A farm fuel log that checks itself against the pump meter

A fuel book is only useful if it adds up. The usual problem is not that nobody writes fuel down. It is that the book says one thing, the tank says another, and there is no way to tell which fill-ups were missed.

The pump already knows the answer. Its meter counts every litre that leaves the tank. Phase now records that reading with each fill-up and does the comparing for you.

Recording a fill-up

Go to Inventory → Fuel and record a fill-up. Beside the litres is a box called Pump meter after: the number on the bowser's meter once you have finished filling.

Phase shows the tank's last pump reading, so typing the new one fills in the litres for you. A reading of 737,560 after 737,541 is 19 litres. If you type litres that do not match what the pump moved, Phase says so and offers the pump's figure.

You can also record the machine's own meter, in hours or kilometres. It is labelled clearly as the machine's meter and not the pump's, because mixing the two up is the most common mistake in any fuel book.

Fixing a mistake

Tap any fill-up, draw or transfer in the fuel log to open it. You can change the litres, the tank, the machine, the readings, the date, who did it or the note, or delete it. Phase asks before it deletes anything.

The log itself

The fuel log is grouped by day, with the litres out and in for each day. Each line shows its pump reading, and each tank card shows where its pump is up to.

Finding the fuel that was not written down

This is the useful part. The Tanks view sets what the pump meter moved against what the book holds, over the same readings. When the pump moved more than was logged, that is fuel that left the tank without being written down, and Phase marks the line Pump shows more than logged.

A reading lower than the one before is marked Pump meter went backwards, which usually means a digit was typed wrong.

You do not need to do anything different to get this. Record the pump reading each time, and the gaps show themselves.

Getting it out

The fuel log exports with a Pump meter column, so the records are there for your accountant, a fuel tax credit claim or your own budgeting. Check with your accountant what records your claim needs.

Fuel alongside everything else

Phase is all-in-one farm management software, so fuel is not kept in a book of its own. It sits in the same Inventory as chemical, fertiliser, seed, water and parts, and the whole shed is counted in one place. Each machine's fill-ups sit on that machine's own record, beside its service reminders and engine hours.