If you're pretty savvy and want a quick guide on setting up a Farm Manager file, you've come to the right place.
If you want more in-depth, check out our how-to on setting up a Farm Manager file.
You'll need the following before we get started:
Ensure your preferred accounting software has been set up
Figured account created
Trading statements for the previous year's milk or livestock (if applicable)
In 11 steps, you'll have your Farm Manager File set up and ready to use!
Step 1: Create the Farm Manager File
Create the farm directly from your dashboard using the green button on the right-hand side.
Step 2: Set up your bank feeds
Your default bank account must be set so you can post your invoices from Figured to your preferred bank account. This will be used for your forecast & what will make up your bank account balance in all your reports.
REMEMBER: Current liabilities (like a Farmlands or PGG card) must be set as such in Figured.
Step 3: Create and set up your production trackers
Whether you're a sheep farmer or have some crops - you'll need production trackers for anything you keep track of on the farm.
REMEMBER: Disable unused stock classes, map up all your purchase/sale accounts, set your opening balances, and connect your Farm Source account if you're a Fonterra farmer.
Step 4: Put in historical production movements
Unless your farm is brand new, you probably have a few years of production data available. This is where your trading statements will come in handy - head back into previous years on your trackers to build out your stock and add in some transactions.
Step 5: Create your production budget
Once your production trackers have been created, you can use the Add Forecast tool in your livestock, crop or wool trackers to quickly build a budget.
Step 6: Set up the valuations for your production trackers
Head into your adviser tab, map your valuation accounts (stock on hand, revaluation reserve, and so on) and select your valuation method of choice.
Step 7: Complete historical valuations for your production trackers
We recommend completing the previous year's valuations, which means your trading statements will have that comparative data moving forward.
Step 8: Set up your planning grid
Move back a few tabs to your planning grid - set your opening bank & GST balances, configure your accounts' payment periods & categorise them as you need for your budgeting and reporting.
REMEMBER: It's good to set payment periods now, as creating a budget first and setting payment periods later means your existing budget won't be affected.
Step 9: Enter and approve your budget, set up your forecasts
Working in your planning grid, you'll want to fill out your budget. You can do this directly in the planning grid or export a planning grid template and fill in the budget using Excel. Hit Approve Budget once you're done.
REMEMBER: You can budget on a cash or accrual basis. These are linked to one another as per the payment periods in Step 6.
After your budget is locked, use the Copy Budget button in your planning grid and each production tracker to copy your budget to your forecasts in a single click.
Step 10: Invite the rest of the team
Under Settings > People, you'll want to invite any individual members to your farm. There's a range of access levels, so you have control over who can see/edit what. Under Settings > Organisation, you'll also want to invite any accountants or advisors who work on the farm.
Step 11: Assign billing
With the farm set up and the team on board, activating the billing is the final step to getting your Figured farm up to speed.
If you're a farmer or personally taking on the billing - you'll want to set the billing to personal billing under your account.
If you're an accountant or an advisor and your firm is taking on the billing - you'll want to set the billing to organisation billing via your firm. If you'd like your client to take on the billing, have them log in to the farm and assign the billing to their account.
Congratulations, you're ready to go!
You can dive in and generate some reports, harvest some wheat, record some heifer sales, or re-forecast for the weather - if you need a hand, drop the team a message via the green bubble anytime.