Quicken® or QuickBooks®

for Farm Financial Records

Damona Doyedamona.doye@okstate.edu

405-744-9813

Extension Economist and Regents Professor

Sarkeys Distinguished Professor

OSU Agricultural Economics Department

Possible motivations for keeping farm records Keep what is needed for tax purposes Be prepared for the unexpected Planning ahead Communications Employee management Business analysis

Be able to accurately identify shares of income and expenses

Determine cost of production per unit Know where profit (and/or loss) centers are in the operation

Everyone should use Quicken.*Some should also use QuickBooks*.

* Or a similar product. No endorsement of a specific commercial product is intended or implied.

Quicken

Inexpensive Flexible and easy to

use Cash accounting Personal finance

Family living expenses Off-farm income Investment income and

expenses

Not expensive Less forgiving and less

easy to use Accrual accounting Small business finance

Invoicing Accounts

payable/receivable Payroll

QuickBooks

Use

http://quicken.intuit.com/compare-quicken-personal-finance-software-products.jsp

Desktop products for Small Business

Quicken

All manual Create categories,

accounts Calculate

Payroll subscription service

Employee records Manual can be

enabled

QuickBooks

Payroll

Quicken Banking Comparison Spending Tax Easy Answers Graphs

Also, customized folders for reports

Company & Financial Customers &

Receivables Sales Jobs, Time & Mileage Vendors & Payables Employees & Payroll Banking Accountant & Taxes Budgets

QuickBooks

Reports

Quicken reports and graphs

Cash flow Tax schedule Transactions Account balances Comparison Filtered Memorized Balance sheet

Quicken

Memorized transactions

Financial calculators

Lists Items Vendors Customers Employees

QuickBooks

Other

Quicken

Videos Forums, blogs Quicken Inner Circle

Online assistance QuickBooks coach Videos Live Community

QuickBooks

Assistance

Facebook

Twitter

Youtube

Linked in

Cool things in both Quicken and QuickBooksDate: Y, R, M, H, TFind/replaceAttachDownload transactions Import/exportGraphsBackup

Records for farm tax purposes

“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.” … Martin van Buren

Quicken QuickBooks

Farm income and expenses

= =

1099 Advantage

Employee payroll & W-2s Advantage

Asset sales and purchases

? ?

Records for being prepared

Quicken QuickBooks

Knowing cash reserves, cash flow, margins

= =

Employee records Advantage

List of accounts, credit card numbers

= =

Assets and inventories Advantage

Records for planning ahead

Quicken QuickBooks

Budget features ? ?

Financial calculators Advantage

Retirement planning Advantage

Investment analysis Advantage

Estate planning ? ?

Records for communications

Quicken QuickBooks

Business partners = =

Family Advantage

Lenders = =

Landlords = =

Heirs = =

Records for employees

Quicken QuickBooks

Manual Payroll Advantage

Payroll taxes Advantage

Employee payroll Advantage

Records for business analysis

Quicken QuickBooks

Enterprise analysis Advantage

Tracking costs, returns for multiple years

= =

Analysis by customer Advantage

Analysis by item Advantage

OSU Quicken resources

Print materials plus video on-line at www.agecon.okstate.edu/quicken

$25 for printed notebook and CD with sample files

Quarterly Quick Tips farm management newsletter

www.agecon.okstate.edu/quicken

In PODS…

AGEC-266, Quicken or QuickBooks: What’s the Best Choice for Agricultural Producers?

CR-324, Quicken for Farm and Ranch Financial Records

CR-2133, Crop and Forage Recordkeeping Software

CR-3279, Cow-Calf Production Record Software

Beconsistent

Start simple

Get assistance

Bedisciplined

Beenthused!

Recordkeeping suggestions…

Questions?

Damona Doye

damona.doye@okstate.edu

405-744-9813