# One TMS or several for a group of trucking companies? > How a group of carriers and brokerages keeps separate books, shares customers and records intercompany loads, whether it runs on one TMS or several. URL: https://roadmark.ai/blog/tms-for-groups-of-companies Language: en Last updated: 2026-09-26 **TL;DR:** A group of carriers and brokerages can run on one TMS as long as each legal company keeps its own authority, insurance, fuel tax account, customers, carriers and books, every sister-company load is recorded as a real sale on one side and a real purchase on the other, and group reports eliminate those loads so revenue and margin are counted once. Separate systems keep companies cleanly apart, but they turn shared customers, intercompany loads and month-end consolidation into manual work. A group of trucking and logistics companies can run on one TMS or on several. What matters is not the number of systems but whether each legal company keeps its own books and authority, whether customers shared across the group are managed once, and whether loads one sister company sells and another hauls are recorded on both sides and counted once at group level. This article uses the example group that appears across our site: the Ashgrove Transportation Group, with Ashgrove Freight (a carrier with 140 trucks and two divisions, Northline Cartage and Ashgrove Dedicated), Ashgrove Logistics (a brokerage) and Keel Transport (a 60-truck carrier bought in March 2026). Amounts are in US dollars. ## What has to stay separate in a group of companies? Each legal company is its own business in the eyes of regulators, insurers, lenders and tax authorities. Whatever the software, these stay separate: | Kept per company | Why | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Operating authority | Each carrier runs under its own USDOT number and authority. Brokering needs broker authority, which [FMCSA issues as a separate MC number](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/faq/how-would-motor-carrier-also-brokers-loads-apply-broker-authority) | | Broker financial security | Every broker must keep [$75,000 in financial security](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/broker-and-freight-forwarder-financial-responsibility-rule-overview-and-compliance) (a BMC-84 bond or BMC-85 trust) | | Safety record | Inspections, crashes and scores attach to the carrier's USDOT number | | Insurance | Policies, limits and certificates name the insured company | | Books | Receivables, payables, ledgers and tax returns belong to each company | | Brokerage records | A broker must keep a record of each transaction for three years ([49 CFR 371.3](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-371/subpart-A/section-371.3)), sister-company loads included | Keeping the companies separate in their records also matters for liability and for selling one of them later. Ask your counsel how separate is separate enough for your group. ## How does one TMS run several authorities under one owner? By treating each legal company as its own operator of record, with the owner's view as a layer on top. In the Ashgrove Transportation Group, that looks like this: | Company | What it is | Authority and insurance | Invoices and books | Fuel tax | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | Ashgrove Freight | Carrier, 140 trucks, with Northline Cartage and Ashgrove Dedicated as divisions | Its own USDOT number, carrier authority and policies; the divisions run under them | Its own invoices and ledger; divisions report inside it | Its own IFTA licence, division trucks included | | Ashgrove Logistics | Brokerage | Broker authority and $75,000 of financial security | Its own invoices, carrier payables and ledger | None: it runs no trucks | | Keel Transport | Carrier, 60 trucks, still on McLeod | Its own USDOT number, carrier authority and policies | Its own invoices and ledger | Its own IFTA licence | **DOT number, authority and insurance.** Each carrier runs under its own USDOT number and authority, and files proof of insurance in its own name. For general freight in trucks of 10,001 lb or more in interstate commerce, the federal minimum is $750,000 ([49 CFR 387.9](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/387.9)). The TMS should hold those numbers and certificates per company, print the right company on every rate confirmation, bill of lading and invoice, and flag a dispatch under a company whose certificate has lapsed. A division such as Northline Cartage isn't a separate legal company, so it runs under Ashgrove Freight's numbers and policies. **Invoicing and P&L.** Each company invoices in its own name, with its own invoice numbering and receivables, and closes its own P&L. Prairie Foods gets Net 30 invoices from Ashgrove Freight and Net 21 invoices from Ashgrove Logistics, while its $250,000 credit limit is managed once for the whole group. Divisions share their company's ledger and report as a slice of it, so Northline Cartage's 11.0% margin this quarter is part of Ashgrove Freight's 12.4%, not a second set of books. **IFTA per licensee.