The Farmer’s Office by Datatech Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives 2023

The general ledger (GL) is integrated fully with all the other operational modules of the program. It will make the necessary changes to your accounts automatically based on the information that you enter. Each module gets balances straight from the GL for specific accounts. For instance, the bank balance on your Checkbook screen comes from the GL cash in the bank account, and the balance displayed on your Tax Deposit screen in the payroll originates from the GL liability accounts.

The A/P module in The Farmer’s Office helps you track your vendors and unpaid bills, enter bills as they’re received, and issue vendor invoices and checks. The A/P module includes the following components:

The A/P module in The Farmer’s Office helps you track your vendors and unpaid bills, enter bills as they’re received, and issue vendor invoices and checks. The A/P module includes the following components:

• Vendor file: Track vendor information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, default terms information, default general ledger account, and 1099 information. This is especially helpful for regular suppliers.
• Checkbook register: The checkbook register provides a single platform to enter vendor checks, deposits, transfers, service charges, miscellaneous debits, and voided checks. You can also enter handwritten checks without printing them.
• Direct expense checks: Direct expense checks are used to enter expenses for the GL and cost accounting when you’re ready to issue the check. As you enter the check, expenses are posted to the GL and bank account automatically.
• A/P invoicing: Enter bills as they’re received. These bills can then be paid based on a fixed due date or using standard terms. You can also create recurring invoices:

Sample vendor invoice by The Farmer’s Office (Source: The Farmer’s Office)

The Farmer’s Office has an A/R add-on module to issue invoices and track billings. You can create detailed billing statements, track outstanding invoices and sales tax, enter payment received, and print invoices, statements, and reports.

Forms and reports include customer lists, mailing labels, year-to-date (YTD) sales reports, invoice lists, cash receipts journals, sales journals, A/R reports, sales reports by territory, customer account inquiries, and customer invoices. Invoices in The Farmer’s Office are pretty basic, but that shouldn’t be a problem for farmers.

Sample customer invoice by The Farmer’s Office (Source: The Farmer’s Office)

The Farmer’s Office can reconcile bank statements and checkbook information automatically to ensure an accurate account balance. From the Bank Reconcilement screen, check all checks that have cleared the bank. One thing we don’t like about The Farmer’s Office is that there’s no option to connect your bank account or import your bank statements. You have to compare your books to your bank statements manually.

The Farmer’s Office allows you to print checks directly from the program. When printing employee checks, you can choose the pay period dates, which means you can select the next pay period, even if you have not yet printed checks for the prior period. It also includes a Void and Re-Issue Check tool that lets you void and recreate or reprint checks easily if needed.

In case of a lost check, the best practice to reissue the check is directly from the Checkbook. To do this, click on the Payables menu on the main page, select Checkbook, and choose the bank account you wish to use to reissue the check. Next, click on the Direct Expense button to reveal the Direct Expense Check form where you enter the required details, such as the name and address of the employee and a description referencing the original check.

Direct expense check screen in The Farmer’s Office

The program can track all farm operations’ income and expenses, including expenses related to payrolls, vendors, deposits, and pesticide usage. Expenses can be grouped by crop year, independent of the calendar or fiscal year. You can create cost centers for each field, ranch, crop, or block. The cost accounting module collects information based on the information you provide on your vendor checks, payroll checks, deposits, and pesticide usage.

To set up the cost accounting system, you need to create cost centers and define your expenses:

• Creating cost centers: A cost center is a component of your farm operation. It can be a field, ranch, crop, herd, tractor, or anything for which you want to track your income and expenses. The purpose of assigning income and expenses to cost centers is to know how much money you’re making and spending on a particular component of your business, helping you make better decisions. At the very least, you need to provide a description, ID number, and acreage when setting up a cost center.

