Quicken® or QuickBooks®
for Farm Financial Records
Damona Doye
damona.doye@okstate.edu
405-744-9813
Extension Economist and Regents Professor
Sarkeys Distinguished Professor
OSU Agricultural Economics Department
Possible motivations for keeping
farm records
 Keep what is needed for tax purposes
 Be prepared for the unexpected
 Planning ahead
 Communications
 Employee management
 Business analysis
 Be able to accurately identify shares of income and
expenses
 Determine cost of production per unit
 Know where profit (and/or loss) centers are in the operation
Everyone should use Quicken.*
 Some should also use QuickBooks*.
* Or a similar product. No endorsement of a specific commercial product is
intended or implied.
Quicken
QuickBooks
 Inexpensive
 Flexible and easy to
use
 Cash accounting
 Personal finance
 Not expensive
 Less forgiving and less
easy to use
 Accrual accounting
 Small business finance
 Family living expenses
 Off-farm income
 Investment income and
expenses
Use
 Invoicing
 Accounts
payable/receivable
 Payroll
http://quicken.intuit.com/compare-quicken-personal-finance-software-products.jsp
Desktop products for Small Business
Quicken
 All manual
 Create categories,
accounts
 Calculate
QuickBooks
 Payroll subscription
service
 Employee records
 Manual can be
enabled
Payroll
Quicken
QuickBooks
 Banking
 Comparison
 Spending
 Tax
 Easy Answers
 Graphs
 Also, customized
folders for reports
 Company & Financial
 Customers &
Receivables
 Sales
 Jobs, Time & Mileage
 Vendors & Payables
 Employees & Payroll
 Banking
 Accountant & Taxes
 Budgets
Reports
Quicken reports and graphs








Cash flow
Tax schedule
Transactions
Account balances
Comparison
Filtered
Memorized
Balance sheet
Quicken
QuickBooks
 Memorized
transactions
 Financial calculators
 Lists
 Items
 Vendors
 Customers
 Employees
Other
Quicken
QuickBooks
 Videos
 Forums, blogs
 Quicken Inner Circle
 Online assistance
 QuickBooks coach
 Videos
 Live Community
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Linked in
Assistance
Cool things in both Quicken and
QuickBooks
 Date: Y, R, M, H, T
 Find/replace
 Attach
 Download transactions
 Import/export
 Graphs
 Backup
Records for farm tax purposes
Farm income and
expenses
Quicken
QuickBooks
=
=
1099
Advantage
Employee payroll & W-2s
Advantage
Asset sales and
purchases
?
“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”
… Martin van Buren
?
Records for being prepared
Knowing cash reserves,
cash flow, margins
Quicken
QuickBooks
=
=
Employee records
List of accounts, credit
card numbers
Assets and inventories
Advantage
=
=
Advantage
Records for planning ahead
Budget features
Financial calculators
Retirement planning
Investment analysis
Estate planning
Quicken
QuickBooks
?
?
Advantage
Advantage
Advantage
?
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Records for communications
Business partners
Family
Quicken
QuickBooks
=
=
Advantage
Lenders
=
=
Landlords
=
=
Heirs
=
=
Records for employees
Quicken
QuickBooks
Manual Payroll
Advantage
Payroll taxes
Advantage
Employee payroll
Advantage
Records for business analysis
Quicken
Enterprise analysis
Tracking costs, returns for
multiple years
QuickBooks
Advantage
=
=
Analysis by customer
Advantage
Analysis by item
Advantage
OSU Quicken resources
 Print materials plus video on-line at
www.agecon.okstate.edu/quicken
 $25 for printed notebook and CD with sample
files
 Quarterly Quick Tips farm management
newsletter
www.agecon.okstate.edu/quicken
In PODS…
 AGEC-266, Quicken or QuickBooks: What’s
the Best Choice for Agricultural Producers?
 CR-324, Quicken for Farm and Ranch
Financial Records
 CR-2133, Crop and Forage Recordkeeping
Software
 CR-3279, Cow-Calf Production Record
Software
Recordkeeping suggestions…
Start
simple
Be
consistent
Be
disciplined
Get
assistance
Be
enthused!
Questions?
Damona Doye
damona.doye@okstate.edu
405-744-9813