Sue Miller knows farm accounts from both sides. She and Rob farm sheep on 335 ha at Otama, north of Gore. Sue also runs Rural Secretarial Services, a work-from-home business that does the office work for farmers who already have their hands full on farm.
“Most businesses have staff to run their office, pay accounts, GST – all the back-room stuff required to keep the business running smoothly. With my background in office management, I saw a business opportunity working with farmers expected to run their own office while remaining hands on out on the farm.”
What does a rural bookkeeper need from farm software?
Sue used the earlier Farm Focus software for years. When the new cloud-based Farm Focus came along, she checked it out and moved all her clients across.
“I heard about Farm Focus and, after checking it out, knew it would suit my customer's needs. I prepare budgets, manage GST, pay wages – anything a customer requires in the office space and this where Focus does the hard work for you. The application meets the needs of today's farmers who run often complex operations requiring instant information access from anywhere.”
For the farmer: one budget and live stock numbers
As a farmer, Sue values a budget that's simple to keep up to date.
“With the old system there was more than one budget option and you had to make sure you were working with the latest version of the right one. Focus tidied that up with just the one budget option that can be easily tweaked and updated.”
She's also a fan of the Stock Reconciliation Report. It keeps stock numbers up to date in real time, including sales and new arrivals, and gives farmers the information they need for animal health compliance.
For the professional: access without the drive
For Sue's business, the biggest win is also the simplest.
“My customers are now able to tick a box giving me, or their accountant or bank manager, access to their business accounts. This has saved so much unnecessary travel for myself and my customers which is a time and dollar saver in one!”
Do it for me, or show me how?
Every client is different, and Farm Focus works both ways.
“Focus also makes it easy for me to show my customers how to do things! Some want me to do everything while others just want me to teach them how to do it themselves. Being able to work on screen with them is a real advantage.”
A paperless office on both sides of the farm gate
Month end used to mean piles of paper. Not any more.
“There's a real advantage in being able to save invoices behind the bank transaction – everything is paired up which makes end of month less stressful because there's no receipts and other bits of paper to chase up. Best of all I run a paperless office now because all the information I need is automatically saved in the system.”
