Farm Financial Standards Council

FFSC Home

Employment – Staff Accountant

by Leave a Comment

Progressive Agricultural Company in Bonita, Arizona is seeking energetic accounting professional to fill a full-time position for Staff Accountant. A minimum of 1-2 year experience as staff accountant is preferred, other related work experience may be considered.  Salary commensurate with previous experience. Interested qualified candidates may forward a resume to bonitaag@vtc.net or FAX: 520-384-0333.

Job Description and Application may be requested by e-mailing bonitaag@vtc.net, attention “Staff Accountant.” 

Please follow and like us:
error

Financial Guidelines Documents Receive Updates

by 1 Comment

Screen Shot 2014-01-02 at 11.31.03 AM(Menomonee Falls, WI, Dec. 16, 2016) Both the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture and the Management Accounting Guidelines for Agriculture have received updates in their contents and are now available (January 1, 2016) for online purchase and download. Both documents are produced by the Farm Financial Standards Council.

According to Todd Doehring, Centrec Consulting, Savoy, IL, co-chair of the organization’s Technical Committee, there have been “significant revisions to the Financial Guidelines, including rewriting of Sections I – IV, with a specific focus on consistency in terminology, removing extraneous comments, and making the topics more parallel in coverage.” He notes that this document has undergone annual revising for the past 6 years. The most significant change in the document came in 2014 when 40 pages were added covering Hedging.

Doehring says the Management Accounting document was last updated in 2005 and changes now are primarily cosmetic in nature. “We made minor corrections and changes to Appendix A to remove 2004 dates and replace them with generic dates.”

The Financial Guidelines for Agriculture were first developed by the Council in 1993 in an effort to bring uniformity and standardization to agricultural financial reporting. The purpose of the Guidelines is to assist farmers and ranchers and their financial advisors in preparing financial statements using standardized terminology and templates. The document contains many worksheets that can be replicated for this purpose. The document also contains the original “Sweet 16” financial ratios for preparing financial reports. This group has since been expanded to 21 ratios.

The Management Accounting Guidelines were developed in 2001 and are intended for larger operations. Its use can be helpful for organizations needing enterprise accounting reports.

Please follow and like us:
error

Farm Futures Boot Camp 2016

by Leave a Comment

2016_FF_Boot_Camp_550x260_header_early_birdThe Farm Financial Standards Council is proudly working with Farm Futures Magazine to present the Farm Futures Boot Camp. The event will be held January 20, 2016 at St. Louis Union Station.

Get more information and register here.

Great business management starts with a broad understanding of dollars and cents. This one-day program is designed specifically for farmers and business managers who understand the basics of financial recordkeeping, but want more information on how to use financial records to make sound management and production decisions. Topics include:

* Do you have the right data to make the best financial decisions
* Working with your lender to manage working capital, cash flow and debt service
* How to read a financial statement and balance a balance sheet
* How to do a financial stress test on your business and make decisions based on the results
* Family living costs: the Achilles heal in 2016 cash flow
* … and more

The content of the agenda qualifies for 4.0 Illinois Public Accountants Continuing Education Credits. State of Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, License # 158-002205. Certificates of Attendance will be made available to those persons requesting them at the program on January 20.

Please follow and like us:
error

Neiffer to Head Farm Financial Standards Council

by Leave a Comment

neifferPaul Neiffer (center) was elected to serve as 2015-16 president of the Farm Financial Standards Council during the organization’s annual conference held in July in Kennewick, WA. Neiffer is a principal with ClifftonLarsonAllen, LLP, in Kennewick. Neiffer is flanked to his right by Stephen Severe, CFO of Padlock Ranch, Ranchester, WY, who will serve as the organization’s vice president. The secretary/treasurer of the Council is Janice P. Bitter, vice president of Farm Credit East, Homer, NY.

While meeting in Kennewick, the Council approved the adoption of new versions of the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture and the Management Accounting Guidelines for Agriculture. Both documents have undergone revisions to style and format and the new versions will become available in January 2016. The original Financial Guidelines were introduce in 1993 as a guide for bringing industry-wide uniformity in assisting farm and ranch owners / managers and their accounting teams to develop standardized financial recordkeeping formats and programs. The organization’s new membership program was also discussed at the meeting.

Please follow and like us:
error

2015 Ag Finance Boot Camp

by Leave a Comment

108 farmers, ranchers, land owners, accountants and others allied to farm financial programs weathered cold temperatures to attend the 2015 Ag Finance Boot Camp sponsored by Farm Futures magazine in St. Louis on January 6.

The audience was literally from coast to coast including individuals from Oregon, California and Nevada to New York state, Florida, and even Winnepeg, Manitoba. The day-long program covered topics including:

• Financial Management IS better decision-making
• Why financial recordkeep- ing is more than cash-basis accounting
• Understanding income statements, cash flows and owner equity
• Accrual transactions
• Using ratio analysis tools
•Financial Resources avail- able.

Presenters from the council were Paul Neiffer, CliftonLarsonAllen, Yakima, WA; Todd Doehring, Centrec Consulting, Savoy, IL; Dale Nordquist, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN; and Nate Splett, Center for Farm Profitability, UW Extension, Madison, WI.

The group gathered as a general assembly to start and end the day’s program, but was split into two separate tracks during the day. All attending received a copy of the 2015 Financial Guidelines for Agriculture as part of their registration to attend.

Please follow and like us:
error

Employment – Business Consultant

by Leave a Comment

Farm Credit East has an open position for a business consultant in Maine.

SUMMARY OF POSITION: This job provides high level consulting services for a fee to Farm Credit East clients in the areas of intergenerational transfer, estate/retirement planning, entity selection and implementation, business dissolution, profitability improvement and business planning/ management. This position is expected to have seasoned knowledge in various business management topics including farm taxation, the interpersonal skills to work in a consultative manner with farm business people and the drive to seek out and sell sufficient consulting engagements to meet billing goals. This position requires travel primarily within Maine with occasional training/meeting travel to other parts of the Northeast.

For more information, and to apply, download this position description position description.

Please follow and like us:
error

AICPA Agricultural Online Conference

by Leave a Comment

Agriculture-C2BThe AICPA is holding its Agricultural Online Conference from May 7-May 9.

This comprehensive conference is dedicated to the needs of CPAs who work within the agriculture industry. Critical sessions that highlight the latest industry issues, economic trends and techniques used in the agricultural industry are the backbone of this conference. In one convenient location, you’ll hear from leading agriculture speakers who will provide you with the information you need to network, grow your business and your agriculture client base.

You can register here.

*Tax Section Members of the AICPA can also save an additional $100.

Conference Schedule:
(This conference is being broadcast live from Austin, Texas- Central Time.)

Wed., May 7 – 1pm-6:30pm Central Time
Thurs., May 8 – 8:00am-5:40pm Central Time
Fri., May 9 – 8:00am-1:10pm Central Time

This conference will also cover:
· Tips and practice aids to allow a proactive approach with agriculture clients and to help you gain a competitive edge
· Tools to provide better service and greater value to your clients with a proactive approach
· Emerging trends and networking with peers who have a vested interest in the agriculture industry
· Crucial accounting and tax updates and expert advice you need to keep up with the rapidly changing agriculture industry
· Tips on how to keep your clients’ agribusiness on track with the latest technical know-how and updates on new standards
· Estate planning strategies for farmers

Get more information on the conference here.

Important Information on your CPE Credit

Please follow and like us:
error