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Greetings,
"Plug 'n play" planting progress? Like Chevy Chase battling a cheap string of Christmas lights, you can't "celebrate" the planting season unless every air line, hydraulic line, liquid fertilizer line, wiring harness, GPS receiver, application monitor, iPad and of course, software, are all connected and functioning properly. So who needs tech support?!!!
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker James Moll's new feature length documentary, Farmland, will be released nationally May 1, 2014 and features a Minnesota farm that uses FBS integrated managerial accounting.
Farmland offers viewers an intimate and firsthand glimpse into the lives of six young farmers and ranchers across the U.S., chronicling their high-risk/high-reward jobs and their passion for a way of life that has been passed down from generation to generation, yet continues to evolve.
"In Farmland, audiences will hear thoughts and opinions about agriculture, but not from me, and not from a narrator," Moll says about his film. "They're from the mouths of the farmers and ranchers themselves."
One of these articulate farmers, Ryan Veldhuizen, Edgerton, Minnesota, raises corn and hogs with his sister and brother-in-law, Melissa and Brad Prouty and parents, Chris and Clair Veldhuizen.
To view the Farmland trailer or to search for theaters, click here.
Upcoming Educational Events
AICPA Agricultural Conference
Held at the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas on May 7-9, this conference will cover hedge accounting, financial ratios, entity planning and family farm management processes lead by Farm Financial Standards Council members Jeff Bushey, Paul Neiffer, Todd Doerhing and Dick Wittman. FBS will be represented as well.
Click here to view the conference program and register.
Sponsored by the National Pork Board, the Pork Management Conference is suited for CFOs, Controllers, Owners, Lenders, Growers, HR/Safety Directors, Accountants and Risk Managers and will be held in Tampa, Florida, June 17-20. The objective for the conference is to expand your industry knowledge, financial sophistication, industry outlook, latest industry trends, and help you anticipate future challenges while networking with industry leaders and creating a vision. Click here for a brochure.
Managerial Accounting Workshop
To help farmers determine which entities within their business are or are not carrying their weight, Top Producer Magazine is once again teaming up with Texas A&M University to host its second Managerial Accounting workshop, July 7 to 8 at the Hilton Rosemont/O'Hare hotel in Chicago.
Managerial accounting breaks out costs and returns of various segments in a business. Farm business consultant Dick Wittman will lead farmers through the two-day course. To register for the event, contact Texas A&M's Danny Klinefelter at (979) 845-7171 ordanklinefelter@tamu.edu. For hotel reservations, call (888) 452-6943 and reference group code "TEF."
FBS User Conference
Mark your calendars and prepare to join us for this annual networking and training seminarat River's Bend Conference Center in Moline, Illinois on August 27-28. This year we'll again be presenting 2013 cost of production benchmarks from the nation's top crop and pork producers.
Also, if you're interested in participating in an intensive, hands-on Hedge Accounting workshop preceding the main conference on August 26, email norm@fbssystems.com.
Prescription Farming for Your Financial Records Part IV
Last month's installment of Growth Path Accounting presented the Step One question, "Where are you now?" in regard to accounting method (cash or accrual) and accounting oversight (family or professional).
This month we'll continue with the "GPA Decision Tree," with the Step Two question, "What are your information goals?"
Producers who chose the strictly cash accounting method now decide if they want to incorporate real-time inventories into their accounting system. By "real-time" we mean that crop, livestock, feed, seed, chemicals and fertilizer quantities on hand are updated through accounting entries. If real-time inventory control is not a priority then by default you have selected Method C, the most basic system. On the other hand, cash accounting producers who wish to track inventories will choose Method B, a "hybrid" system.
Moving to the right in the decision tree we pick up the next category,accrual accounting operations relying on non-professional family members to oversee their accounting process. We assume this group is already committed to real-time inventories, so the decision they face regards cost analysis. If their goal is a traditional "enterprise analysis" approach of splitting expenses between commodities then they will also choose Method B. However, if they desire a more structured, multi-layered cost accounting system for allocating and flowing costs through their various management segments they will select Method ABC.
The decision for the final group, accrual accounting users relying on professional oversight, is whether they want their financial statements adjusted directly by real-time changes in raw material, work in process and finished goods inventories. Controllers who want to maintain a "high level" inventory valuation system not directly linked to production activities will chose Method A. Accounting professions who want to "drive" financial statements from real-time activities will chose Method ABC.
Note that while there are just four accounting "destinations," six paths lead to those end points, representing a wide-ranging combination of starting points and priorities.
