Are you planning for profit or just hoping it will happen?
A financial analysis process should begin by considering the farm business as a whole. Questions to consider include:
What is the financial condition according to the balance sheet and a review of net worth?
How much debt is there?
Is the debt manageable taking into account obligations such as taxes, family living expenditures, and business expansion?
Does the income statement indicate that the business is profitable?
Are resources (land, labour, capital) efficiently used by the business?
Knowing the answers to these questions will allow the farmer to gain control—to pave out a path they are ready and able for.
A good foundation is half the battle in running a successful business. The Teagasc eProfit Monitor allows you to analyse your past performance in detail. You can also benchmark your performance against your peers, the national average and top 20%.
You can only plan accurately for the future if you know where you have come from. So, to assist our clients, ifac—in conjunction with Teagasc—have designed a Data Report that allows you to quickly and efficiently complete the Teagasc eProfit Monitor at year-end.
Why do it?
Focusing on completing your 2018 farm accounts with your ifac book keeper early in 2019 will give you a good picture of your financial performance for the year. You can take this information to your Local Teagasc Adviser for further analysis. This is a good habit to get into every year and is especially important as farmers face into 2019. Over 1,600 farmers are currently using the Teagasc/ ifac Profit Monitor Input Data Report and the demand is growing. The Teagasc eProfit Monitor will analyse the financial performance of your farm on a whole farm basis and/or on an individual enterprise basis. This report will help your business operate at a high level of technical and financial efficiency.
The future ambition of Irish farming is to be one of the best exporting farm industries in the world built on stable, sustainable farm businesses that provide a satisfactory standard of living for farmers. Having the right tools in place, and knowing that ifac and Teagasc are ready to help, will enable farmers to deal with any issues that may arise in the coming years. There have been difficult trading conditions in the past and this will continue into the future. Farmers need to be in control through effective financial planning. The key is to ‘ride the storm’ and experienced farmers are well aware of the need to steer a steady path.
The report provides all of the financial data required to complete your Teagasc eProfit Monitor with your local Teagasc Advisor.
Benefits of using the report include:
Speed: Figures assembled and ready for input
Accurate: Based on your book keeper’s reconciled accounts
Flexible: Available over any time period
Ease of Use: Transcribe from paper or online to Teagasc eProfit Monitor
For more information or to request your ifac /Teagasc Profit Monitor Data Report, please contact your local ifac office, your ifac book keeper, your local Teagasc advisor or call 1800 334422.
(Please note ifac do NOT complete the eProfit monitor, ifac provide the information to Teagasc to allow a Teagasc run the eProfit Monitor Report)