Economic performance plays a large part in the overall sustainability of a ranching operation, both as to whether a rancher can afford to make land-based sustainability decisions and whether there will be a ranching enterprise to pass on to the next generation. To determine the sustainability and profitability of your ranch, you must know the true performance of each ranch enterprise, whether that be raising weaned calves, finished steers, or replacement ewes.

Ranching is an asset-dependent business, meaning there are often many fixed costs associated with production. Determining how to allocate these fixed costs to different ranch enterprises is paramount to determining true enterprise analysis.

This ranch enterprise analysis seminar will cover basic accounting principles and terms and discuss their relevance to ranching. We will review the three accounting reports most important to making a business plan, discuss managerial accounting and why it is so valuable for ranchers (and why it is different from tax-based accounting), and have activities to lead to a deeper understanding of all these principles.

The session will end with examining a simplified (but real!) end-of-year income statement and applying managerial accounting principles to determine the true performance of the different enterprises at year-end.

This seminar will give participants a solid introduction to managerial accounting and enterprise analysis concepts, with less of a focus on the accounting mechanics required to make this happen within accounting software.