Finish the year strong, clean up your books and start the new year with confidence.

Year-End Close: A Checklist for Agricultural Producers

Debits and credits are the building blocks of your farm accounting operation, keeping your farm’s financial records accurate and meaningful. Here’s how they work.

Debits and Credits: A Practical Guide

Track where your money comes from, where it’s going and how each part of the business is doing.

What’s My General Ledger and How Does It Work?

A C Corp can be an excellent choice for larger operations looking to raise capital or provide strong limited liability protection for their owners, however it’s important to weigh the complexity and tax implications.

C Corporations: A Decision Guide for Farmers and Ranchers

FMV helps you understand the value of your assets, and you’ll need to figure it when submitting an insurance claim, applying for a loan or filing your taxes. Here’s how it works.

What Is Fair Market Value (FMV) and How Does It Work?

Calculating COGS helps you price with clarity, understand profitability and make changes based on numbers, not instinct. 

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS): Definition, Formulas and Examples

Liquid assets like cash, receivables and inventory–also known as current assets–are the lifeblood of your business, funding ongoing activities and keeping the business moving.

Current Assets: Definitions, Calculations and Examples

Properly writing down your inventory is crucial, helping ensure its value is accurately reflected in your books while reducing taxable income. 

What Is an Inventory Write-Down, and How Does It Work?

Sometimes you don’t have to make assumptions about your inventory costs. That’s where the specific identification method comes in. 

Specific Identification Method: Definitions, Examples and Best Practices

When prices fluctuate, the weighted average cost method can smooth out volatility and simplify recordkeeping.

Weighted Average Cost (WAC): Definitions, Examples and Best Practices

LIFO assumes that newer, more recently-produced or purchased inventory is sold or used first. Here’s what that means for your profitability and your tax bill. 

Last-In, First-Out (LIFO): Definitions, Examples and Best Practices

If you deal with perishable goods, you might already use FIFO in your day-to-day work. Here’s what it means for your inventory accounting, your profitability and your tax bill.

First-In, First-Out (FIFO): Definition, Examples and Best Practices

Farmers have numerous methods available to them, each of which can impact profitability, balance sheet values and taxes. Here’s how they work.

Which Farm Inventory Valuation Method Should I Use?

Accounting for your farm inventories properly can help you secure funding, streamline your expenses and more accurately measure profitability.

Farm Inventory Accounting 101

A trial balance makes it easy to scan your books for potential mistakes. Here’s how to prepare one properly.

Trial Balance: Best Practices, Definitions and Examples

Holding onto your receipts might not seem like a big deal at first, but it can help you get funded, shrink your tax bill, encourage better financial habits and give you peace of mind.

Five Reasons Why it Pays to Hold Onto Your Receipts

Regularly reconciling your books with your bank statements can help you catch bookkeeping errors, prevent fraud and ensure your records match reality.

What Is a Bank Reconciliation, and How Does It Work?

An LLC could protect your personal assets from creditors and lawsuits, lower your tax bill and make succession planning easier, but it comes with lots of caveats too.

Limited Liability Companies (LLCs): A Decision Guide for Farmers

Set your livestock operation up for success with organized records and a reliable bookkeeping routine.

Ranch Bookkeeping 101: A Checklist

Keeping petty cash topped up ensures you can cover spur-of-the-moment expenses while tracking day-to-day spending.

How to Use a Petty Cash Record Book

Mixing business and personal transactions can create financial blind spots, run up your tax bill and make it difficult to plan for the future. Here’s how to separate them properly.

Separating Business and Personal Finances: A Checklist

Customers paying late? Want to get paid faster? It might be time to take a closer look at your accounts receivable. 

Accounts Receivable (AR): Definitions, Best Practices and Examples

It’s never too early to organize your books

How to Make Farm Recordkeeping More Efficient

Learn which accounting method will work best for your business

Understanding Accounting Methods: Cash vs Accrual Basis

Learn about the building blocks of finance – journal entries. 

Intro to Journal Entries

Track farm finances by enterprise for better insights and profitability

Accounting Basics