Guidelines
Today’s business environment in agriculture is becoming increasingly complex. Producers need to process large amounts of information from a variety of sources in order to operate efficiently and effectively. The accounting systems that farmers and ranchers employ must generate information for external reporting to creditors, government agencies and others. In addition, accurate meaningful information is required for internal use in order to make good business decisions.
The Farm Financial Standards Council offers two sets of guidelines to aid producers in capturing this information, preparing reports and performing financial analysis in a uniform manner. These guidelines are not static, but are subject to ongoing updating and review in the context of continual monitoring of financial issues that are relevant to agriculture.
The Financial Guidelines for Agricultural Production provides recommended standards for format and content of financial reports, recommended financial measures common to all sectors of agriculture, and example statements and measures.
The Management Accounting Guidelines for Agricultural Production responds to the ever-increasing need for consistent, reliable, and accurate management information systems to support day-to-day production decisions.
What’s New with the Financial Guidelines?
- Addition of five new financial measures to the recommended financial ratios and measures.
- Revised recommendations for calculating depreciation, with a goal of providing a more accurate picture of financial performance and avoiding inconsistencies caused by use of tax-based depreciation methods.
- Revised example sets of financial statements and measures to demonstrate these revisions as well as the recommendations of the entire set of guidelines.
Copyright and Use Information
Please note that the two PDF documents, the Financial Guidelines for Agricultural Producers and Management Accounting Guidelines for Agricultural Producers, are copyrighted materials with that copyright belonging to the Farm Financial Standards Council. As such, they are protected by U.S. copyright law.
If you are intending to use these materials in a teaching environment, please treat these PDFs as you would any other copyrighted material. Permission is not granted for the posting of the contents of these documents with downloads available at no charge.
If you wish to inquire regarding bulk usage of the PDFs, please contact the offices of the Council directly:
Farm Financial Standards Council
N78W14573 Appleton Ave., #287
Menomonee Falls, WI 53051
262-253-6902
cmerry@countryside-marketing.com
Free Implementation Guide
Our implementation guide is designed as a supplement to users of the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture and Management Accounting Guidelines for Agriculture. This implementation guide is intended to be an assist in applying the various ratios, statements, and other elements of the latest editions of the Guidelines. Register here to get your free copy.
Free Lender’s Summary
This Lender’s Summary from the Farm Financial Standards Council provides valuable guidance on using standardized accounting methods. Adopting these practices will lead to more effective financial analysis and benchmarking for both lenders and producers. The document is highly recommended for anyone involved in farm financial management and analysis. Sign up here to download it.
