Subsidy and stewardship income recognised in the right year, diversification VAT apportioned properly, machinery finance coded correctly, and a cash flow that survives a bad harvest. Fixed fee from £195 + VAT a month.
Book a 30-minute initial review →Farming has a set of accounting problems almost nothing else shares: income that arrives in lumps a long way from when it was earned, a business that is often three or four businesses at once for VAT purposes, and assets worth more than the annual turnover.
Scheme payments arrive on their own timetable, and stewardship agreements run for years with obligations attached. Recording the whole receipt as income in the month it hits the bank overstates that year and understates the ones that follow — and where the agreement carries future obligations, part of it may need deferring.
The practical effect is a set of accounts that show a good year and a bad year alternating, when the underlying business has been steady throughout.
This is where most farm VAT errors start. Core farming output is largely zero-rated. Holiday lets, weddings, storage, livery, a farm shop, solar — none of them are, and each has its own treatment.
A farm running three of those alongside the core business has a mix of zero-rated, standard-rated and exempt supplies, which means input VAT has to be apportioned rather than reclaimed in full. Reclaim too much and there's a liability with interest. Reclaim too little — more common — and it quietly costs money every quarter.
Hire purchase generally brings the asset onto the balance sheet with a matching liability, and only the interest is a cost. A lease is treated differently. On the bank statement they look identical — a monthly payment — so the coding gets decided by whoever is doing the books rather than by the agreement.
On a farm where machinery runs into six figures, that distorts both the profit and the balance sheet substantially.
Costs go out months before income comes in, and the gap is filled by an overdraft nobody has forecast properly. A 13-week rolling cash flow is worth more in farming than in almost any other sector, and it's the thing least often produced.
Owner-managed farming businesses and rural enterprises roughly £200k to £5m — arable, mixed, livestock, contract farming, and farms with diversified income from lettings, storage, events or renewables.
Work runs on your existing software, so location isn't a constraint, though we're in Northamptonshire and cover the surrounding counties including the Fens in person where that helps.
Bookkeeping is £195 + VAT a month, fixed. Management accounts, year-end work and Virtual FD support are quoted after a free initial review. See what UK bookkeeping typically costs, or work out what your current arrangement costs.
If you're behind, catch-up and cleanup is priced separately.
Seven questions you can answer from memory — no logins, no exports. An honest verdict on whether your figures can be relied on, before we ask you for anything.
Run the free Books Check → Or book a 30-minute initial review