The Cousins family farm Hiamoe, near Feilding. Brothers Edmund, Julius and Guido run the business day to day, with their parents John and Toos supporting where needed. The fourth-generation family run sheep, bull beef, dairy support, fodder crops, peas, forestry and the Hiamoe Farmstay. In 2025 they were Regional Supreme Winners at the Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards.
“Now, with Farm Focus, it’s been easy. Functional.”
How do two people work on the farm accounts at once?
When Guido came home after study and overseas travel, he wanted modern tools for the family business. His mother does most of the accounts, and he handles invoicing and GST.
“Mum does about 60% of the accounts, and I handle invoicing and GST returns. The big thing is it’s live – we can both be working on it at the same time, even talking on the phone, and it just works.”
That live view means the family always knows where they stand.
“We know where we are on a cost basis, every day.”
It lets them make “small, continuous changes” that add up over the years.
What does the accountant get from live farm numbers?
Jacob Small, the family’s accountant at AllanMcNeill, can see the figures as they happen.
“It just makes it easy in terms of having the numbers there at your fingertips.”
“It’s very easy to go in and see how things are tracking, especially around those significant tax dates.”
He compares it with clients still on manual systems.
“If someone’s using a manual system, you’re looking in the rearview mirror. We’re only seeing that information sometimes six or nine months down the track. With real-time data, it’s a lot easier to make those decisions about where we need to be going.”
“Having the information up-to-date is key, and they’re very good at it.”
“It allows us to be proactive with tax management and advising on capital expenditure – knowing exactly when to pull the trigger on a project.”
Jacob recommends Farm Focus for “everyday mum and dad farmers”.
“It’s a lot simpler for them to understand. You can see your breakdown month to month, which helps with decision-making around peaks and troughs and financing requirements.”
Why does the bank value live farm numbers?
Brad Atkin, the family’s bank manager at Westpac Manawatu, has worked with them since 2019.
“If they needed funding, whether it’s short-term or a land acquisition, it gives us an instant state of the nation picture. We’re not just looking at dated information; we have a current view of their performance.”
“A lot of questions we have can be answered just by clicking into an expense in Farm Focus. This means our meetings are more meaningful, drilling into the ‘why’ behind decisions, rather than just basic data collection.”
“There’s no guesswork. You see the components of the actuals. It allows us to tell a better story to the bank, especially if a client has had a tough year due to unforeseen circumstances.”
“When you’re having those really good quality conversations, you become a really trusted stakeholder in their business.”
Clear numbers for succession
The family is working through succession, which needs everyone on the same figures.
“Having a strong business to facilitate succession, and a decent accounting software that we can do ourselves, helps manage those costs.”
“The wonders of technology mean we can all log in today and see where the cropping expenses are at, or animal health.”
“It’s one of many tools, but it’s an important one that we can all use, and industry-accepted, with accountants and bank managers supportive of it.”
Brad sees the same focus in the brothers.
“They’ve wanted to drive a strong business that is successful and gives them good capacity to pay down debt.”
Still sharing the numbers today
The Cousins family still run Hiamoe’s accounts in Farm Focus. Bank feeds and Farmlands flow straight in, the Invoice Scanner handles the bills, and a working budget sits alongside the actuals. GST is filed every two months, and their accountant sees the same live numbers. Since July 2026, they can also ask the AI Farm Assistant quick questions about their actuals, plans and reports.
Every Farm Focus customer gets free onboarding and phone support from a team that knows farming, in New Zealand and Australia.
