Quicken for Farm Financial Records agecon okstate eduquicken

Quicken® for Farm Financial Records agecon. okstate. edu/quicken Damona Doye damona. doye@okstate. edu Rainbolt Chair of Agricultural Finance Extension Economist and Regents Professor OSU Agricultural Economics Department

Why Quicken? n A popular personal financial records software package n Inexpensive n User-friendly n Flexible

Quicken’s shortcomings n Not built to keep production records n No separate physical data field (can use memo lines) n Cash accounting (not double entry, no depreciation records) n Loan tracking feature may be difficult to use n No payroll or invoicing features in basic version

Quicken n Cash accounting n Personal finance q Family living expenses q Off-farm income q Investment income and expenses Quick. Books n Accrual accounting n Small business finance q Invoicing q Accounts payable/receivable q Payroll

Quicken features n Accounts n Budgeting n Loan tracking n Tax planning n Reports and graphs n Online banking, bill payment, investment features n Financial calculators n Mobile Application for smart phones

Quicken terms Checking Savings Credit Card Cash Money Market Investment Asset Liability File: Group of accounts which support transfers Account: Collection of transactions

Quicken transactions n Date n Check Number n Payee n Amount of payment or deposit n Category and tag n Memo n Splits

Categories n What kind of income, expense, asset, liability transaction n Category = Account in chart of accounts n Easy to set up "on the fly” n Names can be letters or numbers

Tags n Who, where, what time period n Independent of category n Combine with category for complete identification of transaction n Use for project analysis q Family and farm q Wheat, stockers, cow/calf, alfalfa… q Partnership shares q Remodeling, vacation, wedding

“Add Tag” drop down box

Quicken reports and graphs n n n n Cash flow Tax schedule Transactions Account balances Comparison Filtered Memorized Balance sheet

Quicken app

OSU Quicken resources n Print materials plus video on-line at www. agecon. okstate. edu/quicken n $25 for printed notebook and CD with sample files n Quarterly Quick Tips farm management newsletter

Recordkeeping suggestions… Start simple Be consistent Be disciplined Get assistance Be enthused!