Scaling your grain processing business can seem like an impossible task without fully understanding how you’re currently spending your money. A well-designed agribusiness financial management strategy has all the potential to achieve this goal and yield stable growth, and Beyond’s experienced team is ready to assist you in building one.
Contact us today to learn more, or keep reading this article to discover key strategies to improve your agribusiness financial management efforts.
Benefits of an Agribusiness Financial Management Strategy
Moving toward a more sustainable management system has a few key perks for a grain processor, which are:
- Improving decision-making: A comprehensive financial plan involves gathering more data regarding spending and internal operations, which can help determine your company’s current process efficiency. All this information can then enable you to make data-driven decisions about the future of your grain processing business.
- Improving planning: Having a good overview of your financial statements also helps provide a complete look at the health of the company. This, in turn, enables you to make the appropriate decisions your grain processing business and its resources can withstand.
- Adapting to market trends: As the grain processing industry changes and you wish to employ emerging trends, a better accounting strategy can help your company navigate these new landscapes and effectively plan for them.
5 Strategies to Build a More Sustainable Agribusiness Financial Management System
Here are the steps to improve your current grain processing accounting efforts:
1. Analyze Your Current Systems
Before you can revamp your accounting, it’s worth looking closely at your current operations to determine where they’re at.
This analysis may include several key components, such as a review of your production records to assess its productivity or even an in-depth look into your human resources.
You may revisit the specific KPIs laid out in your business plan to assess whether your efforts so far have brought you closer to them (or not).
Once you gather all this information, you can review the data to identify the key needs of your company moving forward regarding:
- New equipment to purchase
- Staff needs (new hires, training)
- Process optimization
- New areas to explore, etc.
- Company finances
After you identify your company’s needs, you’ll need to perform a financial analysis to determine how your business is currently spending money and what types of scaling efforts you can realistically adopt in the future.
This process can reveal anything from errors in your financial planning to compliance issues, which may hinder your chances of applying for grants or government programs to assist your efforts.
2. Invest in the Right Software
The agribusiness management software can yield several benefits:
- Time and cost savings, as some processes may be automated
- Optimized management of workers
- Better communication between your business and various key players (staff, partners, stakeholders, etc.)
- Optimized spending
However, it’s crucial to calibrate the chosen software to the unique needs of your agribusiness, as these solutions may take widely different approaches towards management.
You should also consider the people who’ll ultimately use these tools and look for an intuitive solution that employees can leverage with minimal training.
3. Make Data-Driven Decisions
There are many exciting developments in the industry, especially concerning digitization and adopting more environmentally-friendly practices. In some cases, there are even grants that can help grain processors improve their operations.
However, instead of adopting new measures or trends based on intuition, you can review your in-house data to see which solution you need right now and the ones you can realistically afford to adopt.
Doing so can help your grain processing business scale its efforts while also preparing itself for future obstacles, like those that might be caused by climate change. For instance, using information about soil health and environmental conditions can help you better organize your operations for the future.
4. Pace Your Future Business Planning
Growth isn’t achieved overnight, and it’s crucial to start making small yet meaningful steps toward investing in scaling measures rather than taking on everything all at once.
To achieve this, you should prioritize your company’s needs or overall goals and determine which efforts are more worthwhile to you right now.
For example, your analysis may reveal the need for renewable energy and improving soil conditions. Most companies will likely have difficulties handling two separate new protocols simultaneously, so instead, it’s worth looking at what’s more pressing.
For grains processing businesses, improving soil quality takes precedence; therefore, this should be the first measure you adopt.
5. Bring an Outside Perspective
Consulting with a third party who can take an objective look at your finances may also be beneficial, especially if your company is currently spending inefficiently or is lacking the necessary human resources to properly analyze your systems.
Such companies bring in fresh perspectives and help you determine everything from your business needs to which type of software would benefit you most. In some cases, they can also provide ongoing support to help your company implement the new financial strategies.
Final Thoughts
Sustainable growth is possible, but it can only be done when you look closely at how your grain processing business is currently spending its money.
If you struggle with your finance management, the Beyond team would be happy to help you clarify your money situation and provide you with improvement recommendations tailored to your business needs.
Reach out to our team today to learn more about how we can help.
