Summary
The operation of an agricultural holding provides many challenges for farmers. Considerations of production costs constitute a starting point for operational decisions, affecting tactical and even strategic choices. The expectation of recipients for detailed information at the level of crop and livestock production activities led to the creation of the Agricultural Products Data Collection System AGROKOSZTY. The analyses conducted under the AGROKOSZTY system database are used by decision-making centres forming agricultural policies and supporting agricultural development. They are also an important factor in many decisions for farmers, especially since the running of agricultural holdings is falling under more difficult, often critical, market conditions.
Keywords: agricultural production costs, accounting data collection system 1. Introduction – the essence and significance of the costs account
The activities of all business entities are accompanied by costs, and the basic source of information is the cost account which can be defined as the process of identifying, collecting, processing, presenting and interpreting cost information [16]. Over the years, the approach to the cost account has undergone changes, most often with increased demand for new information for managers and supervisors. However, the general logic of maintaining a cost account remains the same. Regardless of its objectives, it continues to be based on the establishment of costs incurred by economic entities [12, 15–18]. The cost account is bound up with two fields of contemporary accounting: financial and management [11]. This connection is graphically depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Cost account in the accounting systems Source: [13].
The main task of the cost account in connection with financial accounting is to provide the right data to create obligatory financial reports, and the objective is to arrive at settlements between the enterprise and the community. At the same time, management accounting focuses more on planning and decision-making accounts. Serving decision-making and the control of the future state of entities, it uses more subjective and perspective data, often recognising uncertain conditions by calculating the costs and income in various scenarios. For this purpose, it uses e.g. alternative, extreme, variable costs [4]. The main task of the cost account in connection with management accounting is to provide information for the making of rational economic decisions. The starting point for both operational and strategic decisions is access to precise and well-timed acquired information on the costs of the conducted activity [9, 24–32]. The cost account is required to provide information useful in management at all levels of the entity, meaning not only the entire enterprise, but also its individual cells. The issues of the cost account and the appropriate accounting system for management needs have also been raised in economic and agricultural literature for a long time [7, 18]. Over the years, the approach to the cost account evolved, but researchers were always driven by the will to present the results of production activity and enterprises in an objective manner. Such information was used according to the current needs and preferences of the decision-makers or holding owners.
Agricultural holdings operate under specific natural and economic conditions, which carry high changeability. Farmers have no influence on the formation of production prices and the prices of agricultural products. They can only analyse the occurring changes and make the appropriate decisions, the effectiveness of which highly depends on the information systems providing the appropriate data. A major role in the production process falls to costs; their impact on the ultimate financial result (income) is significant and, furthermore they are a category formed within the holding, thus dependent on it. This necessitates acquiring information on costs, and primarily generates actions aimed towards cost management.
The most important information system in holdings, which covers all records and calculations involving the past, present and future is agricultural accounting. Research on agricultural holdings supervised by the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics in Warsaw has been conducted since 19501, although the beginnings of agricultural accounting in Poland date back as far as 1926. Interest in the economics of holdings was high back then, which created the need to conduct accounting in a uniform format. Over the years, accounting systems have been subjected to many modifications; the use of data has also evolved. In terms of the accounting system operating up to 2001, data on entire holdings and production activities were collected simultaneously. The created database was used to generate reports on holdings and also to calculate the costs of agricultural products and achieved income.
The agricultural accounting system has undergone many transformations since 2002, which resulted from the need to adapt the national agricultural statistics to the European Union standards. The creation of the Common Agricultural Policy required the possession of objective data on agricultural holdings operating within the Community. This role is currently played by FADN (Farm Accountancy Data Network). Meanwhile, the Agricultural Products Data Collection System
1 Between 1950 and 1983, the Institute operated under the name of the Agricultural Economics Institute. In 1983, the fusion of the Agricultural Economics Institute and the Food Industry Economics and Organisation Institute created the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics.
AGROKOSZTY was created with the need of providing information on agricultural production activities (e.g. wheat, dairy cows). The research under the AGROKOSZTY system is conducted under the supervision of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute (IAFE-NRI) in Warsaw. The year 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the introduction of this system. It should be noted that the source data on the economic transformations occurring in agriculture is periodically collected by various entities. In such cases, the research format is adapted to the specific needs of the recipients, as a result of which the acquired results are often non-comparable. The reason for this is the diverse field of the collected source data, and the application of various algorithms of results calculation as well as different concepts and terminologies. The correctness of the analyses and the proper conclusions require methodological uniformity in the research, both at the stage of data collection and results generation. The research into agricultural products in the AGROKOSZTY system fully satisfies this requirement, which is undoubtedly a big asset.