** IFTA licences are issued in the name of the licensee, and each licensee files a quarterly return by the last day of the month after the quarter ends ([IFTA Articles of Agreement](https://www.iftach.org/manuals/2026/AA/Articles%20of%20Agreement%20-%2001-01-26.pdf), R320 and R960). For July to September 2026 that's October 31, a Saturday, so the return is due Monday, November 2. Each return covers the qualified vehicles its licensee operates, so the TMS has to record which company each trip ran under, not just which truck. When Keel Transport hauls load 48240 for Ashgrove Logistics, those miles and that fuel go on Keel's return. For leased trucks, Article V of the IFTA agreement sets who reports, and in several cases a written agreement decides it, so put it in the lease. **Trucks that run for a sister company.** A load sold by one company and hauled by another is a sale and a purchase, covered below. A truck from one company running under another company's authority is a lease. Carriers "under common ownership and control may lease equipment to each other," and "control and responsibility for the operation of the equipment shall be that of the lessee from the time possession is taken" ([49 CFR 376.22](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/376.22)). The trip then runs under the lessee's authority and insurance, so the load record should say whose authority each trip used. **One view for the owner.** This quarter, the Ashgrove group booked CA$38.4M of revenue after removing CA$4.1M of sister-company hauls; added up company by company, the books would show CA$42.5M. Group margin is 12.6%, counted once, and it opens into Ashgrove Freight at 12.4%, Ashgrove Logistics at 15.9% and Keel Transport at 9.1%. One load in nine was hauled by a sister company instead of an outside carrier. Everyone else sees their part: a Keel Transport dispatcher sees Keel's loads only, an Ashgrove Logistics rep sees shared customers at Ashgrove Freight and sister hauls at Keel, and the group controller sees everything. ## What can a group share across its companies? Plenty, as long as each company still sets its own terms: - **Customers.** One customer record for Prairie Foods, with each company's own rates and payment terms on it: Net 30 from Ashgrove Freight and Northline Cartage, Net 21 from Ashgrove Logistics. - **Credit.** One credit limit and one relationship owner for the whole group, so three companies don't each extend the full limit to the same customer. - **Carrier vetting.** A carrier blocked for lapsed insurance at one company shouldn't be tendered freight by another the same morning. - **Lane history and reporting.** Group-level margin by customer, lane and company, with the right people seeing the right parts. ## How should a sister-company load be recorded? As two real transactions at an internal rate. When Ashgrove Logistics sells load 48240 to Prairie Foods and Keel Transport hauls it: 1. Logistics tenders it to Keel with a rate confirmation at the rate from the group's internal schedule, so nobody negotiates between sister companies. 2. Keel invoices Logistics; Logistics records a matching payable. Both sides carry the same load number and amount. 3. Logistics keeps its brokerage record for the load, as it would for an outside carrier. 4. Group reporting removes the internal sale and purchase, so the load counts once. Under U.S. GAAP, that last step isn't optional for consolidated statements: [ASC 810-10-45-1](https://viewpoint.pwc.com/dt/us/en/pwc/accounting_guides/consolidation_and_eq/consolidation_and_eq_US/chapter_8_intercomp_US/82_intercomp_tran_US.html) says intra-entity balances and transactions "shall be eliminated". If the companies file separate tax returns, or one is in Canada and one in the U.S., the internal rate is also a transfer price that tax authorities expect to be arm's length ([IRS](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/transfer-pricing), [CRA](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/international-non-residents/information-been-moved/transfer-pricing.html)). ## Worked example: how is one sister-company load counted once? Load 48240 sells to Prairie Foods for $3,200.00. Keel hauls it at the internal rate of $2,650.00, and its own cost to run it (driver, fuel, truck) is $2,380.00. | | Ashgrove Logistics | Keel Transport | Both added up | Group, counted once | | -------- | ------------------ | -------------- | ------------- | ------------------- | | Revenue | $3,200.00 | $2,650.00 | $5,850.00 | $3,200.00 | | Cost | $2,650.00 | $2,380.00 | $5,030.00 | $2,380.00 | | Margin | $550.00 | $270.00 | $820.00 | $820.00 | | Margin % | 17.2% | 10.2% | 14.0% | 25.6% | The margin in dollars is $820.00 either way. What changes is revenue: adding the two companies' books together counts $2,650.00 twice and reports $5,850.00 of revenue at 14.0%, when the group actually sold $3,200.00 of freight at 25.6%. The elimination is simply removing the $2,650.00 from both revenue and cost. Across a quarter, those internal hauls add up. That's why group reports should say how much sister-company revenue they removed, next to the figure they show. ## One TMS or separate systems: what are the trade-offs? | Question | One TMS, companies kept separate inside it | A separate TMS per company | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | Separate books and authority | Needs a system built for multiple companies; check