Finance & administration services

Administration is increasingly important in facilitating the smooth running of a farm business. Indeed, cost control in a business should now be on a level footing with it producing quality output.

The phrase ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’ perfectly captures how vital it is to have detailed and accurate information, yet many farmers still neglect office-based activities.
Outsourcing this job can provide a sensible solution.

Brown&Co can give that helping hand with its professional office and book keeping service specifically tailored to farmers, estate owners and rural businesses.

Our team of skilled professionals have a wealth of experience in office administrative tasks, from managing VAT returns and conducting bank reconciliations to keeping detailed crop records.

Whether it is a long-term administrative solution or temporary support that is required, these services are designed to enhance efficiency in your operations overall.

As part of our service, we will review your current procedures, identify efficiencies and time saving techniques.

By entrusting your office administration to the experts, you can streamline information flow and concentrate on managing your business without the burden of getting those administrative tasks done.

The team ensures that all tasks are completed independently while providing you with control and access to your financial records.

We can either work with your existing software and computer systems or run your books via our own system.

All our bookkeeping solutions are designed to fit around your business, putting you in control by allowing you to decide how involved you want to be.

Management reporting

Brown&Co can provide detailed analysis of your records.

By frequently monitoring actual progress against budgets agreed with our team of agricultural business consultants, we can give you accurate information for analysing the enterprise.

We can provide independent administration of joint ventures and contract farming.

Whatever the requirement, our management reporting service will help you to improve efficiency and information flow and identify ways to enhance profitability.

Payroll

Every business must comply with its legal obligations on auto enrolment, a system used for facilitating your employees’ pension schemes.

By outsourcing the payroll software service to us, we can help reduce the requirement and the cost for smaller employers.

We use a third party provider that handles this efficiently, ensuring that your workforce receives timely and accurate payment, and eliminates errors when submitting payroll information to HMRC and a pension provider and, as a consequence, potential penalties too.

Our team can work on-site, or alternatively, remotely, an option which can offer a more cost-effective solution for your business.

Data and crop recording software

Our specialist team has extensive expertise in key software programs commonly used in rural businesses, Landmark, Farmplan, Xero, and Gatekeeper included, keeping up to date with the very latest software advancements, technology, and training.

Whether you prefer to use your current software and computer systems or to let us handle data through our system, we are equipped to accommodate both.

Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is part of the Government’s plan to simplify tax systems for individuals and businesses, to make the tax process more effective and efficient and easier to comply with.

This however presents a considerable challenge for a farm that continues to use paper-based account systems.

These businesses will need to migrate their accounts onto electronic account software. We can help you do that.

Consultancy training and reorganisation

If you have been using the same office system for a long time or if there has been a recent change in leadership, it might be the right time to reassess that system and, if needed, to make any necessary improvements to allow for better productivity.

We provide advice and training in all aspects of farm office systems to aid informed decisions that, through streamlining processes and optimising resources, will ultimately lead to your business becoming more efficient and profitable.