The issues presented in the article are an attempt to turn the focus on the important problems associated with the management of agricultural holdings. The value of knowledge is rising in the industrial sector but also in the developing agricultural sector. In the 21st century, agriculture is subjected to more complications, so it requires more knowledge but also sources of information. The access to and ability to use the appropriate information, i.e. the possession of specific knowledge, can constitute a resource determining the competitive position of the holdings.
2. Research in the field of the AGROKOSZTY system 2.1. The research organisation
This research is conducted on individual agricultural holdings located all over the country, which conduct production activities designated for the research in a given year. The most frequently examined production activities include wheat (spring and winter), winter rye, winter rape, winter barley, potatoes, and sugar beets as well as dairy cows, fattening pigs and cattle. The selection of the holdings for the research conducted under the AGROKOSZTY system is planned, involving both the geographical location and size of the conducted production. This allows the presentation of results for activities in regional schemes, as well as for various production levels (low, medium and high). It should be noted that the research is cyclical, i.e. the data collection for the same production activities is repeated periodically (at least every five years).
A condition for the participation of a holding in the AGROKOSZTY system research is the simultaneous maintenance of agricultural accounting in the Polish FADN system. Such holdings are among the economically-strongest and achieve a higher level of production than the general individual holdings in the country. Their attributes include larger crop yields and higher unit livestock productivity. Due to this, the achieved results cannot be directly related to the results obtained in all individual holdings in the country. However, they allow the definition of the general trends in changes in the production and economic areas of the production activities covered by the research.
The collection of the source data under the AGROKOSZTY system is conducted with the assistance of external agricultural experts (consultants), holding multi-year experience in the collection of accounting data from agricultural holdings. The collection of source data on production activities applies forms, which contain records maintained in compliance with specifically-defined methodological principles. The accepted accounting period is 12 successive months of the calendar year. However, in the case of certain crop production activities, mainly winter crops, the records involve the entire production cycle, i.e. include also the expenditures and costs associated with production incurred during the year preceding the research.
2.2. IT service of the research in the field of the AGROKOSZTY system
The conducting of research in the field of agricultural production economics is associated with the need for using IT tools facilitating the process of data collection and processing. For this reason, a programme for the organisation of large volumes of computer data according to specific keys and models was designed and implemented, and named the Agricultural Products Data Collection System AGROKOSZTY. This software is compatible with the structure of forms for the collection of source data. It allows the computer managing of the research into commodity crop and livestock production activities and activities of non-commodity crop production associated with livestock production.
2.2.1. The process of database creation in the field of the AGROKOSZTY system
The computer program servicing the research in the AGROKOSZTY system operates on the basis of three data levels:
• source data, i.e. the content of forms for collection of data on crop products entered into the computer program, e.g.:
– the quantity of winter wheat seeds sold by the holding, e.g. 1 August 2011, – the quantity of fodder concentrate consumed by fattening pigs, e.g. May 2011;
• aggregated data, i.e. data on examined activities, which were subjected to the aggregation process on the basis of algorithms, e.g.:
– the total quantity of winter wheat seeds – originating from the harvest of the examined year – sold by the holding after harvest,
– the total quantity of fodder concentrate consumed by fattening pigs during the entire examined year;
• resulting databases, i.e. information on individual activities generated with the computer program from already-aggregated data.
It should be noted that the high accuracy of the information included in the AGROKOSZTY system database allows for the extensive description of the examined agricultural products, from both the production and cost viewpoints. The results base of an individual crop production activity constitutes the collection of 171 descriptive variables, and, in the case of a single livestock production activity, over 300 descriptive variables.
The following effective programming modules participate in the process of creating databases at specific data levels:
Economics – National Research Institute into the system, which is annually determined for the activities of crop and livestock production covered by the research. These ranges constitute the admissible value scopes for the parameters describing specific activities, e.g. admissible ranges of sowing material prices, and admissible VAT tax rates,
• the DOG module, used by the Counsellor acting as the operator, who enters the content of the forms for the collection of the data on agricultural products into the computer program (source data),
• the AGR module, the user of which – the Coordinator in the Accounting Office – must perform continuous control of the source data on production activities followed by their aggregation (aggregated data),
• the TWBAZ module, used in the IAFE – NRI in Warsaw, the final result of which is the databases with information on the activities of crop and livestock production and associated unmarketable crop production.
