Standard Chart of Accounts also links with the farm business management tool DairyBase.
Rural accountants say dairy farmers will benefit from Dairy Australia’s new Standard Chart of Accounts with higher quality information for analysis leading to better informed decisions made on-farm.
Developed by Dairy Australia in response to requests from farmers and service providers, the Standard Chart of Accounts will also drive consistency in how the dairy industry reports and discusses farm business performance.
Phillipsons Accounting Services Director, Colin Wright, said a standardised way of recording income and expenditure was of great value to the dairy industry.
“It’s a really positive move across the board,” Mr Wright said.
“It will make it easier for the accountant to provide information to farmers that will allow them to compare their business performance over time, versus other farms and assist in the budgeting process.
“Accountants generally go through a lists of farmer expenses from A – Z without knowing the detail on key items. That makes it hard to interpret and compare year on year progress or performance versus other farms. The Standard Chart of Accounts should make this much clearer.”
Mr Wright said the fact the Standard Chart of Accounts also links with the farm business management tool DairyBase was another positive enabling comparative analysis and information sharing valuable to farmers.
Kyabram-based accountant, Pete George, said the new Standard Chart of Accounts that draws heavily on Murray Dairy’s Financial Records Guide for Dairy Farmers, would also assist consultants analysing financial data for their clients.
A partner at M&S Group Accounting, Mr George works with 150 dairy farmer clients and three Dairy Business Network (DBN) groups in northern Victoria.
“The consultant-led DBN groups I am involved in will find this new Standard Chart of Accounts very useful because they will receive better and higher quality information to help them make decisions,” Mr George said.