Advanced Accounting Workshop Designed for Producers, Bookkeepers in All Ag Fields
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Penn State Dairy Alliance is offering an accounting workshop to help producers and bookkeepers in dairy and all agricultural businesses learn how to better manage their accounting systems and improve their profitability.
Penn State Dairy Alliance is offering an accounting workshop to help producers and bookkeepers in dairy and all agricultural businesses learn how to better manage their accounting systems and improve their profitability.
Advanced Accounting Methods for Progressive Dairies and Other Agribusinesses will be held Nov. 10-11 at the Penn State Harrisburg campus, Room 120 Educational Activities Building, Route 230, Middletown, Pa.
-- Bonnie Wenger, office manager at Wen-Crest Farm, a custom farming operation in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Wenger, who attended the workshop last year, says she still uses the training materials as a reference.
The workshop is designed for nonaccountants who want to understand the managerial accounting process. “I would definitely recommend this workshop,” said Karen Kauffman, officer manager of Glenville Farms, a 1,400-cow dairy in Cochranville, Pa.. We were already on accrual accounting, but this program showed me how to re-classify expenditures on the crop and dairy sides to improve our end-of-the year reporting system. The hands-on training also helped confirm the things I was doing right and taught me the questions to ask when I wasn’t. Day 1 of the workshop features an innovative and highly effective method for teaching participants how to apply proper accounting principles and practices to their everyday accounting and bookkeeping chores. They will learn how to organize their information to generate effective managerial accounting reports, which can help improve profitability. Topics will include structuring the chart of accounts for managerial accounting systems, implementing the reconciliation process for improved accounting information, and generating and interpreting reports.
Day 2 will teach participants the basic information they need to implement a managerial cost accounting system. “An effective managerial accounting system can help pinpoint weaknesses in business operations that might otherwise go undetected,” explained Brad Hilty, information management specialist at Penn State Dairy Alliance and creator of the workshop. “By defining the proper areas of activity and accountability, business owners can have access to cost data for specific processes, products, or activity areas of the operation. This information can lead to improved operational efficiency and can significantly improve the operation’s bottom line.”
Topics on Day 2 will include: understanding managerial accounting, accrual adjustments and progression allocations, cost accounting principals, and management intent, as well as defining cost and profit centers, and interpreting managerial cost accounting reports.
Participants may attend one or both days of the workshop. The cost is $75 per person for one day, or register for both days for only $125, a savings of $25. Workshop hours are: Day 1- 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Day 2 - 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Registration is currently under way. To register by phone, call the Penn State Dairy Alliance office toll-free at 888-373-7232. For more information about the program, or to register online with a credit card, visit: http://dairyalliance.psu.edu/education/advanced-accounting/
Workshop instructors are Brad Hilty, information management specialist, Penn State Dairy Alliance, and Mike Peachey, accountant, Acuity Advisors and CPA’s. Sponsors include: AgChoice Farm Credit, Northeast Center for Risk Management Education, and the Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence.
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Dairy Alliance is a Penn State Cooperative Extension initiative.
