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Greetings!
Things are buzzinghere at 1855 55th Avenue--both in the office and overhead. Our hearts go out to those of you experiencing "semi-permanent" drought or floods. While we haven't had to venture across the Missouri River yet this summer we did traverse the Mara River and ford lesser streams earlier this month.
Thanks, Moe Russell, for conducting an excellent Summer Conference last week. Moe will join us next month at the FBS User Conference for a session on crop cost of production benchmarks.
At that meeting we'll also be covering numerous FBS "best practices" like article below on Cost/Profit Centers.
Finally, we're providing links to some great Summer ag events around the country and webinars you can attend without leaving your desk. SDG
Think "Outside the Farm" at the FBS User Conference
Think outside your farm through best practices from North America's top operations
It's way too easy to become stale and complacent in your business practices, especially if few of your neighbors share your commitment to management detail, precision and excellence. That's why you need to get away to the FBS User Conference where you'll be surrounded, instructed and inspired by some of the sharpest producers and consultants in North America.
Keynote Speaker, Joe Dykhuis
Representing one of the best-run family farming operations in the country, Dykhuis Farms's controller, Joe Dykhuis, will keynote the conference with "How We Make Quality Decisions Through Quality Information in a Large Production System." Dykhuis Farms produces over 400,000 pigs, farms 2,400 acres through the coordinated efforts of 85 full-time employees and 59 contract growers in Michigan and Indiana. Since graduating from Purdue University, Joe has fully implemented the FBS integrated management system and established the procedures and controls to provide accurate and timely financial and production reporting.
Everyone has a great time as they learn from fellow producers and consultants.
The Conference is conveniently located at the Stoney Creek Inn on the shore of the Mississippi River in Moline, Illinois, just off of Interstates 80 and 74 and serviced by four major airlines.
The time is convenient as well: August 31 through September 1 (we've moved it up a day so as to not interfere with Labor Day weekend plans).
Highlights Include:
What's New with FBS Software.
How "Best Practices" Improve Effectiveness, Efficiency, Control and Compliance.
User Panel: How We're Converting to an Integrated System.
Crop Cost of Production Benchmarks
New DTN Cool Tools.
Panel: Technology Breakthroughs and Business Opportunities.
Numerous "Best Practice" Breakout Training Sessions, including:
10 Tips to Enhance Your FBS Experience
User-Defined Reports and Macros.
Budgets on a Roll.
Managerial Accounting Issues.
Tracking Markets, Contracts and Margins.
Going Paperless.
Asset Tracking.
Building Dashboards.
Understanding Report Generator.
Precision Farming Interfaces.
Farm Management Firm Issues.
Configuring Complex/Unconventional Operations.
Accountant/Service Bureau Forum.
Payroll/Hired Labor Tracking Issues.
Prime Rib Mississippi River Cruise sponsored by:
The prime rib river cruise returns!
For an updated program or to register, click here or call 800-437-7638.
Hurry; the hotel reservation and early bird discount deadline is Friday, August 5th.
Apply "Best Practices" to Cost/Profit Centers
Editor's note: This article continues a new series on the "best practices" FBS users have developed to improve effectiveness, efficiency, internal control and compliance from their information system. We'll also be covering a full range of best practices at the 2011 FBS Users Conference. To contribute your best practices visit our blogsite.
In our last article we covered some "best practices" for the FBS chart of accounts. This month we direct our focus to another, powerful coding and reporting dimension: responsibility (cost and profit) centers.
Unlike ledger accounts, which are organized primarily for external reporting to the IRS, lenders and investors, responsibility centers are created to augmentinternal reporting and decision-making for managers responsible or held accountable for specific segments of the business, and are subdivided into these categories:
Profit Centers - the profit-making activities within your business.
Cost Centers - support activities important to and used by profit centers.
Production Segments - direct production activities.
Support Operations - indirect supporting activities.
The good news is that you have wide latitude and flexibility in defining your own cost and profit centers. The bad news is that determining the best practices for your operation is dependent on a number of factors including:
Management goals
Product and resource mix and relationships
Ownership structure
Business scale
Accounting capabilities and practices
Software sophistication
On the surface, cost/profit responsibility centers roughly parallel traditional farm enterprise records, but their potential value is much, much greater.
Next month we will explain some basic, proven "best practices" for crop growers.
Visited Our New Website Yet?
There's a wealth of timely information waiting your inspection at our new website. Check them out now by clicking on the image or any of the links below.
Q. Every time I go to input a check I get a message that says I don't have my ledger accounts set up for A/P or A/R. I don't have Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivabl modules so why am I getting this message, and how do I get it to go away?
A. If you're not using either the A/P or A/R modules then you can click OK and ignore this message without affecting your data or the entries. To completely shut this message off go to Set Preferences and scroll down until you find the lines labeled "TA+ Disable A/P" and "TA+ Disable A/R." In the column type in Y and click on the Save button.
Preference setting to remove A/P and A/R warning message.
If you do purchase the Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable modules, be sure to remove the "Ys" from these preference lines. You also must specify an A/P and A/R ledger account accounts under Setup | Accounting | General Information.
You must specify A/P and A/R ledger accounts.
Summer Events Schedule
As the long, hot summer winds down there are still opportunities to escape the heat and hone your skills at these seminars. Click on the links for more information on these events.
Schedule
