Feds Float Reporting Proposal

The federal government wants to retain financial reporting requirements for nearly 3,000 of the nation’s largest trucking companies, but it also may give carriers a way to keep the information private.

Nearly two years after initiating a review, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics last week issued a proposed rule that keeps in place reporting requirements for carriers with annual revenue over $3 million.

Under the proposal, Class I carriers (revenue over $10 million) and Class II carriers (revenue between $3 million and $10 million) would submit a modified version of the annual report Form M-2.

The new report, called Form M, asks carriers to list basic balance sheet information; a detailed breakdown of expenses; and operating statistics, such as miles and tonnage.

Expense items would be broken down to include: wages and salaries; operating supplies, such as fuel and tires; insurance; taxes; and communications expenses. Non-operating income and expenses would also be listed.

A new section would ask carriers to list number of trucks and trailers in their fleets at the start of the year, the number acquired and the number retired or disposed of during the year.

Revenue would be classified as general freight, household goods and specialty freight. The annual report also would ask for the number of CDL drivers and non-CDL drivers at the company.

Quarterly reports would be retained for Class I carriers only, but would be drastically reduced. A proposed Form QFR would ask carriers to merely list total operating revenue, total expenses and net operating income.

The new reporting requirements would reduce the burden of industry compliance from an estimated total of 48,700 hours to 27,000 hours annually, BTS officials said.

Approximately 900 carriers are now categorized as Class I and 1,900 carriers are considered Class II. Class III carriers (revenue under $3 million) are not required to file any reports.

Although the proposed rule keeps reporting requirements intact, BTS said it would consider requests from companies to keep information in the reports from being released to the public.

The petitions for confidentiality “must contain specific evidence that the carrier is likely to suffer competitive harm,” BTS said.

A list of petitioners will be published in the Federal Register after the filing deadline, and will be followed by a 30-day comment period. A decision on the requests for confidentiality will be made within 90 days.

BTS initially tried to set up a negotiated rulemaking advisory committee to address the reporting requirements in early 1997 (TT, 2-17-97, p. 3). However, the agency concluded that a consensus would not be reached on several key issues, including the public release of the reports.

“The goal . . . is to reach an equitable and practical balance between the need for information and the goal of reducing reporting burden,” BTS said.

BTS set a deadline of Dec. 3 to receive comments on the proposal.