By Red Wing Software

Overhead expenses are those production and non-production costs not readily traceable to specific profit centers or production center details. Although overhead expenses are not directly related to any specific area of your business, they do play a part in the profitability of each area. Account distributions can be used to automate the process of expensing overhead to profit centers or production center details.

Expenses can be distributed by percentage, by acre or by head, and can be distributed at the time the expenses are entered or later when you know exactly how they should be distributed. A distribution can be set up that distributes all overhead expenses, or distributions can be set up for various scenarios. For example, you could distribute utility costs to the various entities of the business. Distributions can also be used to distribute unallocated revenue, such as a government ag payment.

EXAMPLE:

Overhead expenses, such as insurance expenses, will be distributed to all profit centers based on each profit center’s percent of total gross revenue. In our example, dairy is 55% of the operation. Crop is 45% with two crops of corn (60%) and soybeans (40%).

If the insurance bill is $1,000:

• $550 insurance expense would be allocated to dairy.
• $270 insurance expense would be allocated to corn.
• $180 insurance expense would be allocated to soybeans.

Allocate your overhead expenses correctly with account distributions, and you’ll have a better idea about your true product costs.

By Stephanie Elsen

Are you looking for something better to handle the financial information for your farm? You might be wondering if you came to the right place. During the search process, you probably noticed that there are many accounting software programs available. It can be hard to decide between them all. Here are some statistics about the people who choose Red Wing Software’s CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture to handle their farm’s financial information.

• About 55% need agriculture-specific features or accounting features that work well for farms. By far, the number one reason people move to CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture is that they want to enter and track information specific to how a farm operates. Functions such as production analysis, multiple quantity inventory tracking, and ag-specific ratio analysis (and much more) provide meaningful information, so it is easier to make profitable decisions for your farm.
• 27% are outgrowing their basic accounting software. Those who began by using a basic or “shelf” software program can find that as they grow, it can no longer handle their needs. Perhaps they need to manage more than one entity, or the number of transactions has become too large for their current system. In these situations and many more, CenterPoint is a great program to look at. It can handle the multiple entities, and there is no hard limit to the data that can be entered and stored.
• 18% are new farms. Farms and agricultural operations just starting up can definitely benefit from the accounting and financial tools offered in CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture. Why not start with a program you know can grow as your operation grows, and can give you the information you need, in the way you need to see it. Staying on top of financial trends and knowing your profitability from the start can really help you grow!

Make the right decision for your farm. Red Wing Software and CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture have helped thousands of farm accounting software users manage their financial information. Contact us today to see how we can help you by calling 800-732-9464 or e-mailing info@redwingsoftware.com.

By Stephanie Elsen

Great post here by Ed Clark, Top Producer Business and Issues Editor about using a budget to improve cash flow. CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture can help with this also!

http://www.agweb.com/farmjournal/article/cash_flow_success/

By Stephanie Elsen

CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture helps farms nationwide become more profitable with financial tools made specifically for farms and agricultural operations. Learn more about how CenterPoint can help your farm by watching this video!

CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture is rich with features that can help you and your operation. In this post we have uncovered some ‘hidden gems’, features within CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture that you may not currently be using, but that can help you and your business. These are features that our customers and the Red Wing Software support team have described as valuable, yet you may not be aware they are available. They are actually not at all hidden, but readily available within the program for you to use!

1. Split Expenses CenterPoint allows you the option of splitting expenses by enterprise and expense. You can set up expenses to be split by a percentage to the office, a percentage to the farm, etc. This is a huge time saver and helps you distribute expenses accurately.
2. Ratio Analysis Bankers have been using ratio analysis for years, and now you can use the same technology to analyze how your farm is doing, and compare to how other farmers are doing. CenterPoint makes it easy to generate this type of information and use it to improve your operation. (The Ratio Analysis module is available for purchase as an additional option for CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture.)
3. Customizable Transaction Entry Make transaction entry much easier by only stopping on fields where you enter data often. CenterPoint also allows you to add, remove and sort columns on the transaction entry screen for quicker and easier entry.
4. Reminders Set up reminders in CenterPoint Accounting to help keep you organized and on time! Reminders can be set up as “Conditional Balance Reminders” that tell you when you checking balance goes below a certain number, ”Payable Reminders” that remind you to pay your accounts payable invoices, “Scheduled Reminders” that let you setup any kind of a reminder for a certain day to pay rent, maintain your equipment, and more.
5. Amortization Schedule Use the CenterPoint Amortization Schedule to calculate interest and principal amounts when planning for loans.
6. “What-If” Scenarios Gain control of your finances by creating “what-if” scenarios in CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture. This powerful feature allows you to project future sales, cash flow, income statements, assets and liabilities. You can compare “what-if” budgets with actual and projected figures for years into the future. Once you start tracking this information consistently, your farm operation will begin to operate more smoothly and profitably.
7. Customizable reports You have the ability to pull out the information you need, whether requested by auditors, management, or others. CenterPoint makes it easy with the ability to modify reports, or even create a custom report from scratch. No need to be a programmer; the custom report tools are built for all users!

Wondering how to get started using these hidden gems? Call today and we will be happy to help you! 800-732-9464.