Agribusiness

Accurate and flexible business solutions are important, particularly for agribusinesses that require real-time information. Here at BES, we have developed a suite of solutions to assist in the management of large or multi location farms to ensure success for our clients.

Our customers include corporate farming entities and organisations that service the agri-sector such as Fieldays, Federated Farmers and Dairy NZ.

Complex agribusiness issues that BES can solve

Move from cash to accrual accounting

Accrual accounting will show you a true picture of your current financial position and is therefore the best basis for planning or making important decisions.

Using dashboards to make better decisions

Research shows that it is easier to understand many data items when they are displayed graphically. BES can create these for you, to provide the facts from which you can make better decisions.

Livestock tracking/accounting

An accurate and current value of all of your livestock is now possible with this new solution.

Managing multiple farms

Comprehensive and flexible, this solution will allow you to manage your individual farms and/or consolidate in various ways.

Managing procurement and approvals

Enhance your procurement process with a requisition and approval process – the benefit to you will be the assurance that budgets and delegated authorities have been adhered to.

Budgeting and forecasting

We offer budgeting and forecasting systems which are easy and flexible to use. This ease of use extends to reflecting changes that will impact your business – for example, changes in the dairy payout.

FAQs

What is accrual accounting and how can BES help farm managers transition to this method?

Accrual accounting recognises transactions as they occur, regardless of when cash is received or paid. This approach provides a more accurate financial picture compared to cash accounting, which recognises revenues and expenses only when cash is received or paid out.

Many farm managers are reluctant to adopt accrual accounting due to its perceived complexity. However, we have a team of qualified accountants who can provide assistance with the transition from cash accounting.

The Sage 300 ERP accounting solution can simplify the process for farm managers. It has an integrated AP and AR process that ensures invoices and payments are allocated to the correct time period. The system can even handle deferred milk payouts, feed on hand, and show the impact of creditors or livestock movement. The Asset Management system also correctly provides for depreciation and amortisation, while reflecting the correct financial period for unusual events such as prepayment provisions, irregular revenue received or expenditures.

How can the BES dashboards help farming businesses?

The BES team have developed business intelligence (BI) dashboards that display both financial and operational data related to farming businesses.

We use a leading BI solution to create powerful graphical visualisations that eliminate the need for hundreds of spreadsheets. These dashboards can be accessed from anywhere and always present up-to-date data.

The data presented on the dashboards can be financial, operational, weather, industry benchmarks, and more, across multiple farms. They can graphically show a range of data, such as the total kg of milk solids per hectare, average production per cow or herd per hectare, and the impact of milk payout changes on budgets for the remainder of the year, as well as historical data of stock purchases and sales proceeds.

We can work with farming businesses to identify the data that is important to them for current and future planning needs, using templates developed for the farming sector. By removing the need for hundreds of spreadsheets, these dashboards save time and eliminate errors that come with duplicate data entry.

How does BES help farm managers understand livestock values in real time?

We offer a livestock tracking programme that allows you to keep track of your livestock's current value in real time. This programme is seamlessly integrated into the Sage 300 ERP system and provides flexibility in tracking the value of your livestock based on animal classifications that make sense to you. Additionally, the programme automatically tracks changes in animal numbers, value increases and reclassifications.

Livestock Tracking

Animal classes configurable for each site
Perpetual inventory – purchases, sales, births, deaths and missing animals
Revaluation monthly for increase in value
Reports on number of animals by farm and by class
Full audit trail of transactions

How does BES provide flexibility in managing complex company structures for farming businesses?

We offer solutions that cater to the accounting systems, business management, and reporting requirements of farming companies. Farms can optimise the system to report as a single farm view, multiple farms, or a consolidated view of all farms depending on the specific needs of the customer.

Funding providers often require financial reporting, including consolidations, budgeting, and multi-year forecasting, which the BES system that supports multiple farms can produce. The BES team has vast experience in managing complex company structures and can provide customised solutions based on the customer's unique farm holding and consolidation requirements.

By offering flexible solutions and expert guidance, BES helps farming companies make informed decisions and take timely actions to manage their business effectively.

How can farming businesses benefit from budgeting and forecasting systems?

Although it is an aspiration for farming businesses to have a fully automated budgeting and forecasting system which would allow the individual farm managers to contribute and be easily consolidated, this is a process that is usually done manually.

We have many years of experience in helping customers with automating their budgeting and forecasting. We regularly help with Excel imports to the correct cost centres and our knowledge of Sage 300 ERP also assists with this process. We can also provide templates and other examples to ensure that developing budgets is completed as efficiently as possible.