In summary, you will chose Method C if your accounting process isstrictly on the cash basis and you don't want to track inventories through accounting.
You will select Method B if you want to add real-time inventories to your cash accounting system and/or incorporate enterprise analysis into your accrual system.
Method A will be your choice if your accrual books are maintained by accounting professionals who prefer to maintain financial statementsindependently from day-to-day farm production activities.
Operations that are already on some form of accrual accounting will move to Method ABC if ownership desires managerial accounting (as opposed to enterprise analysis) and/or the accounting professionals requires a tighter financial link to real-time changes in raw material, work in process and finished goods inventories.
Even though our core business in agricultural accounting software, we acknowledge that producers can and do achieve Methods C and A with off-the-shelf general accounting software. Conversely it's very convoluted and cumbersome to attempt Methods B and especially ABC without specially-designed ag software.
Next month we'll delve into these methods and compare their advantages and disadvantages.
Congratulations to Rob Mann, Cloverdale, Indiana, a 2014 recipient of the APEX Award from the Purdue Department of Ag Economics in recognition of his outstanding farm management performance. Rob is business manager of White Oak Farms and focuses on marketing, risk control, finance and tax management. He also has responsibilities as a managing member of Mann Land LLC, an agricultural land-holding company. Rob previously received the Indiana Young Farmer of the Year award and been named the Prairie Farmer/Purdue University Master Farmer.
Q. I'm getting a new computer. How do I transfer my FBS software and data? Do I have to install each of my old FBS CDs up through the latest version? Do I need to make a backup of each year's data?
A. Moving FBS to a new computer is pretty simple. You only need the latest FBSversion (8.14/10.3), and you only have to make one backup of your data. Follow these steps and the move to the new computer should go quickly and smoothly!
1. On your old computer make a backup of your FBS data. We recommend using a thumb drive (also called a USB drive or a memory stick). Log into the current year and go to Utilities | Save Data. Click on the Change Destinationbutton and point to the correct letter drive that corresponds with your thumb drive. Check the boxes for Setup files, Accounting records, Crop records (if you have Crop Audit), Breeding records (if you have Smart Breeder), Feeding records (if you have Smart Feeder), Scanner files (if you have Scanner Interface), Accounting budget files, Save ALL years and Zip file. Then click on the Save Data button. A message box will pop up telling you that your save is done successfully. If you have more than one company (farm) file you will need to repeat this procedure with each company. When this process is completed, remove the thumb drive and insert it in your new computer.
2. Locate your most recent FBS Install CD (FBS 8.14/10.3). If you run Transaction Plus only you can safely switch to the 10.3 version if you choose. (If you run other modules please check with us before installing 10.3.)
3. Insert the CD into the new computer and follow the instructions that came with the CD for a new install of FBS on the computer. The install wizard does most of the work for you; just answer the questions on the screen.
4. Launch FBS on the new computer. It will open up to the Change Company screen. Your data directory path is displayed in the right window. You will need to create a folder for your data. The path that automatically comes up should be the drive where you installed FBS followed by your FBS program directory. In the example below FBS is installed on the C drive so it displays C:\FbsWin81. Click on the Create Directory button and a box will pop up creating a folder under C:\FbsWin81 called DATA. Click OK to save. Close FBS by clicking the Cancel button.
5. Insert the thumb drive into the new computer. When a screen pops up asking you if you want to open the files on the drive do so and find your FBS backup(s). They will be named XXX_nnnnnn.zip where XXX is your company's three initials and the nnnnnn is the 6 numeral date of the day you made the backup so 042214 represents April 22, 2014. Right-click on the correct file and choose Extract All. The next screen will ask where you want to extract the files to. Choose Browse and double-click on computer, then on the drive where your FBS program is installed (Local C:), then on the FBS program directory (FbsWin81), then on DATA. Then click on OK. It should then list a path that looks similar to the screen below. Click Extract. Again if you have more than one company you will need to repeat this with each data set.
6. Once all the files are extracted, launch FBS. Your company should show up on the left window. If it does not make sure that the data folder on the right appears open and then click in the white area in the left window underneath (not on) the words "Create New Company" and your company should appear. Make sure you are in the correct input year and open your company. Run a report,such as User Defined Accounting Detail or Trial Balance, to verify your data is there.
7. Check for updates. Go to Utilities | Check for Update. Click the Edit Company button, fill in all of the required fields, and press Save, then click on the Update button.
