By Stephanie Elsen

Thousands of Red Wing Software customers understand the benefits of using software specific to agriculture in managing their farm, rather than using a basic program. Because of their wide-appeal, basic, mass-marketed accounting systems get a lot of press and have a massive number of users. These products are top-of-mind for many people in search of accounting software. Many people ask us to compare CenterPoint against those products. Red Wing Software's farm accounting software, CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture, includes the basics you need such as writing checks, entering payables and receivables, and managing your general ledger. CenterPoint offers specific features for farms to help see their true potential. Here are some of the main differences between CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture and basic accounting programs. To summarize the reason: many CenterPoint users come from basic programs and are seeking specific features that can help them manage their farm better.

• Book, Market, and Tax Asset Value Tracking:

  Know the true value of your assets for whatever purpose you choose.

• Budget and Forecasting:

  Gain the ability to create “what if” scenarios for your farm, and you’ll be able to project future sales, cash flow, income statements, and assets and liabilities. You’ll then be able to more accurately plan for future business strategies!

• Financial Analysis:

  Owners and managers can get in-depth financial analysis with unlimited ability to structure and segment entire operations, profit centers, accounts, and inventories to track data, combine entities, and receive the most relevant farm reporting available today.

• Information Tracking for Farms, Fields, Landlords, etc.:

  Always have access to information at your fingertips about your farm, land, etc. for yourself and your managers, landlords, bankers, and more.

• Multiple Quantity Inventory Tracking:

  While basic programs often don’t allow for any inventory tracking, CenterPoint for Agriculture allows for inventory tracking in multiple quantities, so you can keep better track of your items no matter how you buy or sell them.

• Multiple Tax Entities:

  Allows you to track multiple tax entities in one database for keeping financial data separate, yet still perform combined business analysis when necessary.

• Production Analysis:

  Provides detailed crop and livestock information on a cost per unit basis.

• Ratio Analysis:

  Calculates ratios for your farming operation and shows trends, so you can address issues and become more profitable.

• Transaction Distribution to Multiple Accounts:

  Easily distribute complex transactions across multiple accounts and production units, for an accurate financial picture.

Expand Limited to Unlimited.

Some programs limit the amount of data you can have in your system. When you reach these limits, which you were likely unaware of at the start, you will need to move on to something new. Here are some of the ways CenterPoint compares to typical basic systems when it comes to limits:

Beef Up Security.

One person might start out running the whole accounting system, but eventually tasks will be divided up. At that point, you will likely want to limit what employees can do and see in the accounting system, based on their job. CenterPoint has menu level security, so users can see only the screens they are given access to within the system.

Not all programs are created equal. Any accounting system has its positive and negative points. Just because something is used and known by the masses does not mean it’s the best product available. Basic programs do a great job for many farms, for many years. But when your farm starts to outgrow its accounting software feature set, it might just be time to contact Red Wing Software. 800-732-9464, info@redwingsoftware.com.

By Red Wing Software

Overhead expenses are those production and non-production costs not readily traceable to specific profit centers or production center details. Although overhead expenses are not directly related to any specific area of your business, they do play a part in the profitability of each area. Account distributions can be used to automate the process of expensing overhead to profit centers or production center details.

Expenses can be distributed by percentage, by acre or by head, and can be distributed at the time the expenses are entered or later when you know exactly how they should be distributed. A distribution can be set up that distributes all overhead expenses, or distributions can be set up for various scenarios. For example, you could distribute utility costs to the various entities of the business. Distributions can also be used to distribute unallocated revenue, such as a government ag payment.

EXAMPLE:

Overhead expenses, such as insurance expenses, will be distributed to all profit centers based on each profit center’s percent of total gross revenue. In our example, dairy is 55% of the operation. Crop is 45% with two crops of corn (60%) and soybeans (40%).

If the insurance bill is $1,000:

• $550 insurance expense would be allocated to dairy.
• $270 insurance expense would be allocated to corn.
• $180 insurance expense would be allocated to soybeans.

Allocate your overhead expenses correctly with account distributions, and you’ll have a better idea about your true product costs.

By Stephanie Elsen

Are you looking for something better to handle the financial information for your farm? You might be wondering if you came to the right place. During the search process, you probably noticed that there are many accounting software programs available. It can be hard to decide between them all. Here are some statistics about the people who choose Red Wing Software’s CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture to handle their farm’s financial information.

• About 55% need agriculture-specific features or accounting features that work well for farms. By far, the number one reason people move to CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture is that they want to enter and track information specific to how a farm operates. Functions such as production analysis, multiple quantity inventory tracking, and ag-specific ratio analysis (and much more) provide meaningful information, so it is easier to make profitable decisions for your farm.
• 27% are outgrowing their basic accounting software. Those who began by using a basic or “shelf” software program can find that as they grow, it can no longer handle their needs. Perhaps they need to manage more than one entity, or the number of transactions has become too large for their current system. In these situations and many more, CenterPoint is a great program to look at. It can handle the multiple entities, and there is no hard limit to the data that can be entered and stored.
• 18% are new farms. Farms and agricultural operations just starting up can definitely benefit from the accounting and financial tools offered in CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture. Why not start with a program you know can grow as your operation grows, and can give you the information you need, in the way you need to see it. Staying on top of financial trends and knowing your profitability from the start can really help you grow!

Make the right decision for your farm. Red Wing Software and CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture have helped thousands of farm accounting software users manage their financial information. Contact us today to see how we can help you by calling 800-732-9464 or e-mailing info@redwingsoftware.com.

By Stephanie Elsen

Great post here by Ed Clark, Top Producer Business and Issues Editor about using a budget to improve cash flow. CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture can help with this also!

http://www.agweb.com/farmjournal/article/cash_flow_success/

By Stephanie Elsen

CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture helps farms nationwide become more profitable with financial tools made specifically for farms and agricultural operations. Learn more about how CenterPoint can help your farm by watching this video!