New opportunities for farm accounting

Abstract

This paper starts out to observe that there is a gap between the importance given to accounting and the low level of bookkeeping and accounting practice in the agricultural sector. Reasons for this gap are that current general accounting rules do not adapt very well to the particularities of farming and are difficult and expensive to implement. We then suggest that the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and the recently issued International Accounting Standard on Agriculture (IAS 41) could be key elements to improve the use of accounting in European farms. We review the main contributions of IAS 41 and conclude that it provides a strong conceptual framework but might need further instruments for its implementation in practice, given the limitations of the agricultural sector. We continue to explain that FADN is an experienced network that has elaborated very detailed farm accounting procedures, and suggest that these procedures could be turned into a guide for implementing IAS 41. We report empirical data which indicate that current FADN reports are already considered useful by farmers for different purposes. Finally, we analyse in detail the compatibility of IAS 41 and FADN, identifying changes in the FADN procedures that would become necessary if the FADN procedures were to be used for implementing IAS 41 and some aspects of FADN that might have been worthwhile to consider for the final version of IAS 41.