Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notice to readers
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Selected metric conversion factors
- Part I The organisation of resources
- Part II The organisation of enterprises
- Part III The combination of enterprises
- Part IV The control of resources and enterprises
- 19 Data recording
- 20 Data analysis
- 21 Methods of control
- Selected further reading
- Index
20 - Data analysis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notice to readers
- Preface to the first edition
- Preface to the second edition
- Selected metric conversion factors
- Part I The organisation of resources
- Part II The organisation of enterprises
- Part III The combination of enterprises
- Part IV The control of resources and enterprises
- 19 Data recording
- 20 Data analysis
- 21 Methods of control
- Selected further reading
- Index
Summary
Chapter 19 has described what records should be kept and how to keep them. The present chapter discusses the use that may be made of this information to guide future decisions. It begins by describing how information from the trading account can be used to provide broad ‘whole farm’ measures of economic performance and subsequently considers those which help show the success or otherwise of the individual enterprises. It ends by looking at the balance sheet – the capital and liquidity aspects of the business.
Account analysis
Although any system which involves the detailed examination of a set of accounts could be described as ‘account analysis’, the term is usually applied to an investigation of the trading account from the point of view of the farm business as a whole, with relatively little attention being paid to the individual enterprises. Although aspects of this approach were known before 1950, it was from about this time that the system became widely developed and popularised in the United Kingdom. It represented a directly opposite approach to that of cost accounting, or complete enterprise costing, which treats every individual enterprise on the farm as though it can be regarded as a self-contained business. This latter system is further discussed below. Account analysis emphasises the integrated nature of the farm business and its essence lies in calculating various ‘efficiency factors’ or ‘indices’ to compare with standards (average or ‘premium’ figures) obtained from other, similar farms.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Farm Planning and Control , pp. 524 - 554Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1980