The basic elements in the process of the flow and processing of the data on agricultural production activities under the AGROKOSZTY system are presented in diagram 1.
Diagram 1. The process of information flow and processing in the AGROKOSZTY system Source: the authors’ own study.
2.2.2. The control of data correctness in the field of the AGROKOSZTY system
The control of the correctness of data on specific activities of crop and livestock production takes place on multiple levels, i.e. the first to verify the data is the Consultant responsible for collecting and entering the data, followed by the Coordinator of the Accounting Office aggregating the source data, as well as the control at the level of the IAFE-NRI. The control process is composed of four stages, and its progress facilitates a testing programme composed of various
examination tests. The following errors with various significances appear at specific data control stages:
• critical errors – eliminating control during the next stage,
• warning errors – allowing control at the next stages, but requiring an explanation of their origin.
Stages in the data control process:
– Stage I – control for the completeness of the entered source data and their compliance with the assigned programming ranges. Furthermore, this stage sees the control of connections, i.e. the examination of the logical links among the livestock production activities and their corresponding subsistence crop production activities,
– Stage II – the examination of whether the sizes calculated by the program fit in the admissible range for specific activities (the ZAK module),
– Stage III – uses examination tests involving exclusively the activities of livestock production, – Stage IV – the examination of the compatibility of the data collected in the field of the AGROKOSZTY system with the data of the Polish FADN. At this stage, the control is conducted exclusively at the level of the IAFE-NRI.
If there is any inconsistency during the data control process, an error report is generated. It constitutes a list of the described deviations from minimum or maximum ranges, which appeared for individual production activities examined in the given year in the agricultural holdings. The error report serves as the basis for the correction of the source data or the explanation of the reasons for the deviations from the ranges accepted for specific variables.
3. The possibilities of applying the AGROKOSZTY system 3.1. The economic account for agricultural production activities
The main objective of agricultural activity in a holding is to generate products (e.g. cereal). The production process involves various resources, i.e. current assets, human labour, buildings, machinery. These resources should be used as effectively as possible. The evaluation of effectiveness requires the measurement of its use; this involves not only quantitative measurement, but also qualitative measurement, which allows the performance of the economic account. The measurement of the value of consumption of holding resources is the essence of the cost account
The economic account is understood as the collection of methods allowing the farmer to make decisions ensuring, in given conditions, the selection of a solution entailing the best results. The account is based on the rule of rational management in two variations: maximum effect and minimum expenditure. In more precise terms, the economic account is based on the listing of the costs and effects for each of the possible solution options, their comparison, and the selection of the best one. [17, 54–55]
Diagram 2. The method for calculating individual income categories for agricultural production activities
Source: the authors’ own study.
The economic account for agricultural production activities covers three levels, with consideration of the objective served by the obtained results. The accepted determinants of these levels are the income categories, i.e. direct surplus, income from activity and income from activity by virtue of management. The economic account can be maintained in connection with both the past and the future. For this purpose, two basic criteria of cost distribution are used: according to the places of creation – direct and indirect – and, according to the reaction to changes, into variable and constant. The first criterion is applied at the register stage (past), the second at the planning stage (future). The diagram of the economic account for agricultural production activities in a retrospective view is presented in Diagram 2.
The first level of the economic account for agricultural production activities is depicted by gross margin. This is a surplus of the production value obtained from a given production activity over the total direct costs incurred in its creation. The direct surplus account holds precise definitions of the production value and cost structure, while the data for its calculation are collected in the AGROKOSZTY system. The methodology of the gross margin account is compliant with the requirements of the EU [1]. The gross margin is a category allowing the correct evaluation of the competitiveness of production activities. The selection of a surplus for evaluation eliminates the doubts associated with the distribution of indirect costs at the activity level on the basis of subjectively-assumed distribution keys. The gross margin also allows the separation of the most profitable activities in the holdings, in which farmers often have an interest. If the account should consider the changes of the prices of production inputs and prices for the products sold by the farmers, the generated gross margin account will constitute a calculation referring to the future. The calculations involving agricultural production are made in order to determine the results of changes in the holdings. They assist the farmers in decision making and allow the avoidance of
many mistakes. The gross margin calculations are useful in the evaluation of specific production activities conducted in the holdings. They can be used in making many decisions, e.g.:
• the selection of the production activity, i.e. what to produce • the determination of the production size, i.e. how much to produce • the selection of the production intensiveness level, i.e. how to produce
The answer to the question of what to produce is associated with the selection of the activity, its size, and the establishment of the appropriate production orientation. In managing the holding, the farmer must continuously make decisions involving the selection of production activities. The applicable selection criteria include the results of the direct surplus calculation. The activities can be chosen on the basis of gross margin values per 1 hectare of land or 1 livestock unit under specific price and production conditions.
