Due to taxation constraints most financial reporting systems are based on the financial year, i.e., July to June. For farming enterprises the financial year may not be suitable when looking at enterprise performance - a winter crop such as wheat is an example. As wheat is sown in the autumn of one financial year and harvested in the spring of the next financial year, a review of a wheat enterprise in a financial year would be of little benefit. A review of the performance of a wheat crop in a financial year would mean that income generated by wheat would not relate to the resources used by this crop during this period. This is a particular problem if the size of the enterprise varies from one year to the next.
Phoenix Financial Pro has overcome this difficulty by allowing enterprise reports to be based on a flexible season. Winter crops such as wheat and oats that are sown in autumn and harvested in the spring default to the calendar year. Summer crops such as sorghum and maize that are sown in spring and harvested in autumn have reports defaulting to the financial year.
As livestock enterprises do not have any specific orientation to either a calendar or financial year, Phoenix arbitrarily defaults to a calendar year.
When starting a new enterprise, you will be asked to specify the date that the season starts for this enterprise. This defines the default season for any cashbook entry, and specifies the report period for any physical entries. When entering cashbook data into Phoenix Financial Pro, you have the ability to allocate the transactions to a season other that the one implied by the transaction date. When reporting in Phoenix Financial Pro the user chooses the season to report on rather than the discreet period.
