Items under account titles are suggested sub categories.

ACCOUNT TITLE	ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED
Income
Ag Program Payments	FSA Payments, Cost Sharing, Etc
Calf Sales	Sale of Bull & Heifer Calves1
*In memo field include number of calves sold each transaction.1
Capital Sales	Capital Assets Sold
Real Estate	Gravel, Lumber, Land
Machinery	Machinery & Equipment
Co-op Equity	Equity redeemed for cash
Cull Cows	Cull Cow Sales1
Purchased Animals Sold
Home Grown Animals Sold
*In memo field include number of animals for each transaction.
Crop Sales	Sales of Farm Crops, Grains, Forages, etc.
Custom Machine Work	Custom Machine Work
Refunds	All Refunds
Workman’s Comp	Workman’s Compensation Refund
Gas Tax Refunds	State & Federal Gas Tax Refunds
Milk Sold	Milk – Gross sales or sum of all the subcategories
Butterfat*	Butterfat, total amount
Protein*	Protein, total amount
Other Solids*	Other solids, total amount
Producer Price Differential (PPD)	PPD, total amount
Quality	Quality, total amount
Volume	Volume, total amount
Compact payment	Total compact payment
Patronage dividend	Earnings paid to the farm from the milk co-op, cas and non-cash
Other	Other milk payments, total amount
*If your accounting system allows, also record the pounds of the three different components along with the total pounds of milk for the pay period. If your accounting system doesn’t allow units to be kept within the system, please keep these amounts in some other manner so that they can be totaled at the end of the year.
Non-Farm Income	Non-Farm Income, Spouse’s Job
Other Farm Income	Var. other farm income
Custom Work	Income for Custom work
Insurance income	Insurance Receipts
Misc. Farm income	Maple Syrup Sales, Director Fees, Gas & Oil Royalties
Patronage Refunds	Patronage refunds from Co-ops, not including milk patronage
Expenses
Auto/Truck	Farm Auto/Truck Repair, Fuel, Insurance Expenses
Breeding Costs	Breeding Fees & Supplies
Breeding fees	Breeding Fees
Breeding supplies	Semen & Supplies
Capital Purchases	Capital Purchases
Dairy Cattle	Dairy Cows Bought1
Machinery-Equipment	Machinery & Equipment
Land-Buildings	Land & Building Improvement
Co-op Equity	Equity purchase
Crop Expenses	Total Crop Expenses
Spray & Chemicals	Spray & Chemicals
Fertilizer & Lime	Fertilizer & Lime
Seeds & plants	Seeds & Plants
Other	Soil Testing, Crop Consulting
*May also break crop categories between crops, i.e. hay & corn
Custom Machinery Hire	Machinery rent & hire, tillage hire, back hoe work, combining, chopping
Family Expenses	All Family Expenses
Insurance-Health	Family Health Insurance
Insurance-Life	Family Life Insurance
Household	Family Household Expenses
Utilities	Family portion of utility expenses
Feeds Purchased	Feeds Purchased
Dairy Grain	Dairy Grain & Conc. for all animals, minerals, and silage inoculants
Forages	Hay & silage bought
Minerals	Purchased minerals
Feed Consulting	Consulting Fee for Nutritionist
Non-Dairy Feed	Non-Dairy Feed
*May split purchases between commodity and/or milk cow/dry cow/heifer.
Freight & Truck	Freight & trucking for livestock
Gas, Fuel, Oil	Gas, fuel, & oil, grease for non-milking equipment
Insurance	Farm Insurance, fire, liability
Interest	Total Interest
Interest-Capital	Bank & Farm Credit Interest
Interest-other	Interest Expenses on Open Accounts
*May record interest by each lender/vendor.
Labor Expenses	Total Labor Expenses
Gross Wages-Employees	Expenses from payroll
FICA	Company share FICA
Education & Training	Employee Training Costs
Workman’s Comp	Workers Comp Ins
Health Insurance	Employee Health Insurance expenses
Unemployment Insurance	Unemployment Insurance
Benefits	Other Labor Costs, Housing, Fuel, Car, Uniforms, etc.
Lease Payments	Total Lease Payments
Building	Lease Payments for Buildings
Machinery	Lease Payments for Equipment
*May record lease payment by vendor.
Miscellaneous Expenses	All Other Expenses
Management Consulting	Business Consulting Fees
Legal	Legal Fees
Accounting	Accountant Fees, Tax Planning
Education & Training, Owner	Meetings & Conferences
Travel	Travel Costs for Owner
Publications	Trade Journals & Newsletters
Office Supplies	Computer & Paper Supplies
Disposal	Garbage Disposal Costs
Maple Production Expenses	Maple Syrup Supplies
Clothing	Work Cloths & Boats
Milk Marketing Exp	Milk Marketing Expenses
ADA	Milk promotion fee
CCC Assessment	CCC Assessment on milk
Co-op Dues	Milk Co-op dues
Hauling	Milk Hauling
Commission	Future market expenses/net
Milking Supplies	Milking supplies, towels, dips, soaps, acids, vacuum pump oil, things that are used daily
Other Livestock Expenses	Other Livestock Expenses
bST	bST Expenses
DHIA	Milk production records exp
Bedding	Purchased bedding expenses
Dairy Supplies	Dairy supplies, ear tags, boots, non-vet items
Heifer boarding	Heifer Boarding Exp
Registration Costs	Registration papers for breed associations
Principal Paid	Principal paid on all loans
*Most computer accounting software has liability accounts that track loan payments and is the preferred method to keep track of loan balances. If your software has this feature, then this category is not needed. If not, please use this to track how much in principal you have paid to all lenders by lender.
Rent	Total Rent Expenses
Land Rent	Rent for Land
Building Rent	Rent for Buildings
Repairs	Repairs & Maintenance
Building	Land & Building Repairs, Ag bags, plastic for covering silos
Machinery	Repairs-machinery & equipment
Parlor	Milking parlor maintenance, hoses, preventive maintenance, all repairs, things that last longer than a year
Shop Supplies	Bolts, welding rods, etc.
*Can tag individual equipment if desired.
Taxes	Farm Taxes, School & Property
Utilities	Total Utilities
Telephone	Farm Telephone
Electric	Farm Electric Expense
Water
Gas
Vet & Med	Vet & Medicine
Vet Service	Vet Services, stop charges, hourly fees, routine fees
Vet Consulting	Vet Consulting, not routine vet work
Medicine	Medicine Expenses & supplies
Hoof Trimming	Hoof Trimming Expense
This list is a minimum list of accounts to have for management reasons and will meet most of the needs for analysis, IRS, and banking. If you want to keep some other information, or a different breakout, please add more categories. It is easier to add categories back together at the end of the year than it is to break out different items from a single category.
1If your accounting software has a feature to keep track of units, please use that feature. Otherwise please place in the memo field the amount for pounds of components and milk sold, calves sold, cows sold, and animals purchased because these numbers are used at the end of the year for analysis purposes.

Author

Jason Karszes, Farm Management Specialist
PRO-DAIRY
Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics
Cornell University