By Stephanie Elsen

The Farm Financial Standards Council (FFSC) has been working on developing recommendations for hedge transactions for agricultural operations. In January 2014, nearly 70 pages of additional content will be added to the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture. The content will provide content and examples of how to account for hedge (futures and options) transactions on financial statements for agricultural producers.

The additional content to be released contains information about two types of hedging: fair value hedges and cash flow hedges. Fair value hedges are when a producer stores grain that is valued on the balance sheet at fair market value and is readily available for sale. In this case the resulting hedging gains and losses are included in the revenue section of the income statement. Cash flow hedges occur when a producer hedges items not available for sale, including planned or growing crops or livestock. These items are valued at cost on the balance sheet, and the resulting hedging gains and losses may be excluded from the income statement and instead shown in other comprehensive income.

To learn more about the FFSC recommendations on accounting for hedging transactions, look for the new content in January of 2014 at www.ffsc.org

The FFSC was created to promote uniformity and integrity in financial reporting and analysis for farmers. Learn more about their mission and the tools they offer by visiting their Web site: www.ffsc.org