CISA - Resources for Record Keeping

CISA Winter Workshop Series 2010

CISA will be holding a six-workshop series entitled “Financial Management Planning” starting the end of January. The series will cover basic financial concepts important to agriculture businesses and help farmers think holistically about financial planning. CISA’s technical assistance workshops are supported in part by USDA/Risk Management Agency, USDA/Rural Development, USDA/Agricultural Marketing Service and by individual contributors and Local Hero members. Financial Management workshops are based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2007-49200-03888.

Each of the 6 sessions costs $10 for Local Hero members; $15 for non-members, dinner is included. If you sign up for the complete series then the total cost for the Financial Management Practices workshops is $40 for Local Hero members; $50 for non-members. Participants who attend the complete series will be eligible for up to three hours of 1x1 consultation time at the end of the series. Pre-registration is required by calling or emailing Devon Whitney-Deal at 413-665-7100 or devon@buylocalfood.org.

Farm Financial Recordkeeping
Wednesday, February 3, 6:00pm-8:30pm
This workshop will introduce a variety of tools – from low tech to high tech - for recording, organizing and analyzing farm financial information. We’ll look at manual recordkeeping systems such as the New England Farm Account Book, electronic spreadsheets such as Excel, and software packages such as Quicken and Quickbooks. The introduction to Quicken and Quickbooks will address a number of issues including whether using the software will save you time, the importance of the initial set-up, creating invoices, overview of the most useful reports, and common problems and mistakes of users. Skip Sobieski, CPA and Kate Hayes will be co-presenting the session.