive dealership industry and has been around since the...
View ArticleUsed Vehicle Write Downs for Dealerships
January is typically a very busy month for the accounting department at an automotive dealership. As you probably already know, closing the prior year’s books and getting ready for your CPA is time...
View ArticleForm 8300 Notification Statement Reminder for Dealerships
The January 31st due date for furnishing Form 1099s and W-2s is quickly approaching. You are probably well aware of this deadline; however, there is another deadline that has the potential to be easily...
View ArticleVehicle Sales Are Up…Is Your Service Revenue?
Service revenue seemed to carry most automotive dealerships through the down years the industry has recently experienced. It seems now though, service departments have a few things working against...
View ArticlePenalities Under the Affordable Care Act Delayed Until January 1, 2015
The Obama administration has delayed enforcement of a major component of the Affordable Care Act that requires employers with 50 or more full time equivalent employees to provide affordable health care...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Prepaid and Accrual Expenses
Prepaid expenses and accrued expenses can be confusing. Even more so when the balance sheet accounts contain both in the same account. Working with automotive clients for the past 28 years, I have...
View ArticleLIFO Vs. FIFO for Dealerships
Deciding whether to use LIFO or FIFO as an accounting method to value your unsold vehicles can be a tough decision! Either method has its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s start by explaining each...
View ArticleEstimated Tax for C Corporation Dealerships
September 15th is just a month away and that means several things for most Dealers with a Corporation, one of which is third quarter estimates. Making sure you know the rules for estimated taxes can...
View ArticleDealership Buy/Sell Activity
2013 seems to be the year for dealership acquisitions. Driving around the Phoenix metropolitan area I keep seeing names changing on dealerships. The fourth quarter of 2012 saw a lot of activity in...
View ArticlePetty Cash for Dealerships
Petty cash in the dealership is an important area to watch. You may have just one petty cash box or several if you have a larger dealership with multiple departments. To an auditor, the petty cash...
View ArticleTimely Bank Reconciliations
Reconciling your dealership’s bank accounts in a timely fashion will help management and other users detect important information about operations. Some of the important information includes, but is...
View ArticleFloor Plan Reconciliations
Are you doing a floor plan reconciliation every month? Not every dealership does. They can be time consuming and if the creditor is doing monthly floor plan audits, some controllers don’t see a need...
View ArticleParts Inventory Counts
Taking inventory of parts at any dealership can be a very tedious task! This may be the underlying reason for why most dealers only take a count on parts at year-end. But do you think one count a...
View ArticleChecklist for Deal Jackets
How do you make sure deal jackets contain all the correct items? It can be a difficult task but there are certain items that should be in all deal jackets. These items vary depending on dealership and...
View Article
