Computerized Farm Record Keeping with Quicken 2007 Self Study Manual Now Available as an On-line PDF Bulletin

The newly updated Computerized Farm Record Keeping with Quicken 2007 Self-Study Manual is now available as on online OSU Extension Bulletin in pdf format at:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/b931/

As farmers look to become more efficient in all aspects of business, financial record keeping is an area that can be made more efficient with computer record keeping software. Computerizing farm financial records can help a farmer gain efficiencies and enhance their financial analysis.  With a computerized farm record keeping system, the record keeper can use software to store information, summarize data, generate and print reports and sort transactions into categories and subcategories. Storage of data is a very valuable component to a computerized system. The data entry process may take you as long as in a hand written system, but the time saver is the summarization and report generation of monthly and year end data.  As in any system, good records and reports result from the data entered. The record keeping system can only summarize and report what you have entered. The record keeper also must carefully consider the way that they organize their data to optimize output and reports.

There are many components to a farm record keeping system including transactions and the end results you generate for your management team. Your receipts and expenditures should be entered in a timely manner complete with detail appropriate for the results you want to generate. For example, you should include detail on bushels of grain sold with your grain receipts if you want to know average price per bushel received at the end of the year. Some of the various types of information you can develop from a record keeping system are: Schedule F information (Cash Income Basis), data for tax reports, enterprise records, credit accounts, financial statements (net worth, income statements, cash flow), depreciation records and farm business analysis.

What Quicken Can Do For You

Quicken is an easy to use computerized record keeping software package that enables the user to keep detailed farm financial records. You can think of Quicken as your checkbook. It can also be used to track a total of ten different account types including asset, liability, and all bank accounts.

Quicken enables the user to keep basic cash receipts and expense records and provide financial data to you, your tax preparer and other members of your farm management team. Other Quicken features include easy account reconciliation and income and expense budgeting. Quicken reports that may be generated include income statements, cash flow reports, enterprise summaries, personal and business income tax reports and others. Although Quicken does not easily track inventories and does not allow you to keep depreciation records, inventories may be kept on a separate spreadsheet and depreciation records can (and probably should) be kept current by a tax professional.

The newly updated Computerized Farm Record Keeping with Quicken 2007 Self-Study Manual is now available as on online OSU Extension Bulletin in pdf format at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/b931/

This Quicken self-study manual has been developed due to the demand of Ohio producers seeking assistance on using an inexpensive, easy to use program for farm record keeping. The objective of the authors is for Quicken users to begin keeping farm records on their home computer by following the step by step procedures outlined in each chapter of this manual. The manual will also be useful to experienced Quicken users as they upgrade to a newer version and continue to improve their record keeping skills.

A commonly asked question is, “Which version of Quicken should I purchase for my farm records?” Quicken offers five different versions for 2007, Quicken Basic 2007, Quicken Deluxe 2007, Quicken Premier 2007, Quicken Home & Business 2007 and Quicken Mac 2007. While each product has different features, our experience is that the basic program, Quicken Basic 2007, will perform most farm record keeping tasks adequately.

This manual is written for Quicken 2007 Basic. Future manuals and updates will be available on the OSU Extension Ohioline web site http://ohioline.osu.edu or at the OSU Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics Farm Management website http://aede.osu.edu/Programs/FarmManagement/ In most cases the basics needed to begin your farm record keeping will not change with a newer version.

We also receive questions about the use of the Quicken Home & Business version versus the use of Quicken Basic for farm record keeping. If your farm business requires you to create customer invoices and statements and to have accounts for payables and receivables, you need to be using the Home & Business version of Quicken. The Home & Business version can also generate accrual-based profit and loss statements if the program is set up and used properly throughout the year. However, for the majority of cash-basis farm record keepers, Quicken Basic will provide more than enough information for management decisions and income tax planning.

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