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FarmSMART                   
January 2019

Dear Friend,

FBS New Home PageLast month we announced the move to our new office at 601 SE 19th Avenue in Aledo, Illinois.  This month we're unveiling FBS's new home page (which is still located at our original location, www.fbssystems.com).  (Our mailing address is now P.O. Box 185.)

We're still in the "remodeling" process throughout our office and the rest of the  website so we'll let you FarmSmart readers know when we're ready for the "grand unveiling" of both locations.

And stay tuned for even bigger announcements next month!

Meanwhile, in this month's FarmSmart:

  • Farm Financial Standards Council Releases Updated Financial Guidelines for Agriculture.
  • Highlights from the Farm Financial Standards Annual Conference.
  • Trade Show Calendar.
  • FBS Users in the News.
  • Installing Version 11.3.                                                                                                                                               SDG

2019 Financial Guidelines for Agriculture Released

FFSC 2019

Menomonee Falls, WI, (Jan. 19) –An updated version of the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture has been released by the Farm Financial Standards Council. With a January 2019 date, this 272-page edition replaces other versions of the document that have been in circulation since 1991. The most recent prior update was done in 2017.

“The members of the Technical Committee work very hard to keep the Guidelines relevant,” says Todd Doehring, Centrec Consulting Group, Savoy, IL, current president of the Council. “This has included changes to one of the case farms to reflect changes in farm size, commodity yields, and prices as well as other inputs to the practical examples that make up so much of the document. In this case, we have integrated new pronouncements on Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) in the treatment of deferred income taxes as well as terminology changes as market value is replaced with net realizable value with respect to inventory values.”

He says the most noticeable change is a new case farm in Appendix A. This one is based on a Kansas farm business.

“It is our goal to take accounting principles and apply them to realistic farm production scenarios. It is especially helpful when users of the Guidelines can identify with the examples that are in the case farms in the document,” Doehring explains.

 The purpose of the Guidelines is to help produce standardized financial statements of farm and ranch operations. It is available as a downloadable pdf file at the Council’s Website, www.ffsc.org. The cost is $30 each for the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture as well as the Management Accounting Guidelines. Another document, an Implementation Guide, is available as a download at no charge. This is designed for those individuals without an accounting degree to better understand how to make the maximum use of the information in the Guidelines.

 The Council evolved from the financial crisis of the 1980s and is an all-volunteer organization of farmers and ranchers, accountants, finance and tax professionals, academics, lenders, consultants, and organizations which produce agricultural finance software. Membership on the Council is open to anyone who has an interest in managing agricultural finances. There are currently over 150 members from all across the U.S.

Click here to order a copy of the 2019 Standards.


Integrating Ag Technology Data with Financial and Managerial Accounting (Part 4)

The following is a summary of a presentation entitled "Financial and Management Accounting Software--Developments, Implementation Challenges, and Integration Issues" made in July 2018  to the Farm Financial Standards Council Annual Conference in Champaign, Illinois.

The FBS Integrated Data Model

As described last month, the integration of production and financial data is considered by many to be the "Holy Grail" of farm management.  FBS's integration model adapts to both internal and external data.

Internal Data

By using a "master" list of products, locations and groups and "interlocking" financial and production databases, the FBS model:

  • Eliminates redundant setup
  • Provides real-time inventory control by recording purchases and sales through accounting and applications, movements, mortality and harvest through production activities
  • Permits direct buy/dispense entries to a field or group
  • Allows indirect buy now / use later transaction so that the accounting department doesn't have to know when and where an inventory item will be consumed and the production department doesn't need to know the purchase history or cost of the item
  • Uses production records (acres/hours/days) as "cost drivers" to automatically and precisely allocate overhead for precise cost analysis/"closeouts" at the field and group level.
Internal Integration

External Data

In a perfect world every software product would use standardized definitions for products and locations making communication between production and financial programs a straight-forward process.  Since that's not how the world actually functions, FBS has built interfaces with over 60 feed mill, precision farming and packer formats.  All use FBS's "data bridge" technology to incrementally "translate" the language of the other technologies.  Last year we released our first real-time, API cloud interface with Conservis.

External Integration

Next month we’ll examine another technical "tool of the trade:"  accounting automation.   Meanwhile we invite you to watch our introductory "Farm Software Success Through FBS" video which helps you determine if you are ready for your own ERP.

2019 Show Schedule

We look forward to visiting with you at one or more of these trade show events in 2019.

Date Event Location Booth
Feb 13-16
National Farm Machinery Logo
Louisville, KY 1009
Feb 28-March 2
Commodity Classic2016
Orlando,Fl 2378
June 5-7
World Pork Expo
Des Moines, IA TBD

 


FBS Users in the News

In the January 2019 Farm Journal Top Producer article, “Leaders are Readers, Albert Peterson from Bardstown, Kentucky shared his favorite business book, The Five Disfunctions of a Team.   According to Peterson, “This book was beneficial for our operation because it helped us congeal as a team.”


Q&A: Installing Version 11.3

Sarah_Dixon.jpg
Sarah Dixon, FBS Sales and Support Coordinator

Q.  I just received my Version 11.3 disc.  What's involved in installing and upgrading from my current version? 

A.   Once you insert the 11.3 CD into your computer the Setup Wizard will take over.  However, here are some tips to make your upgrade go more smoothly especially if you are running on a network or have a non-standard FBS installation.

  1. When the FBS Setup Wizard has finished installing the software make sure you check these two boxes:
Setup Wizard
It's particularly important to always download patches when installing off of a CD to make sure you're running the most updated software.

 

  1. If your current FBS data is stored in a DATA folder under your FBSWin11.x program folder the Installer will make an exact copy of the DATA folder and its contents under a new FbsWin11.3 folder before converting to the new format. That means that you now have two parallel copies of your FBS data.  Make sure you only select the files under FbsWin11.3/DATA, not the old location to prevent duplicate efforts.
  2. If your current FBS data is stored in a folder other than DATA, the Database Upgrade will make a backup of your data, but will not create a duplicate folder with the same name under FbsWin11.3. Because your prior version of FBS is still “pointing” to that folder you could potentially experience a database error from accidentally launching the old version.

  3. To avoid the potential errors described in #2 and #3 we recommend uninstalling the prior version(s) of FBS or deleting the desktop shortcut.
  1. If you’re on a network and the Installer creates a new DATA folder as described in #2 you need to “share” the new DATA folder.
For more information on the data conversion you can read the Release Notes by clicking on this link from the Upgrade screen.
Database Upgrade Border

 


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