All About...
The QuickBooks
Farm Accounting
Cookbook™ |
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The QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook™ (ISBN
0-9673083-0-5), by Mark Wilsdorf, is a step-by-step guide and quick
reference to setting up and using the QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro
accounting programs in agriculture.
The first 92 pages are devoted to the basics of setting up and
getting started with QuickBooks in a farm business, including
ideas and approaches for setting up the Chart of Accounts and
enterprise Classes, details about QuickBooks' EasyStep interview,
discussions highlighting QuickBooks features most farm businesses
should use and features most farm businesses should avoid!
Here are some of the Cookbook's topics specifically for
QuickBooks newcomers:
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Setting up QuickBooks for a farm business |
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QuickBooks features you should use...and features to avoid! |
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Planning and setting up your Chart of Accounts |
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Deciding which account types to use |
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Setting up Classes (enterprise codes) to meet your
information goals |
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Setting up QuickBooks Items |
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Managing farm business bills effectively |
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How to keep your records current |
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Reconciling your checkbook and credit card accounts |
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Why you should let QuickBooks print your checks |
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How to get real work done: using QuickBooks effectively |
Pages 93 - 360 are devoted mostly to farm business transaction
examples and explanations. This section reveals the reason for
the books "Cookbook" name: it is loaded with a
detailed, step-by-step "recipes" for entering farm
business transactions. Topics include everything from basic income
and expense entries, to details on handling farm-specific types of
transactions--like how to deduct commissions and hauling from a milk
check or livestock sale receipts, how to work with grain and
livestock inventories in the QuickBooks inventory system, how to get
reports with quantity information like average price received per
bushel, and more. Here are some of the Cookbook's topics:
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Recording cash income |
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Deducting expenses (hauling, commissions, etc.) from a
deposit |
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Withholding cash from a deposit |
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Recording milk checks, capital retains, and revolvements |
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Accounting for resale livestock |
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Recording patronage dividends |
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Tracking quantities of things you sell (bushels, pounds,
etc.) |
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Handling grain inventories |
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Recording cash discounts |
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Handling credits on account at the farm supply dealer |
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Recording refunds of expenses |
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The best way to enter farm & personal cash spending &
income |
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Tracking quantities of things you buy (gallons, tons, etc.) |
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Tracking family living expenses using equity accounts |
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Farm asset and liability basics |
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Tracking depreciable asset purchases and sales |
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Setting up accounts for loans and notes |
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Recording loan and mortgage payments |
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Borrowing/paying on a line of credit |
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Backing up and storing your QuickBooks records |
Most topics occupy just a few pages and include plenty of
QuickBooks screen shots, examples, and step-by-step procedures. More
important, the Cookbook's topics are
"compartmentalized" to make it a handy quick reference:
each example is a self-contained description of what you need to
know about entering a certain type of transaction, without
the need to read several chapters for background information first.
If your goal is to set up farm loan accounts or to enter a grain
sale or milk check, for example, you only need to read the short
section devoted to that topic.
The QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook™ was written
specifically for
farmers and ranchers. It was designed from
the ground up to help with setup, learning, and effective use of
QuickBooks in a farm business. And as a QuickBooks reference, the
Cookbook
provides quick answers to farm accounting questions, with a minimum
amount of reading.
Though written for farmers and ranchers, the Cookbook also
appeals to other audiences. Accountants working with farmers
and ranchers who use QuickBooks find the Cookbook a valuable
reference for helping their clients with QuickBooks setup and
operation. The same is true of other professionals such as Extension
agents and agricultural lenders.
Teachers in vocational agriculture and community education
programs find the Cookbook useful in the classroom as a
source of examples and ideas. Some QuickBooks trainers are
even using it as a student text in QuickBooks-based farm accounting
classes.
The Cookbook is meant for beginning- to
intermediate-level QuickBooks users. However, advanced users
also find it valuable as a reference.
Beginners usually suffer from information overload: there
are so many features in QuickBooks, it's hard to know which ones to
use! This book helps smooth out the "bumps in the road" to
getting started by recommending QuickBooks features most farm
businesses should use, and features most farm businesses should
avoid! It shows how to set up QuickBooks for a farm or ranch,
including tips on the EasyStep Interview and how to set up the Chart
of Accounts, Classes, Items, and other QuickBooks lists.
There are also tips and ideas on managing bill payments, keeping
records current even during busy seasons of the year, printing
checks and deposit slips, and bookkeeping habits that will make
using QuickBooks more effective and enjoyable.
Intermediate users will appreciate the quick-reference
design of the Cookbook: short to-the-point topics are indexed
by commodity, problem type, and example. Need to know how to deduct
expenses from a cash sale? Don't remember how to enter a transaction
you only use once a year? A quick check will give you the
answer--without reading more than a few pages!
Advanced users will appreciate the special sections and
"sidebar" discussions of advanced techniques and
QuickBooks operating details, that show how to go beyond the basics
to accomplish specific record keeping goals.
Mark Wilsdorf has worked with agricultural
software and accounting since 1981, as editor of AgriComp
Magazine, as a farm accounting columnist for Doane's Agricultural
Computing newsletter, as a developer of software and training
materials for the Extension Service with the University of Missouri,
and currently as president of Flagship Technologies, Inc. where he
remains involved with agricultural software development and
training.
The QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook™ Volume I:
QuickBooks Basics, Income & Expenses, and More..., by Mark
Wilsdorf, has a list price of $32.95. (The book's "street
price" is usually lower, both from Flagship Technologies and
other book sellers). The book is available direct from Flagship
Technologies, from Flagship's dealers, and through any book store
served by Ingrams, the nation's largest book wholesaler. To get the Cookbook
directly from Flagship Technologies you may order
online, order by mail or
FAX, or order by phone (call 660-291-3000).