Setting up a cost center in The Farmer’s Office (Source: The Farmer’s Office)

• Defining expenses: Once you set up a cost center, you need to enter the expenses that you wish to track on your reports. This helps you know how your expenses break down into different categories, such as labor, materials, and chemicals. The Small Farm edition includes a sample chart of accounts with preset expenses. If you want more flexibility, like setting up subcategories, you’ll need the Standard or Enterprise edition. To set up your expenses, you just need to provide a description and an ID number.

Setting up expenses for cost accounting reports (Source: The Farmer’s Office)

The Farmer’s Office lets you create and use budgets for each cost center that you created. You’ll find this extremely helpful not only in tracking expenses but also in applying for agricultural loans. You can use the budgets to present to lenders. The Farmer’s Office has a strong budgeting tool that allows you to enter budgets with as many details as needed. You can enter budgets for each cost center and also run a crop comparison report that shows how your actual expenses compare to your budget.

You can monitor the usage of each individual piece of your equipment. You can also record a charge-out rate, allowing you to record the expense to the crop cost center for using the equipment. It serves as a memo entry without affecting your accounting balances, but it charges each cost center for the use of the equipment.

This gives you all the tools and forms you need to report all pesticide application activities, including information about your sites, chemicals, and applications. Pesticide application reporting features include the ability to print a Notice of Intent as well as a Monthly Pesticide Use Report. You can also enter chemical purchases to add to your inventory.

Pesticide application entry form in The Farmer’s Office (Source: The Farmer’s Office)

The Farmer’s Office has a fixed asset accounting module that enables you to track physical assets, such as land and agricultural machinery. You can record the purchase of a new asset and assign a state and federal depreciation schedule. You can also link assets to cost centers if you want to include expenses posted for depreciation in your crop cost accounting reports. The HR module also allows you to assign assets to your employees, such as laptops and phones.

The system has customized payroll features for agricultural employees with wages reported on Form 943. For instance, when creating paychecks, you can charge each line to different crops or even add hourly rates. Farm managers or employers can also set up standard pay rates based on the crop or job entered. Some of its payroll highlights are listed below:

• Employee files: Maintain a record of all employees, including information like addresses, pay rates, marital status, and dependents.
• Deductions: The Farmer’s Office processes deductions for federal and state taxes automatically, depending on the employee’s tax status.
• Check entry and processing: If you need to enter check information from an employee’s time card, you can use the Batch Payroll Check window. After entering the gross wage information, the program will calculate deductions automatically.
• Employee history: Employee information records are stored indefinitely within the database, making it easier to print earnings reports for government agencies.
• Payroll entries: You can input data on payroll information directly from daily crew sheets. These can also be done automatically, eliminating the need for manual data entry for repeating entries. Payroll can be entered on a daily or weekly basis:

Daily payroll entry in The Farmer’s Office (Source: The Farmer’s Office)

• Payroll reports: With The Farmer’s Office, you can run different kinds of payroll reports, including payroll journals, workers’ compensation reports, earnings records, and tax deposits.
• Payroll journal: The payroll journal is used to maintain a record of all expenses related to payroll, including information on gross wages and deductions. It can also calculate state unemployment, federal unemployment, employer FICA taxes, and workers’ compensation insurance.
• Tax deposits: When the payroll journal is printed, Farmer’s Office computes payroll taxes due for federal and state taxes automatically. The Payroll Tax Deposits window will display what you owe for your taxes.
• Employee earnings records: This record shows the list of checks that the employee received for a certain pay period, including regular wages, check total, deductions, and net pay.
• Workers’ compensation reports: These reports help you segregate rates paid for workers’ compensation insurance, depending on the crop. These rates can then be used to calculate your workers’ compensation liability.

In addition to payroll and general financial reports, like cash flow statements, balance sheets, and profit and loss (P&L) statements, The Farmer’s Office generates farm-specific reports, including crop statements, crop comparison, and pesticide usage reports:

Sample crop statement in The Farmer’s Office (Source: The Farmer’s Office)