MISTRO Finance 5 comes equipped with a list of basic categories for use by dairy farm managers. They also suit the requirements of most accountants. It is recommended that you use these categories for your dairy farm accounts, if appropriate, so that you can make useful comparisons with benchmarks and the financial performances of other farms and local demonstration farms such as the Macalister Research Farm.

 

You can add to the current list of categories if you require, but deletions from or alterations to categories on the list supplied are discouraged.

 

To set up the list of categories you require, follow these steps:

 

·      From the main menu of MISTRO Finance 5, select Browse Categories

This will produce a standard list of categories in alphabetical order

 

 

·      To change the way you view the categories, click on the arrow next to Category name and choose a different way to sort your list.

·      Decide whether the current list of categories is appropriate for your requirements and, if not, list (on paper) the categories that need to be added, altered or deleted.

 

To add further categories:

·      Select Add from the buttons at the base of the page

            This will produce a window seeking details of the category to be added.

The Category code is the only field that is required to be filled out on this form, although you will naturally want to fill in some of the other details.  If left blank, Type of Category defaults to Expense, Our Share Percentage defaults to 100%, and Type of question defaults to None.

 

·      Select Category code and type in a short name for the new category.

Choose a short name that will be easily remembered by you and will not be confused with other category names

·      Select Category Description and type in a longer name or phrase, if required, to fully describe the new category

·      Click the arrow beside Type of category to reveal three possible types: Expense, Income or Transfer; then click the appropriate type.

Note:  You should only use Expense or Income. Transfer will be used by MISTRO Finance 5 under special circumstances.

·      Select Parent group and either type in the short name of an existing parent category that embraces the new category;  or click the arrow beside Parent group to reveal the full list of existing categories, and click on the appropriate parent.  Click on the group that most closely embraces your new category. Extra groups can be added to this list if required (See Section 3.7)

·      Click the arrow beside Accountant Group to reveal the list of categories used by your accountant

·      Select Our Share Percentage and type in the percentage of all income or expenditure in this category that will be received or paid by you, as owner or sharefarmer  (if this option is present in your version of MISTRO Finance 5)

·      Click the arrow beside Type of question to reveal a range of questions that can be asked each time transactions are entered under the new category.

This section gives you the opportunity to create a question that will gather particular details about each transaction under this category (such as tonnes of hay purchased, or litres of milk sold), so that at a later date you can obtain a report on these details.

 

o        To create a simple question, click Standard

o        Select Question and type in the wording of the question (eg. How many tonnes dry matter?)

o        If no questions are to be asked, click None and proceed to Hide in Budget

Note: The other types of questions listed as alternatives to Standard are for specific purposes.

 

 

·                     Select Physical Units and type in the units to be used in the answer to the above question (eg. tonnes dry matter)

·                     Select Hide in Budget and type in Yes or No, depending on whether you want this category hidden or revealed when you prepare budgets

·                     Click the arrow beside Budget Projection to reveal four options for presenting income and expenditure covered by this category in automatically prepared budgets; then click the selected option

§     Same month last year places all items of income and expenditure in the same month as they occurred in the current season, in next year’s budget

§     12 month average calculates the average income or expenditure for each category during the previous twelve months and places this average in each month’s column in next year’s budget

§     Per cow same month increases or decreases all items of income or expenditure in proportion to increases or decreases in herd size, but places them in the same months as they occurred in the current season, in next year’s budget

§     Per cow 12 month avg increases or decreases all items of income or expenditure in proportion to increases or decreases in herd size, but uses the twelve month average in next year’s budget

·                     The GST Status, %Personal Use, and BAS Class boxes are used to set up each category with the details necessary to process GST. These options are described at the end of this section. To select the required option, click on the small arrow at the right of the box.

·                     Click the arrow beside Benchmark Group to select from a range of options. Benchmarking allows you to compare income and costs in special groups. For example, herd costs and feed costs. You need to tell MISTRO which benchmarking group to use for transactions allocated to this category. If the category stores transactions that are personal or do not relate to the farm, leave the Benchmark Group blank. Otherwise select the group that best describes your new category.

·                     Click Save to add this category to your programme.

 

To alter an existing category:

·                     From the list of existing categories, click the name of the category to be altered

·                     Select Edit from the menu at the base of the page.  This will produce a window giving all details of the selected category

·                     Select, in turn, each of the boxes containing details to be altered and use the procedures for adding a new category (listed above) for entering corrected information

·                     When all required alterations have been made, click Save

 

To delete an existing category:

·                     From the list of existing categories, click the name of the category to be deleted

·                     Select Delete from the menu at the bottom of the page.  This will produce a window listing “Category name”, “Description”, “Our percentage” and “Accountant Group”

·                     If this is the category you wish to remove, click Delete.  This will produce a window pointing out again the name of the category you are about to delete, and asking you to name another category, into which all transactions in the category being deleted are to be merged. To do this:

·                     Type in the name of the category to receive the transactions or click the arrow beside the entry panel and select the appropriate category

·                     Click Merge to complete the deletion