Can Tally Manage the Operations of the Transport Industry?

Tally is one of the best software for accounting. Many business owners in the transport industry use Tally.

However, can Tally manage all the operations for the transport or Logistics industry?

Let’s find out in this guide.

We will see what Tally is, the features of Tally, and how Tally can help you in the business accounting. Later on, we will see what are the operations you need in the transport industry.

About Tally

Tally is one of the most popular accounting and financial management software. Launched in 1986 by Tally Solutions, it has become one of the most popular software programs for small and medium businesses in India.

Even many offline businesses use Tally which is why it’s quite popular in the country. Before the digitalization boom, Tally was one of the few software that was used by many small businesses.
Tally simplifies tasks like bookkeeping, ledger management, basic accounting, and some of the advanced stuff such as financial reporting. The software provides a user-friendly interface that makes managing finances easier. It’s even good for non-accounting professionals.

However, Tally was built for financial operations, not for managing complex logistics or transport operations.

Though powerful in handling financial records, it does not have built-in tools to manage the core activities of the transportation industry.

That’s where specialized systems like a Transport Management Software (TMS) come into play.
But don’t worry, we will learn about the Tally as well as about the TMS in this guide.

Features of Tally

Tally is designed with multiple features that help businesses with their financial management. Some of its key features include:

• Inventory Management: You can manage your inventory stocks using Tally.
• Accounting: Tally is primarily known for accounting features. You can do all the accounting stuff from here.
• Tax Compliance: The software helps businesses stay compliant with GST, VAT, and other taxes.
• Payroll Management: Count salaries and taxes from the salaries. Many small businesses that have multiple number of employees can use this feature.
• Billing and Invoicing: Create bills and manage the invoices for you. So, the need for offline bookkeeping goes away.

It’s safe to say that you get a whole lot of amazing features for accounting in Tally.

It’s indeed one of the most useful and easy-to-use software if you wish to manage your accounting and finances here. You will get a lot of features that are easy to use even for a person with basic knowledge. One can learn it in a month or even less and be an expert in Tally.

What are the Core Operations in the Transport Industry?

There are multiple operations for transportation. Each of them will need accounting while some of them are not directly connected to the accounting.

Truck Load Management

Logistics have trucks loads according to goods types. The most famous is full truckload and part load management. Each of these will have a different management type. For instance, part load may have multiple clients. So, TMS Software needs to ensure all these are managed from a software.

Freight Management

Freight management is basically the movement of goods across various locations. So, you need to track the location and delivery times to manage all these.

Fleet Management

How many trucks do you have?

Where are they currently?

What’s the maintenance cost of each of these vehicles?

There are multiple things you can micro-manage to get the exact cost of the fleet.

Warehouse Management

If you have warehouses, you will surely need a TMS. Even for a single warehouse, you will need perfect software that will help you manage it.

How the Transport Industry Can Use Tally?

While Tally is primarily known for accounting, some companies in the transport industry try to use it for basic operations like billing, invoicing, and payroll management. It even works as after all Tally is a billing software. You can surely manage the billing through it.

For example, Tally can help calculate payments for drivers, keep track of finances, manage overall expenses, and even help you generate invoices for clients.

The software’s tax management features can also be helpful in keeping the company compliant with various financial regulations.

Tally is easier to use and is also cheap when you take pricing into consideration. When it comes to staff, there are many people who can use Tally easily even in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

So, you can easily find more people who can work on the software with ease. You don’t need to invest your time in teaching them about the software. That’s one of the core reasons why offices in a small city use Tally. People wonder how and why it’s different from the TMS. Let’s see the overview.

Overview of TMS Software

A Transport Management Software (TMS) is a designed tool that allows you to handle the specific needs of the logistics industry. Unlike Tally, which focuses on accounting, a TMS provides a complete solution for managing transportation operations. These systems come with features like:

• Route Optimization: It helps you in finding the best route for the destination.
• Fleet Tracking: Track the fleet from the software itself.
• Load Planning: Most software has all the modules for part load or full load.
• Compliance Management: Legal standards, documents, etc. are handled here.
• Reporting and Analytics: You can check the reports with just a few clicks.

TMS vs Tally

Here’s a comparison between Tally and a specialized TMS.

Feature	Tally	TMS Software
Accounting	Excellent	Excellent
Fleet Management	Not Available	Complete fleet tracking and maintenance scheduling
Route Optimization	Not Available	Advanced route planning and optimization
Driver Scheduling	Not Available	Includes driver scheduling and monitoring
Compliance Tracking	Basic (financial compliance only)	Full compliance tracking for vehicles and drivers
Load Management	Not Available	Complete load planning and optimization
Real-Time Tracking	Not Available	GPS tracking for real-time vehicle location
Reporting and Analytics	Financial reports only	Detailed operational and financial analytics

Final Verdict: Should You Use Tally or Switch to TMS Software?

Tally remains an excellent choice for small businesses that need solid accounting software. It’s an all-in-one software for all industries including Transport.

Its financial management tools are some of the best in the market, and for companies whose primary goal is managing their books, Tally is more than enough.

 It’s particularly useful for small transport companies where the focus is more on keeping track of money than managing complex logistics. You don’t need to make things in complex if you only have a few trucks. Instead, you can use Tally for the same.

However, as your business grows and you have more number of vehicles and drivers, you will need a TMS. Transport operations require tools that can handle route planning, fleet tracking, and load management, none of which Tally offers.

Therefore, it depends on the requirements that you have. If you’re just looking for good accounting software with no complex features, Tally is surely the best choice you should go with. However, if you want more complex software to handle all your operations, you should surely go with suitable business software.

Conclusion

To conclude, while Tally is an amazing software to manage your accounts, you will need advanced software if you wish to manage all your operations using the tech. Tally is great for accounting only. However, to manage all the other operations, you will need an advanced Transport Management Software. It provides all the features you need to operate in the transport industry. It will bring you complete digitalization of business operations.