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New BNA Portfolio Examines Accounting for Agriculture Producers

NEWS RELEASE

Contacts:
Mark Carrington
(703) 341-5880

Arlington, Va. (December 31, 2007) – BNA®, publisher of the authoritative and universally recognized Tax Management Portfolios, has released the latest addition to the Accounting Policy and Practice Series – Portfolio 5205-1st Accounting for Agriculture Producers.

The Accounting Policy and Practice Series Portfolio analyzes financial accounting guidelines for agricultural operations.

A significant number of farm liquidations in the 1980's led to changes in ownership of agricultural land and an increasing trend in absentee ownership of farm operations.  Many absentee owners are unfamiliar with agricultural production and financial management. This Portfolio provides valuable education on accounting and financial management for both the professional farm managers and the absentee owners.

Responding to the lack of guidance in this area, the Farm Financial Standards Council (FFSC) developed and published a set of accounting guidelines for the agricultural industry that provide recommendations for standardized format and content of farm financial statements and disclosure notes.

This Portfolio presents detailed discussion and analysis of the methods, procedures, and financial statement presentations in the FFSC guidelines that are alternative to generally accepted accounting principles. The Portfolio first compares the current professional literature for agricultural operations with the FFSC guidelines. It also provides detailed examples of the procedures required to implement the FFSC guidelines for the benefit of preparers and analysts.  Lastly, Accounting for Agriculture Producers provides examples of transactions and year-end procedures for farm financial statements currently not available in the FFSC guidelines or other pronouncements.

This Portfolio may be cited as BNA Tax and Accounting Portfolio 5205, Wheeling, Accounting for Agricultural Producers (Accounting Policy and Practice Series).

Barbara M. Wheeling is the author of Alternatives to GAAP for the Agricultural Industry, Today's CPA, (November/December 2005); Agricultural Accounting:  A Case for Asset Revaluation, Mountain Plains Journal of Business and Economics (Vol. 2, 2001), and Introduction to Agricultural Accounting (Delmar Learning) (forthcoming). She currently serves as Assistant Professor in Accounting at the College of Business, Montana State University-Billings. Ms. Wheeling is a Member of the Northwest Farm Business Management Instructors.

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About BNA®
BNA is the foremost publisher of print and electronic news, analysis, and reference products, including the recently launched Accounting Policy & Practice Series.  BNA publications intensely cover legal and regulatory developments for professionals in business and government. BNA is the oldest wholly employee-owned company in the United States, and produces more than 350 news and information services – including Daily Report for Executives and Daily Tax Report – widely respected for comprehensive and objective reporting and analysis.

For more information about the BNA Tax Management Portfolios, call (800) 372.1033.