it, don't assume | Automatic | | Shared customers and credit | One record, terms per company | Kept in sync by hand or by a spreadsheet | | Sister-company loads | Both sides created from one tender and matched | Keyed twice, reconciled at month end | | Group reporting | Eliminations can be done by the system | Exports and a consolidation workbook | | Buying a company | Migration project, unless the system can read the old one | Nothing to change on day one | | Selling a company | Its records must be separable, with history intact | Hand over its system | | Vendor risk | One vendor for the whole group | Spread across vendors | Many groups end up in between: the companies that share the most customers and loads move onto one system, and a newly bought company keeps its own TMS until it's ready, with its loads read into group reporting. ## What should you check before consolidating onto one TMS? - Each company has its own authority, insurance certificates, IFTA account, customer terms, carrier list, invoice numbering and ledger mapping. - Every trip records which company's authority the truck ran under, including trucks leased between sister companies. - Permissions work per company: a dispatcher at one carrier sees that carrier's loads, and a group controller sees everything. - A sister-company load creates both sides at once, at the internal rate, and they stay matched. - Group reports eliminate internal loads and show how much they removed. - Changes to the group are dated, so last year's reports still show last year's group after a purchase or a sale. - An acquired company can keep running on its current system while its data flows into group reporting. ## Where does Roadmark fit? Roadmark is built for this case: it's a TMS for carriers, brokerages and groups of companies, where each company keeps its own customers, carriers and books, sister-company hauls are priced from an internal rate schedule with both sides of the invoice created together, and group margin is counted once. A company that stays on its own TMS can still be read into group reporting. The [groups page](https://roadmark.ai/groups) shows the Ashgrove example in full. ## FAQ ### Can a carrier and a brokerage in the same group share one TMS? Yes, if the system keeps them as separate companies: their own operating authority, customers, carrier lists, rates, invoices and ledgers, with access set per company. A shared login screen is fine; shared books are not. ### Does a carrier need broker authority to broker loads to a sister company? A company that arranges transportation by other carriers for compensation needs broker authority. FMCSA issues it as a separate MC number, which a carrier can hold under its existing USDOT number, and brokers must keep $75,000 of financial security on file. ### Does each trucking company under one owner need its own DOT number, insurance and IFTA account? Yes, each legal company that runs trucks does: its own USDOT number and authority, insurance in its own name, and its own IFTA licence with a quarterly return. Divisions inside one company share its numbers. A truck can run under a sister company's authority only under a written lease, which moves control and responsibility for the truck to the lessee. ### How should revenue be reported when one sister company hauls for another? Each company records its side at the internal rate, and the group's consolidated figures eliminate the internal sale and purchase. Under U.S. GAAP (ASC 810), intra-entity balances and transactions are eliminated in consolidated statements. ### What internal rate should sister companies charge each other? Set it from a published internal rate schedule so dispatchers don't negotiate load by load. If the companies are taxed separately, or sit on different sides of the U.S.-Canada border, the internal rate is a transfer price and should be defensible as arm's length. Ask your accountant. ## Related pages - [Groups of companies](https://roadmark.ai/groups): Companies, divisions and sister rates - [TMS for an asset carrier with a brokerage](https://roadmark.ai/blog/tms-for-carrier-with-brokerage): What a carrier that also brokers freight needs from one TMS: one board for its trucks and outside carriers, separate authority and books, margin by division. - [Roadmark vs Alvys: a side-by-side TMS comparison](https://roadmark.ai/compare/alvys): Roadmark and Alvys, row by row: two TMSs with no per-user fee, several companies in one system and AI agents. What's alike, what differs, and who each fits. - [McLeod integration for LoadMaster and PowerBroker](https://roadmark.ai/integrations/mcleod): Run quoting or tracking in Roadmark beside McLeod LoadMaster or PowerBroker. Booked orders go to McLeod; dispatch, status, stops and POD come back. - [NetSuite integration: invoices, bills and the ledger](https://roadmark.ai/integrations/netsuite): Invoices, vendor bills and journal entries post from Roadmark to NetSuite once you approve them, by subsidiary for a OneWorld group. - [Switching from McLeod or TMW](https://roadmark.ai/switching): Start beside it, move when you choose Companies, people and shipment figures in product examples are fictional. They illustrate workflows and are not customer testimonials or measured results.