Learn from my onsite experience; how to deploy QuickBooks software solutions for Poultry farm production and inventory management.
Running a poultry farming is not as straight forward as other general retail or manufacturing business where you only buy and resell products. It’s a business run by people or entrepreneurs who are willing to invest their time, money and energy at the initial stage, exercise patient, grow and employ more staff as the farm expands.
For growth-oriented managers who are concerned about cash flow and how resources are utilised, I will be sharing tips on how I deployed QuickBooks accounting software for their line of business with takeaways. Poultry farming is one of the areas I don’t implement accounting software the same way I have always done in other lines of sectors – real diligence is required to take account balances from manual to software automation.
Poultry farming is one of the areas I don’t just implement accounting software the same way I have always done in other lines of sectors – real diligence is required to take livestock and relevant account balances from manual to software automation.
Let me highlight key needs of farmers looking for an accounting software:
- Keep track of farming equipment and their value.
- Track all feed purchases, unit of measures, quantity in store, materials consumed and their corresponding cost.
- Monitor the value of crate of egg produced, livestock, a summary of sales and expenses incurred on site.
- View overall farm performance; profit or loss, customers who owe you, cashflow, etc.
Why did I highlight needs first? In the business of software implementation, understanding a client’s need is the most important; without that, you may have a diverse opinion, not implement the right solution and at the end make the client incur more cost. It’s on this premise that I always send out project initiation document (PID), a very important document that defines the scope of the overall project, deliverables, timeline and cost. The client also reviews the scope to confirm that what’s stated is in line with their ultimate goal.
Deploying QuickBooks For Poultry Farming
The first step is to request for account balances; customers and receivables, suppliers and payables, livestock on hand, fixed assets, banks and other relevant figures necessary for setup. Once these requirements are ready, the next step is to install the software on a network (if it’s a multi-user access) or a single computer.
Please note that installation and setup can also be done remotely; I have successfully implemented QuickBooks on a client’s system in Calabar from Lagos. So, you don’t have to invite me physically if the cost of invite and logistics outweighs your budget, TeamViewer is the best software available for free download and remote access.
Let’s do a brief run down on one of the most important customizations:
- To add current inventories, I use the “item list” window to load all livestock, feeds, the crate of egg and map them to cost of sales and sales income account.
- For livestock productions, I use “Adjust stock window” to increase the quantity and value and select the equity account as the corresponding credit leg for the “inventory account”. The cost of production (livestock feeds and other production expenses) are already accounted for as the cost of sales.
- For sales, there are “invoice” and “sales receipt” window designed for credit and cash sales respectively.
- All chicken coop (hen house) were treated as fixed assets and their cost appropriately recorded. Provision for depreciation was also made for future replacement.
- Other deliverables like banking, fund transfer, reconciliation, sales summary, stock report, profit or loss, cash flow, statement of financial position, any other features available in an accounting software were also worked for quick decision making.
While these are just a part-summary of what QuickBooks deployed for farming business looks like, you can also connect us if you have more specific accounting and bookkeeping challenges to address in your farm. Contact our client support centre at info@accountingsoftware.com.ng