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NE Kansas | You and your husband need to buy an accounting software geared toward agriculture. Not QuickBooks, rather something more enterprise based and easier to follow. They all take some time to learn, especially if you're not an accountant. There are ag based accounting software programs out there that allow receipts/expenses to be categorized. Your accountant will appreciate the organization as well.
As others have said, most of your income in a first generation farm will show up on the balance sheet and not cash in the bank. He's hesitant to share all the details, which seems to be the norm in many family businesses. I don't know why, but most likely it's a control issue and not wanting to be questioned. In the eyes of the law and your bank, you and your husband are as one in the same so it's good to keep in the loop, especially if something were to happen to him. I wouldn't open your argument with that :-)
Communication is key. You trust he is making good decisions so tell him that. Offer to keep things better organized so that he can make better decisions. My wife is a great organizer, and handles all our bills and paperwork. I hate doing that kind of work so it works out well for me. She rarely if ever questions any decisions I make, her focus is keeping all the data accounted for so I can make decisions. She prides herself in that. I'm very conservative when it comes to making financial decisions and she knows that. There are times when one needs take on more financial risk, and I always discuss those types of decisions with her. At this point in our lives, she's less concerned with the risk and more concerned with my time. Anything that would cause more time away from the family gets a down vote, and that's fine by me. As we get older the internal drive starts to slow and a few more evenings at home sound a lot better than sitting on a tractor or chasing cows.
The accounting software would also let you both know when he can afford to quit his off-farm job. Shed the enterprises that aren't helping move in that direction and invest in the ones that are. That alone would be good enough justification for me to let you help. The sooner I can make $x , the sooner I can quite my day job and you're going to help me figure that out.
Edited by Ksbee 12/2/2024 14:01
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Farm wife talking. Please help me understand
