When a person, the farmer, the accountant, or their bookkeepers input the correct info correctly into the farm accounting software – something a cave man can be trained to do, the output is accurate and supplies the farm accountant with the data they have to do their most critical job.

Reporting taxes, creating P&L statements, doing the work up for verified balance sheets and all the compliance work farm accountants do – well those are tasks.

Their job is to provide their customers with insights, strategies, and support from their point of view as both an accountant and as a confidante.

A typical farm accountant keeps track of the money, files the various reports with the numerous agencies and entities the farmer is involved with. A typical farm accountant spends a large percentage of their time in compliance – defense and putting out fires.

Successful farm accountants, the kind of counsellor each successful farmer should be attempting to find uses compliance as it was intended, to report on what's happened – and they use farm accounting software to cut back the amount of time it takes, while remaining as accurate as it is possible to be.

When asking the question what do accountants do we've found the focus their efforts on the offense – doing the planning, directly or indirectly, in advance which will make the next round of reporting more propitious than the last and the subsequent far more so and so on and such like.

A successful farm accountant is above all an advocate and advisor to their customers. They know, as an example that when several siblings/cousins etc. Work together – that there will be issues.

Invariably those issues involve money. And since one bro can’t pick up and leave – taking his land with him, and move to the other end of the county and start over , the successful accountant will help them debate creative ways to handle the cash issues so that the whole farm does not sink as a result of a conflict about bucks.

The accountant is ever attentive, on the look out for any “hanky panky” with the farm’s property and resources too.

Whether estate taxes, federal and/or state inheritance taxes etc. Are a part of the equation or not – cash is still going to be needed when one of the foundations of the farm dies. There must be enough money, without braking the farm, to buy out the heirs of a deceased partner so that the farm can go on and so their family gets a fair return for their life’s work.

Successful farm accountants will recognise when it is necessary to reorganize the farm so as to shift some of the farm’s growing price to the next generation before the farm gets too big for either partner to purchase.

And the successful farm accountant has contacts they trust – so the farmer can trust them also , who've extensive experience in matters of estate planning, succession methods, management transfer for example. And it's their job to demand that the farmer speaks with these consultants!

Every farmer, even though she does plans to live for all time , must have an exit technique.

Successful farm accountants are key counsellors who help the farmer understand how much cash they are going to need to live on, how many bucks from the gross revenues of the farm that will take, and where will the money come from. They can help the farmer select assets that can be liquidated today – with some of the proceeds put aside for retirement and the rest used to replace the land (for instance) that was sold.

Successful farm accountants know the importance of making choices regarding cash, soon rather than later – so less interest is charged and the farmer has longer to benefit from compounding interest!

These are but of few examples of ways successful farm accountants spend time for the benefit of their customers. Whenever they can harness the power of farm accounting software to crunch the numbers, giving them accurate information sooner, instead of later – they will jump at it.

If your farm accountant claims that they “don’t trust in farm accounting software” or something stupid like that – you need to find a newer one. This individual is not ever going to be a top farm accountant for you.

For them, maybe, since they're padding their bill – except for you, I don-t think so.

If you are serious about farm succession, or if you're a professional concerned in farm succession planning – or a farm association executive whose members desire to see their farm continue into the new generation, this article is for you. Every action we take leads us toward or away from our goals. Nothing is neutral – so doing only those things that are goal achieving and forgetting about the ones that are just tension relieving will make your life faster. If you are like most successful farmers and agriculture accountant is one of your key advisors in the management succession process.