Filing ,paperwork,farm office and IT

K.G.

Has always been an achilles heel for me and over the weekend I was trying to find something which has still alluded me so somethings got to change.

I'll break it down in to components

1 physical stuff.have ye a dedicated office ,desk ,filling cabinets computer,printer etc

2 are ye starting to use computer rather than paper storage ,eg I m constantly trying to get invoice/receipts by email but business don't seem to be set up for it.

3 what system for filing do ye use ,what's group s are they divided into and how are they organised .is it binders or hanging files or something.

4 have ye a routine of doing it and biggest question of all who does it

emaherx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058366484/filing-paperwork-farm-office-and-it

1. I have a dedicated space and computer for me to work, it's dual purpose farm/WFH space, but it is not pretty.
   

2. I do everything I can on computer, Herd Software for cattle, excel sheets for Accounts, I use Gmail for e-mail and have filters to automatically move e-mails from vets, suppliers etc into dedicated folders for easy finding later, I pay for Microsoft 365 so everything important stored on my computer gets automatically stored on OneDrive.

3. All receipts for the past 2-3 years is in a filing box beside me (hanging files and zip pouches), along with other important documents, cards, insurance, lease agreements and anything for inspections. Anything older gets put in a larger plastic box with a lid and stored elsewhere.

4. Not really, cattle/land stuff done in real time with apps on phone, everything else when pile of receipts gets too big in dashboard of car or a deadline makes me do it.

yewdairy

Have an office here in the house, used by whole family for different things. One filing cabinet for farm. Spilt into financials, compliance, department payments.

One folder for unpaid invoices and then more to another folder when paid. That's the folder I give to ifac recorder.

Another folder for milk cheque and Mart returns and department returns

Try to get everything emailed as much as possible and will print physical copy. I find businesses are better now for emailing invoices. Two of our contractors are using quick books

Wildsurfer

I used to file everything away in seperate folders but now I have a few main folders that are needed. So one is Bord Bia/Compliance and all knackery dockets, movement certs, vet receipts, spray and medicine purchase receipts etc go in there. The main one is Accountant folder, so everything the Accountant will need at end of year goes in there, Co-op and Bank statements, cattle sales receipts etc. Then at end of year its just ready to hand over, and not looking in different folders to put it together.

Conversations 3

Use an app for herd reports, recording weight, medicine records etc.

Download the bank account every 6 months into excel and edit the names of payments out and in so I know what everything is for and it makes it handy for the accountant.

I scan every invoice, receipt, sales docket and buyers docket using my phone and store it on my Google drive.

Everything is accessible from the phone when needed.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551789#Comment_122551789

That may be what I m looking for .can you scan off a Samsung phone?

It would appear that most are something similar to myself if maybe a little more disciplined.surprised nobody has mentioned the plate rack in the kitchen or the little corner shelves which usually hold most of the paperwork around here.

emaherx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552082#Comment_122552082

Yes of course you can use any smart phone for that, it's just an app with a camera filter optimized for text. A basic Canon Pixma printer scanner can be gotten for about €35 these days either. I scan all of my receipts at end of year for accountant using the printer scanner, they all scan into a single PDF, just load as many receipts as once that fit in the A4 space then click next for the next group.

visatorro

Phone is my office now at this stage. 90% of stuff is emailed. Except the feed merchant but I get them to email a statement when accountant asks for it. Herdwatch for all the movement and medicines. Have a biscuit tin for the cattle cards and I just throw any knackery dockets in there. Have a shoe for each year. Few once off purchases would be thrown in there. Pensions investments and medical stuff goes in there aswell. It wouldn't even be half full the last few years. One mistake I have made is not setting up an email for the farm. I probably should instead of trawling thru my personal email. Speak with accountant every few months so there's no big panic looking for stuff at end of tax year. Have a printer for the odd lad that wants movements printed but I actually don't think I did any of that this year.

Factory and mart dockets go in shoe box

visatorro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122549746#Comment_122549746

Why do you print out the receipts?

visatorro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552082#Comment_122552082

Or The dashboard in the jeep or the overall pockets!

Conversations 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552082#Comment_122552082

I use CamScanner, does the job.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intsig.camscanner

yewdairy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552320#Comment_122552320

There is no need other than I am in the habit of doing it and I have all the receipts in one place if I want to look back for something.

buy inputs in bulk as much as I can so don't have that many receipts. I try to avoid buying inputs in small amounts, I think you are paying a premium, nice saving to be made if you price around

farawaygrass

One observation I’m getting from reading this is that I have to many folders in the filing cabinet. I’m going to simplify it a bit more.
any receipts that are emailed to me, I save straight away to a folder on the phone.
I email as much as possible to the accountant.
Do any of you have an account anywhere for diesel for the jeep? I find all them small receipts are a nuisance to keep tidy.
I have Herdwatch and find it good for bord bia inspections but I’m not utilising it enough yet, it would be handy for movements for the accountant, particularly on the sheep side.

nhg

My background has always been accounts. I remote work and I have a separate office for the farm accounts so that nothing can get mixed up plus it separates work from personal life.

