Tania and Andy Kerr farm sheep and beef on Glengarry Road, about 30 km from Napier. Tania does the books, Andy runs the stock day to day, and they share the decisions. Until 2025 Tania was also Deputy Mayor of Hastings District, so she has always needed a system that saves time.
“Running a business I understand the importance of effective and efficient bookkeeping systems. I’m also a firm believer in ‘working smarter not longer' so when a new time saving application such as Focus pops up, I’m interested!”
How often should you check the farm books?
Tania now checks in more often, for less time each go.
“So rather than my previous one day a month check-in, I’m using Farm Focus maybe once or twice a week which means I’m always up to date and find it easier to manage balancing.”
Every invoice attached
“I scan every business-related document, arriving by post, and email all invoices that arrive via email into the system which ensures all our financial transactions have a document attached. This makes year end less of a challenge because all the information is already there, saved in the system.”
Two businesses, kept separate
“GST is easy. We have an additional business as well as our farm business and, with Farm Focus, I can keep the two separate – the new system provides another level of clarity which has helped make “doing the books” more streamlined!”
Livestock records for both of them
“Andy is still a paper person and uses his trusty diary. I enjoy a paperless approach, and our system allows Andy to ‘check in’ to the online system. We can track sales, purchases, births, and deaths in a month-by-month view and Focus also manages the ‘aging’ process automatically for us.”
Their accountant has online access too, so no one has to drop off the year-end papers.
“In the future, if we become less hands-on, Farm Focus will allow us to monitor and maintain an active overview of how the farm is operating.”
Still checking in today
Tania still runs both sets of 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.
