Hillside Farms featured in Progressive Dairyman

Laura Flory of Hillside Farms, a Red Wing Software customer, shares some great advice and experiences about keeping a family farm on track, in the August 7, 2016, issue of Progressive Dairyman. In the story “Becoming the ‘A Team’: How a consultant′s repeated advice got our farm back on track”, Flory explains how a person′s roles, responsibilities, and expectations make such a difference within a farming organization.

• Katrina (Administrative Assistant), husband Josh and daughter Kyla enjoyed a Minnesota Twins Win!! It was Kyla’s first Twins game.
• Chad (Sales), his wife Rachel, and son welcomed the birth of their beautiful daughter Remi on July 21st. Congratulations to all.
• Mike (QA Manager/Project Manager), his wife Kathryn, and daughter Kadence on the shores of Lake Superior with their foreign exchange student from Japan, Hiyori, who was with them for a month.
• Jada (Support Technician) and her family Josh, Ava and Lane went on a road trip this summer that included a visit to the St. Louis Arch and the Hillclimb Nationals in Illinois which Lane participated in. He won two national championships, a second place, and the youth racer of the year award! Funny thing is he’s not afraid to speed up those hills but was too scared go up in the Arch.
• Dan (Design) and his wife Sue became grandparents for the first time to beautiful Lyla! Congratulations to all.
• Julie (Sales Engineer ) and her sons participated in a 70-mile bike ride in Boulder this past weekend. The ride is called the Bstrong ride and benefits the Boulder Community Hospital for Integrative Care which services cancer patients. Proceeds from this weekend ride will fund the center for an entire year. It is also benefits the George Karl Foundation.

September may seem like a strange time to talk about budgeting for your business, but actually, any time of year is a good time to review how your business is tracking against your projections. Whether it’s planning for next year, or comparing this year’s results to what you were planning, looking at your actual numbers compared to your business plan for the year should be something that happens on a regular basis.

To illustrate, I’ll use a couple Red Wing Software examples of why this is important. Each manager of their respective department is responsible for creating their budget for the coming year. Of course, not only expenses are projected, but revenue is also part of the budget. For example, each salesperson puts together the sales goals that they expect to achieve on a monthly basis, and how they expect to achieve those goals. Sales numbers are then measured throughout the year on a daily basis so we are aware of how we are performing compared to our projections. If sales numbers are not what we expected, (either lower or higher), it is important to know the reasons and react quickly to any discrepancy. Of course if sales numbers are higher than we expected, we want to know why, and keep making decisions that ensure continued success.

On the expense side, you obviously want to make sure you are not spending money that was not budgeted without a serious look as to why these expenses were increased. Also, and this may sound strange at first, you want to make sure you are spending all the money that is budgeted unless there is a good reason for not spending it. For instance, our Marketing Manager budgets to spend a certain amount on very specific items. Whether it’s advertising, trade shows, web presence, travel, or any number of other things, it is important to stick to this plan. If marketing dollars are not spent as planned, the result could very well be a decrease in revenue. It can be a delicate balancing act.

We are fortunate at Red Wing Software to have seasoned, experienced managers and staff that are very good at planning for their respective departments, and our revenue and expense numbers are typically within two percent of their projections. I believe with practice, discipline, and timely analysis, most businesses can be equally accurate in their planning process.

- Ken Hilton, President

CSA Software Solutions is a partner of Red Wing Software that sells and supports CenterPoint Fund Accounting software. The two companies team together, helping cities in the southern U.S. improve and streamline their accounting and payroll. Recently, CSA received a story of success from customer Charles Snap, the Mayor of the City of Walnut Ridge. Here Mayor Snap shares his story.

LOCATION:

Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Population 4,925

CSA CLIENT SINCE:

January 1, 2016

CURRENT SOFTWARE:

CenterPoint Fund Accounting and Payroll

KEY BENEFITS OF CENTERPOINT:

• Budget Details
• Council Reports
• Support

“I took office in January of 2015, as did a new Clerk/Treasurer for Walnut Ridge. The former Clerk/Treasurer had given a notice that she was retiring, and the newly elected clerk had trained with the former clerk. At the point the new training started, the city had switched from a DOS-based system to an over-the counter-accounting program and we were having trouble keeping our records straight.”

“The new clerk’s solution was to purchase the CenterPoint Fund Accounting software by Red Wing Software. When I found out the cost, I refused to authorize purchase of the software, citing budget concerns for our community of under 5,000. In fact, I continued to refuse the software purchase for months, until I was forced to hire a CPA to help us sort through the city books, in an effort to come up with a working budget for 2016.”

“After the lack of budget details forced me into sitting down with CSA, a local company that sells and supports CenterPoint Software, I started to understand what the staff and their software could provide. In fact, I was quite impressed with the behind the scene options offered for support and help if my clerk was sick, to assure the city bills and payroll continued and the security of the system was another bonus. After all, as a small town we have a very limited staff.”

“We installed CenterPoint Fund Accounting and Payroll going in to the 2016 calendar year, and our paperwork improved immediately. My department heads didn’t doubt their monthly reports anymore, my budget committee was more than pleased with how the reports looked, and the details they were being provided. No doubt, we had made the right move in purchasing the system and then the unforeseen happened … our City Clerk had a stroke and was hospitalized.”

“The following Monday morning I contacted CSA and their backup plan was put to work. Within hours their staff was working with my assistant, to insure payroll checks were written and the bills were paid in a timely manner. The city’s credit rating was at risk and potential problems extended well beyond the city, which could have impacted each employee and their lives. While the accounting portion of CenterPoint Fund Accounting software had simplified the paperwork for Walnut Ridge, the CSA behind the scenes staff and their backup plan had saved the day! With this in mind, I welcome email, or phone calls if anyone has any questions concerning the City of Walnut Ridge’s experience with CenterPoint by Red Wing Software. I’ve made full circle from a skeptic, to shouting their praises from the mountain tops!”

Our customers say it best! Let Eugene Glock of Cedar Bell Farms, in Rising City, Nebraska explain how CenterPoint helped his operation.

“I wouldn’t want to do without it, that’s for sure!” Eugene Glock will tell you he is a lucky man, but what he might not tell you is that the financial information for his farms and entities is meticulously organized, and because of this he is keenly aware of which areas of his business produce his highest profits. While Gene is a humble man, he is the poster child for smart farm accounting, and for using CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture to its fullest capacity. Maybe it’s not luck after all!

“CenterPoint is a great improvement on the software we used previously,” says Eugene, “It works faster and does some things automatically that our prior system did not.” Eugene breaks everything down by crop: irrigated corn, dry land corn, etc. He also keeps each farm separate. This way he can always tell which farms and crops are most profitable. “One helpful thing about CenterPoint is that when we need to borrow money, we can easily provide accurate cash flows to our bank, which they really appreciate. We can also see live, up to the minute financial information.”

“I have really appreciated the recurring transaction features in CenterPoint. We split out our expenses by different enterprises, by percentage. (For example, a percentage goes to the office, a percentage to the farm, etc.) Our prior system had recurring invoice function, but it didn’t allow us to split it up by percentage. It has been a huge time saver for us.”,

“No matter how perfect a software program is, there will always be some problems or issues along the way. The people at Red Wing Software are really great. I don’t know where they find these people, but they are just so patient and helpful. I think each one of them has helped me at some point. If you want a software product that will provide you service after you purchase it, you want Red Wing Software and CenterPoint. For the return on investment, CenterPoint is better than most investments!”

Contact Red Wing Software for your free demo of CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture: 800-732-9464 or sales@redwingsoftware.com.