Measuring & Analyzing Farm Financial Performance
A Self-Paced Study Course
Welcome to this farm financial management study course. This course is designed to help you use financial data that you already keep to assess financial performance. The course material is presented in five sections:
1. Measuring Financial Performance - discusses common financial performance measures;
2. Making the Calculations - illustrates how common measures of profitability,
liquidity, solvency, and financial efficiency are calculated and interpreted;
3. Debt: Can I Repay - reviews measures of repayment capacity;
4. Evaluating a Change - provides a method for estimating how operational
changes will influence financial performance; and
5. Farm Family Finances - addresses the family budget.
At the end of each section, there is a set of review questions.
Visual and audio presentations are used to present information about each topic. To hear these presentations, you will need the RealOne™ player. If you don't have it installed already, you can get it by clicking on the RealOne™ software icon at the end of the page.
Some of the materials are presented in a PDF format. To view these files you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If this software is not installed on your computer, you can obtain it clicking on the Acrobat Reader® icon at the end of the page.
Throughout the course, a case farm, Calamity Farm, is used. A description of this farm and financial data are provided. You might want to review the Calamity Farm situation prior to beginning the course. A printed copy of these materials can be a useful reference as you work through the course. These materials can be found in the Calamity Farm Details section. There will be links to these materials at various points in the course as well.
There are three references that accompany
the course:
Measuring
& Analyzing Farm Financial Performance, Michael Boehlje, Craig Dobbins,
Alan Miller, Dawn Miller, & Freddie Barnard, Department of Agricultural
Economics, Purdue University, Purdue Extension Publication EC-712, October
1999.
Key
Financial Measures for General Managers, Alan Miller, Michael Boehlje,
Craig Dobbins, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, Purdue
Extension Publication ID-243, June 2001.
Farm & Family Connections: Taking Control of Farm-Family Expenses, Janet C. Bechman, Department of Consumer and Family Sciences, Purdue University, Purdue Extension Publication ID-238, February 2001.
Required Software:
