Dealers require meaningful financial information in order to make informed strategic decisions in their businesses, and to better achieve the BM model. The accounting practice followed will determine if that information is accurate and relevant. Sewells accounting guide serves as a reference source for best practices and principles which should be applied to record motor dealer transactions and the analysis and interpretation of dealer financial performance. Users can access know how and obtain an understanding of a number of accounting and financial management responsibilities. Sewells has a pool of highly experienced dealer accountants and financial managers who can assist with any aspect of dealership accounting.

1. YOUR GUIDE
TO DEALER ACCOUNTING &
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
DAKPI V2/12

2. SEWELLS GROUP GUIDE TO DEALER ACCOUNTING & KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
ONE
PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE
The primary purpose of the guide is to serve as a reference source for best practice and principles that should be applied
to record motor dealer transactions and analyse and interpret dealer financial performance.
It is aimed at filling a knowledge and skills gap.
A holistic approach has been applied in developing and structuring the guide so that users can access know-how and obtain
an understanding of a number of related accounting and financial management responsibilities which have been embedded in
VirtualBook®.
CONTENTS The guide is divided into two sections and covers the following topics:
Dealer accounting, which includes: Key Performance Indicators, which includes:
• Purpose, stakeholders, managing meetings, internal controls • Purpose, stakeholders, managing meetings, internal controls
• Management reports for dealers • Interpreting, DuPont Cascade, Sewells MRA, classes of ratios
PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE P3 • Accounting principals i.e. solvency, liquidity, profitability
• Dealership Chart of Accounts • Guidelines for interpreting trends, presenting data and graphs
TARGET AUDIENCE P4 • Accounting for new, used, service, parts, F&I, driveway, • Dealership analysis and interpretation
administration, key expenses types, balance sheet • Analysis and interpretation for new, used, service, parts,
ACCOUNTING GUIDE P5 productivity
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS P8
ORDERING DETAILS P9
SUMMARY OF CONTENT P 10
Virtualbook® is an easy to use book-like electronic
format that is installed on a computer. Once
registered online VirtualBook® can be updated.
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3. SEWELLS GROUP GUIDE TO DEALER ACCOUNTING & KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
TWO THREE
TARGET AUDIENCE ACCOUNTING GUIDE
The content of the guide is specialist in nature as it focuses exclusively on accounting for dealer business transactions Aspects of two of the main features of the accounting section are illustrated.
and the analysis and interpretation of dealership business performance.
Management report for dealerships
The target audience will be employees of dealerships or manufacturers who wish to question or check or verify the accounting for This section covers all departments in the dealership and provides a listing of the minimum number of reports that should be
or analysis and interpretation of an aspect of dealer operations. available for the dealer principal and each department manager to manage their areas of responsibility.
Sewells acknowledge the possibility that a better accounting practice or key performance interpretation may exist. In view of this, the
guide also provides an email link - accountingkpiguide@sewellsgroup.com - that allows for correspondence on the content to be
exchanged and for suggestions for future content updates.
A generic example of each report is provided, its purpose and
use are explained and the frequency of review by the user is
also indicated. A link is provided which permits the user to
navigate directly to the report.
The valuation report in section 4.1.1
below illustrated this section.
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4. SEWELLS GROUP GUIDE TO DEALER ACCOUNTING & KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
THREE THREE
ACCOUNTING GUIDE CONT. ACCOUNTING GUIDE CONT.
Dealership accounting for new, used, service, parts, F&I, driveway, administration, key expense types, balance sheet, share One of the big challenges facing trainee accountants in the twenty first century is that they only get experience working with
capital. All efforts have been made to include the generic core transactions, from the alpha to the omega of business activity sophisticated dealer management systems where a single transaction can initiate a series of linked transactions and sight is lost
of each department. of the resulting debits and credits underlying the initiating transaction. Hence the approach to show the debits and credits in
a series of journals matched with the postings to the general ledger.
Sewells will be the first to acknowledge that accounting practices and policies will vary across the world and even within
a single country. The illustrations and practices reflected in the guide are based on experience from a number of dealer
accountants, financial managers and financial directors and serve to illustrate the key principal involved.
Each core transaction is illustrated with a set of journals and classic “T” accounts to illustrate the double entry accounting
and posting in the general ledger.
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5. SEWELLS GROUP GUIDE TO DEALER ACCOUNTING & KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
FOUR FIVE
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
ORDERING DETAILS
Analysis and interpretation
The Sewells approach to diagnosing dealer performance has its origins in the DuPont Cascade, which allows for the performance Ordering Details
of a business to be split between operational efficiency, the measurement of profitability and asset utilisation, the extent to which The guide is available in two formats:
operational assets are used to generate sales. These two performance measures combined give the return on operational assets. A CD which we ship to you or a downloadable version from the internet.
The guide focuses on the DuPont Cascade analysis but includes a review and explanation of all classes of ratios to ensure that a To order a copy, please contact your local Sewells Group office.
holistic appraisal of the business can be undertaken. Details can be found at www.sewellsgroup.com
The purpose and interpretation of each ratio is provided. The ratio formula is provided as is a practical illustration which in some
instances is in the form of a popup.
Presenting financial results
There are some best practice guidelines for arranging and trending data to get a meaningful interpretation. A section has been
added which illustrates these guidelines.
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6. SEWELLS GROUP GUIDE TO DEALER ACCOUNTING & KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
SIX
SUMMARY OF CONTENT
ACCOUNTING GUIDE CONTENTS DEALERSHIP CHART OF ACCOUNTS KPI GUIDE CONTENTS • Profit before tax % sales
• Introduction • Activity based accounting • Interpreting financial performance • Total expenses % total gross
• Purpose • Statistical information and its use • DuPont cascade • Inventory days
• Quality of dealer accounting • Typical income statement • Sewells© MRA model • Debtor days
• A communication tool • Key productivity input data • Classes of ratios • Inventory aging analysis
• How to manage meetings • Accounting for new vehicles • Risk • Returns on gross assets
• Internal controls • Accounting for used vehicles • Profitability • Productivity ( gross / heads)
• Establishing internal controls • Accounting for service • Growth • Units sold
• Recruiting • Accounting for parts • Interpreting trends • Units serviced
• Job descriptions • Accounting for F &I • Holistic approach • Work bay utilisation
• Authority levels • Accounting for driveway • Data presentation best practice • Hour worked, clocked, available
• Separation of duties • Accounting for admin • Dealership analysis • Hour per repair order
• Pre – authorization processes • Accounting for expense types • ROAA % • Productivity/efficiency/effectiveness
• Management reports for dealerships • Classification of expenses • Gearing
• Dealer principal reports • Payroll • Debt Equity
• New vehicle manager reports • Interest and finance costs • Generic set of ratios applied to the dealership and
• Used vehicle manager reports • Rent all departments
• Service manager reports • Balance Sheet accounting • Units sold per sales person
• Parts manager reports • Basic accounting equation • First gross
• F&I manager reports • Share capital • Accessory Gross
• Financial manager reports • Fixed assets • Total gross profit % sales
• Stock controller reports • Variable expenses % total gross profit
• Debtor clerk reports • Semi variable expenses % total gross profit
• Creditor clerk reports Accounting best practices • Fixed expenses % total gross profit
• Accounting principals
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© 2012 Sewells Group
12 Disclaimer: The information in this brochure is correct at the time of production. Sewells reserves the right to make changes at its sole discretion.