Recently there have been several articles in the media discussing the lack of projected income for corn and soybean farmers due to low prices and input costs remaining stable at higher prices. This scenario can result in farming losses and financial stress for farm families. OSU Extension is offering a Farm Business and Finance Webinar Series aimed at helping farm families improve financial management knowledge.
This free educational 4-session webinar series is funded by the North Central Extension Risk Management Education Grant titled: Ready, Set, Go: Preparing Farms to Successfully Manage Risk. The webinars will be held on Mondays from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm starting November 16, 2015 through December 7, 2015. Participants can login from their home or office computer to access the webinar. The sessions will cover the following topics:
Session 1 – Farm Business Planning and Systems Management
- Is the operation large enough and profitable enough to provide family living draw?
- Is the business plan built on economic considerations?
- Is there an adequate system for obtaining management information and monitoring business performance?
Session 2 – Introduction to Financial Statement
- Balance sheet – a summary of all the assets and liability of the business at one point in time.
- Income statement – reflects the profitability over a period of time.
- Statement of cash flows – reconciles the beginning and ending cash on the balance sheet.
- Statement of owner equity – reconciles beginning and ending owner equity on the balance sheet.
- Projected cash flow budget – lists anticipated cash flow in and out of the business.
Session 3 – Financial Ratios – Legal 21
- Liquidity – what are options to correct liquidity concerns?
- Solvency –what options does a farm owner have in correcting this?
- Profitability – rate of return on farm assets…can I really affect this?
- Repayment Capacity – do I have the ability to repay the loan on the next farm?
- Financial Efficiency – am I using my money to its fullest potential?
Session 4 – Using Financial Data to Drive Decisions
- Determining risk capacity of the business
- Capital improvement plan (short and long term)
- Individual enterprise analysis to determine profitable enterprises
- Decision time using case farms
Farm business owners, interested in this free webinar, can register by clicking http://go.osu.edu/farmwebsurvey. For additional information contact Chris Bruynis at bruynis.1@osu.edu or by calling 740-702-3200.
Those registered by Thursday, November 12th will receive the login information and course material on Friday November 13th by email.