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Accounting/Book Keeping Software

5K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  luuk 
#1 ·
I've been going over my "books" from this past year and I've been becoming increasingly frustrated with the system I'm using. It's just a self populated excel spread sheet and it's just not cutting it any more. Which leads me to my question, what accounting/book keeping software are you guys using and what do you like about it and what don't you like?

I've started looking into some simple options like Quickbooks, but are there any option that are more suitable for the agriculture market (i.e. keeping track of grain contracts, inventory, break even price, ect.) And does anyone have experience with Farm Work - Accounting? Looking at it online it's great (or so they say) but does anyone have any real experience with it?
 
#3 ·
I also use ag expert from FCC. It would be money well spent, as it can be tailored for your farm. If you are in canada, it will process GST, agri stability, and many other reports. If not in Canada, it will work great for general record keeping. My advice is to make sure you take some time and get your chart of accounts (bank accounts, income, expense, loans, equity etc) all set up correctly before you begin entering information. It will save a lot of time in the long run. They do have support available to get this done as well.
 
#5 ·
I still use an excel spread sheet for everything, set up in column like a ledger to strip out taxes and place into the appropriate columns. My last 2 columns are set up to give a zero result/check to make sure I don't misplace items in the columns. Scanning this column tells me I have everything entered into my ledger correctly. The only problems I have to watch is to make sure I am summing up columns properly. I then can transfer the numbers from my columns directly to my tax form. I do another spreadsheet for income.

What issues are you finding? I know years ago my issues were related to always copying and pasting to cheat my lines through on the spreadsheet. After making a zero/result check column at the end of spreadsheet, my problems disappeared. My brother is happy using the FCC Ag Expert program. The only problem he has is that it is an accounting program which if you make an entry error, you can only change it by making a correction entry. I believe he also pays a yearly fee and every once in a while has to phone in because he doesn't know how to handle all his transactions. As long as you keep updating the software, they will advise you on these issues. It does have some bugs but when he phones in they always have work arounds for them.

I use Turbo Tax and transfer my numbers from spreadsheet to it and costs me the price of that software every year. I still use MS Office 97 which works fine for me If you need some tips with spreadsheet, PM me, maybe I can help make your present system more workable for you or better.
 
#6 ·
It does have some bugs but when he phones in they always have work arounds for them.
Hello RunninREDharD
Yes, I just wasted 1 hr. catching up on book work using it. It made a mistake & I had to revert to my snapshot that I took before I started the session.
It's pretty good, but like all computer programs, they do make mistakes!:( Whoever says, "Computers don't make mistakes, just the person using them" is full of ****!!! I'm not sure if it was the actual AgExpert program or just my PC acting up?:confused: I've been using the program for years & am quite familiar with it. It is not something that I was imagining or overlooked. It's not the first time that it has screwed up!!!:mad::mad::mad:
I was adjusting my inventories at month end like I always do. I was removing some crops that I had harvested from my "crops growing" (inputs to date) category & entering them into my "grain inventory" & "feed inventory". After doing my silage corn & some others previously, I started on my barley, the last one, when it hit me.:D Where was the scroll down menu to choose what category of adjusting the quantity value???:confused::confused::confused: It wasn't there for all the previous inventory adjustments!!! I checked my AgriStability Supplementary report & sure enough those figures that I had entered did not show up in the production column or the ending inventory columns!!!:rolleyes:
After I reverted to my previous snapshot, I tried to adjust an inventory & the scroll down menu appeared as it should.
Yup, these computers are a real time saver!!!;):rolleyes:
 
#11 ·
Yes you can breakdown your costs field by field or however you want to do it by using the "class" column as you pay bills. You would have to breakdown the expense as you enter it and assign whichever portion you want to whichever field or commodity you choose. It's pretty simple. I use Quickbooks but keep my inventory on a spreadsheet.
 
#13 ·
I have been using Farm Works for 4 years now. It can go indepth as you want or become fairly basic. My advise with Farm Works is that it is the best at nothing and only one I have found does everything. Accounting only, I like quickbooks the best and many accountants use it also, except mine. If you are good at keeping records and like to break things down to cost per field. I would suggest Farm Works. If you do it, get it all that you will use. Starting with half then changing does not work at all. Mapping and Accounting. At least not 4 years ago when I did this. I started all over. I had only mapping the added accounting.
 
#16 ·
I use quickbooks.
When I started to use software for accounting I actually wanted to use ag expert but my accountant adviced against it. The reason was that they use quickbooks and by using the same program as them I can just make a backup copy on a memory stick and give it to them to do year end report and tax returns. This way they have all the information without having to re-enter it.
I have been very happy with quickbooks used it for 11 years now.
 
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