Farmers – tips & tricks to improve your processes
The start of a new financial year is a great opportunity to do some housekeeping and streamline your business administration so you can spend less time on admin.
- Have you moved your record keeping into the cloud? Software such as Xero, Figured, FarmFocus and others allow you to store important documents attached directly to your bank transactions, reducing your reliance on keeping (or losing) physical paper copies.
- Linking your FarmSource, PGG Wrightson and Farmlands accounts into Xero will save a lot of time when it comes to coding your transactions.
- Permanent documents such as sale & purchase agreements, hire purchase documents or employment documentation can be uploaded to Xero Files or Hubdoc.
- Livestock numbers – we use a Figured ledger to track livestock at year end. If you are looking at other functions within the Figured system please reach out to us so we can share our experience and look at options for real time tracking.
Don’t know where to start with any of these suggestions? Please get in touch – we can help!
The bigger picture – common pitfalls
Working on your farming business is just as important as working in your business.
- If you’re an employer, ensure your employment contracts comply with all relevant legislation. Common mistakes we see are:
- Not having a signed employment agreement in place before starting work. This voids the 90-day trial period, opens you up to health & safety issues, and you risk fines for non-compliance.
- Not paying staff minimum wage. Especially during peak times such as calving it is important to ensure your staff pay doesn’t drop below minimum wage ($23.15 per hour).
- Not keeping accurate timesheets and/or tracking employee leave. This risks future complications around leave payments and health & safety claims should an accident occur.
- Keep the farm finances separate from your personal spending.
- Be pro-active and talk to us prior to embarking on new business ventures such as buying a new farm.
- Is your existing business structure fit for purpose when accommodating the new venture? For example, should a new company be incorporated? Have GST implications been considered?
- Have the new purchase price allocation (PPA) rules been complied with?
- Do you have an exit plan? Getting out of business is just as important as getting into business.
- This is usually a farmer’s biggest payday, planning for this in advance will avoid any tax surprises and will help guide your decisions until the day comes.
- Often farms will stay in the family if have you got a succession plan in place.
As always, get in touch with our team, and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge to help you navigate various business challenges.