I use tas books to keep the farm accounts and at least once a week I input the invoices, payments etc & double check that the bank balance corresponds with the actual bank account. I give the accountant a set of accounts at the year end & never have to give invoices or bank statements. They transfer the information to the Form 11 including depreciation, stock values etc & submit to Revenue.
As we don’t live at the farm, OH records any doses/vaccine info etc on a yellow post-it with the date recorded, I input those into the Bord Bia book & keep the blue herd register as no internet access at the farm for Bord Bia inspection.
The blue cards are kept in a clear plastic box, within that are 3 plastic bags with the cards for each batch of animals for each year as we are a dairy calf to finished beef system - makes it easier to find the cards when in a hurry.
I keep a spreadsheet of tag number which records date of birth, date when animal is 28 & 30 months & how much animal cost to buy, this doubles as my list & value of stock for the accountant.

I keep a spreadsheet for fertiliser & spray purchased which I update when processing the invoice. I have another spreadsheet for Tractor diesel purchases for claiming the carbon tax relief.
I also have a spreadsheet for electricity usage as we have 3 electricity accounts, handy when comparing electricity usage/charges when changing providers, easy update when inputting invoice onto accounts package without having to pay for their analysis - put it down to being bored one wet Sunday afternoon about 5 years ago…
(I also keep spreadsheets for remote working relief & health expenses which I keep updated as invoices/receipts arrive)

I use an A4 ring binder with A-Z dividers and everything is filed alphabetically in that, around this time of the year I end up splitting the files into 2 A4 ring binders. I have a separate A4 ring binder for household bills such as electricity, insurance, laya etc.

At the end of the year the folders go into a large clear plastic box which can hold up to 3 years of folder’s which stay in the office for easy reach if needed (plus the box acts as a place where to leave the herd book, blue card box & Bord Bia book on top of & off the desk), after that they go up into the attic.

My OH wouldn’t know where to start with accounts or where to find anything but knows right well not to come home without an invoice or docket for any purchases……

Lime Tree Farm

Can you print out the herd register from agfood? I printed out the herd register using 'View Profiles' on ICBF for the Bord Bia inspection.

Jb1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552618#Comment_122552618

Yes you can

Jb1989

I've an account this 2 years in local fuel station, to get rid of them receipts. Paid monthly. 12 statements. Have dci card for woman's car and any yolk I may borrow or anyone who works for me.

Wildsurfer

Do you need to keep receipts for Diesel, the purchase will be on your bank statement when paying by card?

nhg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122553012#Comment_122553012

Yes, you do need to keep receipts for anything you wish to claim tax relief on through your accounts.

nhg

Yes, I originally created my spreadsheet by extracting the information from Agfood, now I just add & remove animals as purchases / sales take place and I put in formulas to give the information we want.

funkey_monkey

We have making Tax Digital in NI. All invoices and receipts are scanned using Auto Entry. This uploads the receipt into electronic form and reads of all the information such as date, invoice number, vat rate, subtotals, total, etc.

AutoEntry integrated with various accountancy software - we use quickbooks. The bank account and AutoEntry are linked with the QB account and then up the expenses/income with the bank transactions.

It also generates the vat submission and links in with HMRC to submit it directly.

Good support for it online. Always get a question answered relatively quickly. Although I'm on the poverty spec version of the app so missing a few features, but it's sufficient for me. The account is also linked to our QB account so they can see/check everything easily. Electronic invoices just need to be pulled into QB.

We have a stack of paper trays on the office table, top one is for invoices. When we buy something, upload it to AutoEntry using the phone app. Put a tick on the receipt to indicate it has been uploaded and then ad it to the pulse of invoices on the to tray. We put them face down so that you always are adding them in chronologically. Each month is held in its own batch with a paper clip. When a vat quarter has been done, they are transferred into the filing cabinet for a year or two and then at some stage put into the attic. And the cycle continues.

What we don't have is a shared app between us so we can mark down things that have been done or need to be done - there is bound to be a shared calendar app that we can use, I just never got around to it.

Filling cabinet in office has second door grants, maps, correspondence, etc. Bought it for £40 from Facebook, 4 drawer steel office cabinet with lock. Brilliant investment.

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552492#Comment_122552492

Wow just wow.dont come to tea in our place. I think you would either have a meltdown or I suspect salivating to get stuck into it