Pandle Update: Mileage Tracker – Our New Feature for Capturing and Recording Business Mileage

Everything we do here at Pandle HQ centres around making bookkeeping as simple as possible. After all, the whole point of software is that it makes things faster and easier, and that’s what Pandle is all about.

No shuffling through paperwork, no flipping from your receipt capturing app to your accounting software trying to join everything up (and no forgetting expense claims to help you reduce your tax bill). Just powerful bookkeeping tools which are easy to use, and all together in the same place.

Which is why we’re so over-the-top-too-much-lemonade excited to introduce you to our brand-new feature, right here in Pandle.

Welcome to Mileage Tracker.

Now you can keep tabs every time you go the extra mile for your business, with an automatic mileage tracker which is fully integrated with your bookkeeping software. All systems go!

Do I need to keep mileage records?

Every business should keep detailed records of the journeys it makes, whether you’re making deliveries, meeting up with clients, or taking a trip out to eye up a new project.

There are lots of benefits for it too, whatever your reason for being on the road. Logging your business miles is essential if you’re going to:

What does our new Mileage Tracker feature do?

Detailing every business trip which you make can be a tedious process, fraught with the potential for errors and time-consuming boredom.

You’re probably more likely to just pay the cost out of your own pocket, rather than waste time trying to remember everywhere you drove to last Thursday. Even lots of little trips can quickly add up though!

How does Mileage Tracker work?

Mileage Tracker is available on Pandle Mobile so it can travel with you. Access it by opening the app, clicking the menu, and then selecting ‘Mileage’.

From here you’ll be able to record your trip using the automatic journey tracker, or enter it manually if you forgot to track it automatically when you set off.

Pandle uses this information to calculate how many miles you travel, and converts this into an expense using the correct mileage rate for the type of vehicle you select, which is then saved straight into your bookkeeping.

Nice and simple.

Create profiles for each vehicle you use in your business

Once you set the vehicle type for each profile, Pandle will always use the correct mileage rate for that vehicle when you select it for a journey, keeping your claims consistent. Yes, even if you enter your trip manually.

It only covers the mileage rates which HMRC provide though, so any claims for travel by spaceship might be a job for your accountant, or Elon Musk.

You won’t need to enter vehicle information each time you travel either. Just set up the details once, and select the correct vehicle from the list the next time you enter a journey.

Automatically tracking your journeys in Pandle

Some mileage apps only give you the option of entering your journeys manually, but we know some businesses need a bit more. That’s why Mileage Tracker can use the location data of your phone or device to log the route you take.

The good news is that Mileage Tracker works in the background to capture every twist and turn whilst you focus on the driving, and still use your phone for other things, like music and navigation, if you need to.

All you’ll need to do is park up safely, double check the route and the vehicle you’re using, and press save. The app will do the rest.

Enter untracked journey information manually

We don’t want you missing out on any expense claims just because your phone battery ran out of juice, or you dropped it on the garage forecourt in horror when you spotted the price of fuel.

If you don’t use the location tracker, you can still enter the start and end points of your journey. Pandle will work out your route before converting it into mileage based on the vehicle you select. Easy peasy.

What happens when I save a trip?

Once you confirm the details of your journey, Pandle will automatically enter it into your bookkeeping as an adjustment which debits your mileage claim from the Travel category, and credits it to your Director’s Loan Account, or to your ‘Capital Introduced’ category if you’re a sole trader.

Just click ‘Accounting’ in Pandle’s navigation, and select ‘View Transactions’ to search for the adjustment. If you accidentally selected the wrong person when you saved the trip, you can correct your records by editing the category to a different director’s account. Phew!

To view your mileage transactions in your Director’s Loan Account, just head over to the Banking screen as normal, and select the director from your list of accounts. To help spot our mileage transactions more easily, we set the description to start with ‘Mileage’.

So that just leaves us to wish you safe travels! Love from, Pandle.

Learn more about using Pandle to make business accounting easier. Create an account today and decide what to do with all the extra time you get back.