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FarmSMART                   
November 2018

Dear Friend,

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 New space for the FBS "cube farm."

 After 35 years in the same location FBS Systems is moving from the farm to the "big city" of Aledo, Illinois.   This relocation is driven by four factors:

  • Cost, performance and reliability of our current phone and internet service.
  • Expanding programming team from a new joint venture.
  • The need for a more professional, "citified" office.
  • Availability of an office suite connected to 100 Mb fiber.

The move, which will happen in the next 30 days, should not interrupt your service.  Other news this month:

  • Version 11.3 prepared for shipping.
  • Highlights from the Farm Financial Standards Annual Conference.
  • FBS User is Farm Manager of the Year.
  • Printing and filing 1099s.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         SDG
Version 11.3

Introducing Version 11.3

We're preparing to ship Version 11.3, which accelerates our transition to  an open database and modern programming platform.  Here are a few of the changes:

  • A total of 86 database updates and expansions to crop setup files, ledger account, vendor and TransAction Plus header and detail tables.
  • Installation and Database Upgrade wizards.
  • More intelligent configuration for changing environments.
  • Incremental .NET migration to provide more modern user interface, improved reporting speed and functionality, integration with the Web and increased reliability.  
Corporate and VIP Service Agreement clients will soon be receiving an 11.3 CD, followed by Priority and Basic clients in mid-December.  

Integrating Ag Technology Data with Financial and Managerial Accounting

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.

Over the next few issues of FarmSmart we’ll attempt to answer these questions:

  • What do we do that’s unique?
  • Who do we work for?
  • What are the current technical tools of the trade?
  • How we can support and leverage the Standards?
  • What are the challenges to adoption?
  • What are the opportunities for agricultural producers?

The Current Technical "Tools of the Trade"

What benefits do ag-specific accounting programs based on the Farm Financial Standards have over  "main street" accounting software?  Even the most basic "Farm Accounting 101" programs offer one or more of these capabilities:

Relevant quantities and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).  Ag-specific accounting software not only captures the relevant quantities with transactions (acres, pounds, bushels, tons, gallons, pints, etc.), but embeds logic to combine those units into meaningful divisors (bushels per acre, cost per pound of gain, costs per acre, etc.)

Concurrent cash, accrual, market and management levels.  Remember from last month that there are many different data "silos" and possible views of the same accounting transactions.  A good "Farm Accounting 101" program should perform them all concurrently.  For example:

  • Manage daily by accrual; report periodically by cash.
  • Prepaid input inventories expensed for taxes but tracked on the accrual balance sheet. 

Cost/profit center analysis.  The key to meaningful analysis is the ability to monitor and allocate costs throughout the unique cost and profit centers within an operation. 

Supporting multi-entity operations.  Many modern farming operations are split into land and operating entities, which would benefit from: 

  • Offsetting, inter-company transactions.
  • Consolidated financial statements with inter-company eliminations.

Multi-level hierarchy.  Here's a view of a full-fledged, multi-level ag accounting system incorporating the "Farm Accounting 101" tools:

 

Hierarchy
Next month we’ll look at more powerful “technical tools of the trade.”  Meanwhile we invite you to watch our introductory "Farm Software Success Through FBS" video. 

FBS Users in the News Dick Isaacson

Congratulations to Dick Isaacson, Agri Management, Marion, Iowa, for being named 2018 Farm Manager of the Year by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, Ag Pro Magazine and Syngenta.

Agri Management services more than 50 clients with farms in 6 states.

Read the complete story, Steward of the Land, in the November 2018 AgPro Magazine.

Q&A: Printing and Filing 1099s

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Sarah Dixon, FBS Sales and Support Coordinator

Q.  Does FBS print 1099’s? 

A.   Yes!  FBS has a couple of options for printing and filing the IRS 1099.  You can print them onto pre-printed 1099 forms or file them electronically through our partner NELCO (there is a small fee for this).  Before we get to how to print them let's talk about how the program generates 1099 information.  In order for FBS to print a 1099, the vendor's Social Security number must be filled in and the vendor flagged to Print 1099s in the Vendor Setup screen (see below).

1099 Screen

Next you need to know how the 1099 parameter screen works. (Reports>Accounting Other Reports>1099).

1099 Report Parameters

After the Date you have:

  • Type of 1099 to print.  The most common is Miscellaneous Income.
  • Use date cash exchanged.  If you are a cash-basis taxpayer and use the FBS A/P module this necessary to match the timing of cash payments; choose option 2 or 3.
  • Vendor name to use.  The Vendor Setup screen include two fields: Vendor Name and Vendor Contact.  Some people use one field for a shorter name and one for a legal name.  Pick which field you use for the legal name.   If you'll be filing electronically make sure there are no special characters (including commas and periods) in the name!
  • Minimum amount for 1099.  For Miscellaneous Income enter $600 so the report will only include vendors who received more than $600 in the accounting year.
  • Type of 1099 form.  Choose if you want to print individual, pre-printed forms or NELCO (electronic filing).
  • Blank lines to print.  Only use this if choosing type of forms to print 1.  It moves the printed area down the sheet by the number of lines you choose. This helps you align with the pre-printed form.
  • Horizontal Adjustment.  Only use this if choosing type of forms to print 1.  It moves the printed area to the right on the sheet by the tenth of an inch based on what you type in. This helps you align with the pre-printed form.
  • The boxes on the right correspond to the boxes on a 1099 and may change from year-to-year.  Currently:
    • Box 1 is Rent
    • Box 2 is Royalties
    • Box 3 is Other income
    • Box 4 Federal income tax withheld
    • Box 5 is Fishing boat proceeds
    • Box 6 is Medical and health care proceeds
    • Box 7 is Nonemployee compensation
    • Box 8 is Substitute payments in lieu of dividends and interest
    • Box 9 is Payer made direct sales
    • Box 10 is Crop insurance proceeds
    • Box 13 is Excess golden parachute payments
    • Box 14 is Gross proceeds paid to an attorney

 Fill these boxes with the FBS ledger account numbers or range of ledger accounts that apply.  If the box does not apply to you, leave it blank.

When you run the report it will display the values on the screen.  You cannot drill into the amounts or change amounts on this screen.  (Run an accounting User-Defined report filtered on vendor and account to examine the details or make corrections.)

Depending on the type of form you select you can print the report to the 1099 form or you will be prompted to connect with the NELCO portal for electronic filing. 
Schedule a Demo