KNOW BEFORE YOU GROW—ATTEND CROPSHOP.2006

Production costs and growing conditions in 2006 will be unlike any we've ever experienced.  While weather, pests and yields still remain unpredictable, many of our costs and practices are not only manageable, but they can be measured, refined and replicated.

That's the theme of this year's CROPSHOP.2006 Seminar.  Each season growers everywhere performs the same basic tasks:  till, fertilize, spray, plant, harvest, process, store and transport.  Yet we know there are tremendous differences in costs per acre/hour/mile between farms.  To discover which are the best practices and strategies we'll examine actual farm operations costs from growers using e.CLIPSE managerial accounting.  These won't be just isolated, static numbers either, as we'll "drill down" through the data to better understand the "how" and "why" behind these metrics.  In addition to these real world cost benchmarks, we'll cover timely topics that include:

•	The new Farm Financial Standards Framework for comparing and analyzing land, FSA payments, crop insurance proceeds and crop production and marketing cycle analysis.
•	Troubleshooting and "power cleaning" inventories, allocations, landlord billing and cost analysis.
•	"Hand's on" exposure and training in budgeting, marketing contracts, data collection technologies, on-line software and designing custom reports.
•	A round table discussion with the North America's top growers and consultants.

CROPSHOP.2006 is truly an elite gathering, but you don't have to be an FBS SERVware client to benefit from the ideas and interaction.

For a complete agenda or to register on-line, click here or call 800.437.7638.

Early registration deadline:  February 6, 2006.

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ALEDO, ILLINOIS - Agricultural accounting is poised to migrate from the farm desktop to the server farm according to two accounting/consulting firms that have partnered with FBS Systems, Inc.  AgCompass LLC of Tomah, Wisconsin, and Agri-Accounting LLC from Upper Sandusky, Ohio, have both begun offering FBS's fully-integrated FarmSeRVer ™ accounting and management information system to their clients over the Internet.

On-line applications offer these advantages over conventional desktop software:

No geographical restrictions.  "Hosted software provides users with the access to their data anywhere they can get an internet connection and allows multiple users in different locations to be using the same data file," observes Agri-Accounting partner, Doug Schilling.  AgCompass hosted FBS clients already encompass five states.

Data protection and software maintenance.  Schilling explains, "Daily backup and security are a priority for each user and users are no longer responsible to maintain the software loaded on a personal computer."

Cash flow.  Rather than based on an "up-front" license, FarmSeRVer is subscription-based, conserving cash and reducing risk.

Freedom and confidentiality.  Unlike purely web-base applications, data files from FBS FarmSeRVer are compatible with FBS desktop versions and users retain both ownership of the data and the ability to transfer it to their own computer or another host.  Each data file is password protected and treated with the highest confidentiality by the hosts.

Synergy.  The greatest benefit from hosted FBS application comes from real-time collaboration between producer, accountant and consultants.  According to Schilling, "Agri-Accounting Services is using this to work with clients to streamline the accounting process, implement accrual and management accounting, and help producers make better decisions with real time information."  Everett Chambers from AgCompass explains, "We add value by getting clients properly set up, coming on their desktop to support and assist as needed and working with them to convert their data into management information and apply that information to their operational decisions."

Web-hosted accounting and enterprise resource management (ERP) software are already widely used in other industries, but have not been adapted to production agriculture.  One reason is that as recently as 1997, only 13% of all farmers had Internet access, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).  Today, that adoption rate nearly quadrupled 51%, with 72% of farms with sales over $250,000 regularly using the Internet.  While NASS doesn't yet quantify how these farmers are connecting to the Web, many have moved from dial-up to high speed connections (DSL, cable, wireless or satellite), making subscription-based, web-hosted software practical.

For more information, contact Doug Schilling, Agri-Accounting Services, at schilling@bright.net, Everett Chambers, AgCompass, at everettc@agcompass.com or Norm Brown, FBS Systems, at norm@fbssystems.com.

FBS Systems, Inc. has been providing integrated agricultural financial and production software for over 25 years and will continue to actively develop and maintain desktop versions of its software in addition to the FarmSeRVer applications.

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Our search continues for the longest continuous user of FBS software.  So far we've heard from users who go back to 1988.  Do you, or someone you know go back even further? Then you can win $2,500 credit on any FBS-authored modules.  We'll judge entries on three criteria:

1.	The number of years in your data set.
2.	The documented month and year you purchased your first FBS module.
3.	A brief testimonial on why you're still using FBS after all these years.

We'll announce the winner (who may also be the longest continuous user of any ag software) in our March, 2006 issue.  So send your applications to norm@fbssystems.com.

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SOFTWARE Q&A – WITH Q'S FROM YOU, OUR CLIENTS! Send us your questions/problems–be they short, long, simple or downright frustratin'!–about SeRVware and we'll handle them right "on the air" for the benefit of all. Q. In December we prepaid feed.  Our supplier will be applying that balance as a credit memo against feed invoices we'll be receiving electronically this year.  How do we handle this both from a cash tax and accrual financial statement basis?  We're using e.CLIPSE managerial accounting. a. What complicates a normally straight-forward process is the fact that the feed invoices being sent to you electronically carry a dollar value.  If they were being treated as "feed bank" (prepaid) inventory items, they would carry only a quantity.  Our inventory system (either Smart Feeder or Crop Audit) would then recognize that they are coming out of a prepaid inventory and would apply the appropriate ingredient costs to the group/field.  This, on the other hand, a) does not involve specific ingredients, just a general prepaid balance and b) records the invoices at "gross," rather than first netting them to zero dollars. With these constraints in mind, here is the solution: Date Event Debit Credit Explanation 1.   12/31 Check to prepay feed Unlinked* feed expense Bank accountCreates cash-basis expense 2.   12/31 Financial journal entry Prepaid feed asset account Unlinked feed expense Reverses feed expense and updates balance sheet at accrual level. 3.   1/31 Import electronic feed invoices Linked feed expense Accounts Payable Feed is expensed to animal group 4.   1/31 Pay A/P invoice Accounts Payable Unlinked feed expense Reverses the cash feed expense at entity level.  Normally the credit would be against a bank account.  Enter the Discount amount to apply payment against the feed expense account ** 5.   1/31 Financial journal entry Unlinked feed expense Prepaid feed asset account Reduces prepaid feed on the balance sheet and creates feed expense on income statement. * Linked feed accounts are tied to Smart Feeder ingredient inventories.  Unlinked feed accounts are standard expense accounts. ** Applying (contra) feed expense account to pay feed A/P invoice:

Call in your questions (800.437.7638) or e-mail them to support@fbssystems.com.