A few people actually enjoy bookkeeping. For most of us, it’s a tedious job that we have to do, and all too easy to put on the back burner since it doesn’t produce the same visible, visceral results that building a fence or harvesting carrots does. Since it’s such an easy job to put off, it doesn’t take long to create a seemingly insurmountable pile of stuff with something scary likely lurking somewhere in the middle of it – and you don’t want to find yourself behind on paying bills when the weather’s finally right for killing weeds.
Fortunately, modern bookkeeping tools and a good system for using them can make a big difference when it comes to cranking the bookkeeping widget. December is a great time to set up a new bookkeeping system, or revamp your old one, since the fiscal year starts on January 1, and you want to input your data in a consistent way throughout the year.
A successful bookkeeping system has three important outcomes: facilitate cash flow budgeting, monitoring, and decision-making throughout the year; make it easy to analyze profitability; and provide documentation and data for taxes. Contrary to the way many bookkeeping systems are set up, the last of these is the least important. – completing a schedule F is a once-a-year event, and the data can be easily extracted from a good bookkeeping system that is organized around the priorities of providing you with the information you need.
A successful bookkeeping system also has to be easy to use. Most farmers I know do their own bookkeeping, and even if you don’t, good bookkeepers don’t come cheap. That means you need systems that facilitate fast data entry and filing with a minimum of thought, especially if you are prone to doing bookkeeping after the field work is all done, or with a beer in hand.
I use QuickBooks for my bookkeeping, and will refer to it throughout this article. I’ve looked at other bookkeeping software, and I know that everybody has their preferences, but I keep coming back to QuickBooks because it’s the industry standard. You can use the same organization and workflow described in my Growing for Market article with any bookkeeping system.
The rest of this article is available from Growing for Market, as part of the November/December issue.
Fortunately, modern bookkeeping tools and a good system for using them can make a big difference when it comes to cranking the bookkeeping widget. December is a great time to set up a new bookkeeping system, or revamp your old one, since the fiscal year starts on January 1, and you want to input your data in a consistent way throughout the year.
A successful bookkeeping system has three important outcomes: facilitate cash flow budgeting, monitoring, and decision-making throughout the year; make it easy to analyze profitability; and provide documentation and data for taxes. Contrary to the way many bookkeeping systems are set up, the last of these is the least important. – completing a schedule F is a once-a-year event, and the data can be easily extracted from a good bookkeeping system that is organized around the priorities of providing you with the information you need.
A successful bookkeeping system also has to be easy to use. Most farmers I know do their own bookkeeping, and even if you don’t, good bookkeepers don’t come cheap. That means you need systems that facilitate fast data entry and filing with a minimum of thought, especially if you are prone to doing bookkeeping after the field work is all done, or with a beer in hand.
I use QuickBooks for my bookkeeping, and will refer to it throughout this article. I’ve looked at other bookkeeping software, and I know that everybody has their preferences, but I keep coming back to QuickBooks because it’s the industry standard. You can use the same organization and workflow described in my Growing for Market article with any bookkeeping system.
The rest of this article is available from Growing for Market, as part of the November/December issue.
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