Building your farm’s annual plan in Figured comes together quickly by using your actual bank balance and past transactions in your accounting software as a starting point for how you want the next year (or more!) to go. With the rolling plan, any forecasts you've put in will carry over to the next year if need be.
When you're working on your farm, there are two financial "views" available:
Actuals: Actuals are what's actually happened, either on the farm (like a stock movement) or in your accounting account (like an electricity bill paid). Selecting actuals will only display actual movements.
Actuals + Forecast: An actual + forecast view lets you view actuals up to a certain point, with the remainder of your year coming from your forecasts. Forecasts are Figured only - they represent your plan for what's to come next. Your A+F view can be set to Actuals to None, Actuals to Last Month, or Actuals to a certain month.
We recommend that your global date selector be set to Actuals + Forecasts with actuals to Last Month to build your plan.
This is because even if you are new to Figured and your preferred accounting software, your conversion balances will be there and last month should always be the most up-to-date view.
Your annual plan comes together with three steps:
Working in your planning grid
Working in your production trackers
Approving the plan (or take a snapshot if you've already approved your plan on the farm)
Working in the Planning Grid
The planning grid is a 12-month table view of your accounts within your preferred accounting software’s chart of accounts.
To build your plan in the planning grid, all you need to do is enter values into the grid, which will auto-save as you go along.
Do you want to add transactions with more detail? Check out the article on using detailed transactions/account schedules.
Set up the interest on overdraft calculator to automate the monthly interest payments that go into your plan as your actuals and forecasts happen.
Need help determining whether to enter values as positive or negative? You can find out more here.
Working in the Production Trackers
Production trackers are where you track and record production movements - that could be recording milk production, adding a livestock sale, or planning a crop harvest.
You'll need to set up a production tracker for any production you want to track. The trackers share common elements but also have different setups and options depending on how you'd like to use them.
Check out the collections below on how to best set up and use your trackers:
Approving the plan
With your numbers in, it's time to approve your plan in the planning grid.
Hit Approve Plan, name your plan, and set the actuals to selector. You can also add a description if needed.
The first snapshot you take for a year will always be your annual plan.
Your plan has been built, and you can move on to running reports, re-forecasting, or other fun farm financial activities.
Your snapshots, including annual plans, can be found under Planning > Snapshots.
You can also use any of your snapshots in our reports.
