January 11, 2022

Most dealerships have team members who are responsible for accounting and finance. These individuals might be trained in the position or hired for their expertise. Because managing a dealership is complex, it’s easy for dealership owners and managers to entrust these individuals with their tasks without strict internal controls, regular check-ins or process and technology assessments.

2021 has been a record year of profitability for automobile dealers. Hand in hand with this profitability is the income tax liability due on those profits. To ensure that you pay only on the amounts you have made, now is the time to clean up any questionable items that may have accumulated on your dealership’s books over the last year. The following items are suggestions for reviewing your accounting records and identifying amounts that may need to be written off or accrued as expenses.

The global move toward vehicle electrification has been going on for a long time now, but it is understandable if you feel like it will never arrive since few manufacturers have sent many EVs to dealer showrooms. Two of the controlling factors are regulations and the cost of building the necessary infrastructure.

Utah is recognized as business-friendly for many reasons, such as the economic outlook and an educated workforce. But as the U.S. ages, older workers retire and graduating high school seniors continue to opt for something other than learning a trade. Old solutions and strategies have become ineffective, and too many job openings for skilled work go unfilled. The Rural Water Association (RWAU), which consists of public and private water and wastewater systems in cities and municipalities, noticed a big gap in the number of workers retiring as opposed to the number of new employees it was able to hire. To help fill this gap, RWAU worked with the Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship and Workforce Services to set up two apprenticeship programs and now serves as an intermediary between potential apprentices and its membership base by providing classroom instruction and support throughout the process.

Derek Miller is the president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and is a native Utahn. He earned an undergraduate degree from BYU in international relations. In addition to graduating from BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, he also holds a joint degree, Master of Public Administration, from the Romney Institute of Public Management. After graduation, Derek was a management consultant with Arthur Andersen in Washington, D.C., for its public sector clients. He then practiced law as legal counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The nomination of Chris H. Wilson, owner and dealer at Wilson Motor Company, a Ford, Lincoln and Nissan dealership in Logan, Utah, for the 2022 TIME Dealer of the Year award was announced by TIME.

Did you always aspire to be in the car business? How did you become a dealer?
My father and grandfather were both auto dealers, but I didn’t aspire to that. I always wanted to be a coach. I was almost 25 when I got home from my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Glasgow, Scotland. Soon after, I got married and needed what I thought would be a summer job, so I went to work at the family auto dealership.

Happy 2022! Here at NCDU, we’re hoping for a great new year for everyone, including Utah’s dealers. I have always been bullish on our industry, especially locally, and I have never been disappointed.