In this Issue:

• FBS 2016 User Conference on the calendar.
• Pork dashboard launched into the cloud.
• How "Opportunity Accounting" transformed agriculture.
• Assessing need for a "virtual controller."
• March free webinar schedule.
• Link to recorded webinars.
• Trade show schedule.
• How to print more of your report.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             SDG

  ---

Over the past hundred years North American agriculture has transformed from a diversified to specialized production model.  The hen house, milk cow and moldboard-plowed corn-oats-meadow rotation have been replaced by fence row-to-fence row mono culture, site-specific management and concentrated animal feeding operations.  We’re where we are today due to a nearly infinite series of decisions that evaluated the trade offs between maintaining/expanding/eliminating enterprises and in sourcing/outsourcing services.

The pork industry provides an instructive example of that transition:

• 1900-1970: mostly outdoor, single-site farrow-to-finish consuming raised grain
• 1970-2000: controlled-environment, single-site farrow-to-finish with on-site feed mill
• 2000-present: large-scale, bio-secure, independently owned/managed, multi-site boar stud, breeding and finishing serviced by a central feed mill

This was accomplished not by a top-down, corporate edict but through a process of trial-and-error experiments that demonstrated that costs and risks could be reduced by adopting what appeared to be counter-intuitive strategies (transitioning pork production from single-site to geographically-dispersed business segments).   Production models that initially appeared ideal on paper (mega-growth at a single site) proved to be less efficient and profitable when the accounting results were tallied.

In situations like this the economic opportunity costs of adopting (or not adopting) a new practice are unknown because either a) not enough experiments have been run to predict the response or b) the results are too dependent on the unique variables within an operation.

Fortunately, American agriculture is constantly reinventing itself thanks to an endless parade of innovators probing the boundaries of production and efficiency and turning conventional wisdom on its head.  Opportunities manifest themselves through countless inventions, networking, borrowing ideas from other industries and leveraging knowledge.

What does this, though, have to do with accounting software?  We’re going to illustrate in upcoming issues how intimate, real-time knowledge of the unique strengths, weaknesses, threats and, yes, opportunities within your operation will help you accelerate innovation toward the most profitable directions. 

1) Is your office staffed appropriately?  Are you shorthanded most of the time?
2) Based on the staff you have, can you get everything accomplished in a day, week, month or are you always behind?
3) Are you getting all of the reports you would like to see out of FBS?
4) Do you need help getting through the end of the year?  Do you need help getting information gathered for your CPA?
5) Do you have a need for additional modules but have resisted because you don't have the expertise to run those modules?
6) Are all of your costs flowing through your financial statements as you planned?
7) Are you preparing monthly or quarterly financial statements? Why not?

If you are having issues with any of these topics, maybe it's time you think about adding a "partial person" to your staff to resolve these problems.  Our goal at FBS is to enhance your use of our software so you get the most information possible for your operation.

FBS currently has four Virtual Controller clients who use our services to various degrees.  

If this is something you would like to discuss further, please feel free to reach out to us at your convenience.  Contact mike@fbssystems.com or call 800.437.7638 / Extension 111.

March Free Webinars