The gross margin calculations show the economic results of the changes made in the organisation of the holding’s production. The multiplication of the dimension of every activity in the holding, e.g. arable area by individual direct surplus (per 1 ha) gives a surplus for every activity in the holding. Such calculation provides the answer to the question of how profitable and desired it will be to expand the production, i.e. how much to produce.
Meanwhile, the answer to the question of how to produce is associated with the determination of the production intensiveness level. The calculations associated with intensiveness will assist in the determination of the expenditure level, thus the level of costs which must be made in order to achieve the optimal production effect. Crop production covers the level of fertilisation and expected production effect. In livestock production, the concept of intensiveness is usually associated with livestock feeding. This is the factor which directly affects the size of the obtained dairy production or livestock growth, thus the production profitability.
At the second and third levels of the economic account the unit costs account of production activities is associated with the structure of the production costs of the agricultural holding. In order to determine the level of indirect costs and assess the costs of land and capital involved in a given activity, a database on the holding is used, i.e. the database of the Polish FADN. This means that the database identifies the holdings under simultaneous research under the AGROKOSZTY system. The algorithm of cost calculation is applied individually for specific holdings and activities.
The second level of the account for the production activities depicts income from activity. This income is the surplus created after the subtraction of direct and indirect costs from the production value. This income category is appropriate to the evaluation of the results in the longer perspective, assuming the preservation of the production capacity of the agricultural holding at the same level. The accounts based on total costs (direct + indirect) assume that all costs incurred by the holding are considered as so-called product costs and should be fully distributed to the created products. The products are considered as the basic cost carriers. In this account, the costs are grouped according to the locations of their origin. The direct costs are directly assigned to specific products, on the basis of the appropriate source documents. The indirect costs – during creation – cannot be directly allocated to specific products. This can be performed indirectly, applying distribution keys [15]. The division of costs into direct and indirect is significant in an economic account involving the past, although it may also constitute a source of data for the calculations made at the planning stage, i.e. those involving the future; in this case, the costs become variables
and constants. However, a certain fallibility of this account should always be taken into consideration, and it is recommended to hold calculations based only on direct costs, which are the actual costs. Significant meaning in the performed calculations is attached not so much by absolute values, which may be approached with a certain caution, as the orientation of the occurrence changes.
The third level of the economic account assumes that the farmer has the right to expect not only income covering the costs made during the production process but also the payment of the cost of involved production factors. As a manager and entrepreneur, the farmer is entitled to income by virtue of management. This is an economic category adjusted by total production costs, which the literature defines as economic costs [10, 704–713]. They cover direct costs, indirect costs and the estimated cost of one’s own labour, land, involved operational and fixed capital [3]. Due to the variability in the prices of the production inputs and agricultural products, as well as the variability in the production volume, the income from activity for management may be a positive or negative value. The negative value of this income shows that the economic costs have not been fully covered. The farmers are able to continue at production below economic costs, but they will not be able to recreate their own capital once it is consumed or receive return from own production factors [14]. This income reflects the surplus left to the farmer from involvement in the process of producing personal knowledge, experiences and management skills. The actions of the farmer are based on the organisation and management of the production process and the search for profitable opportunities for the ventures in question. They may be associated with the risk of failure and loss, but the knowledge held and the innovativeness of actions decides upon the competitive advantage of individual activities, and in turn the holding as a whole. According to Klepacki [6], the economic development of the past years is related to the change in the role and proportion in the involvement of the classic production factors (i.e. labour, land and capital) towards the rising importance of the triad composed of information, knowledge and creativity. This does not change the fact that all resources should still be used in the most effective manner, but people are the factor deciding upon success, with their knowledge, entrepreneurship, information processing skills and the search for creative solutions.
The rank of these properties in the modern economy is becoming an increasingly commonly discovered fact. Their value is also rising in the agricultural sector. The effectiveness of the farmers’ activities results from good decisions, while the possession and ability to use specific information is very important. Running a holding is becoming more complicated, and the rules of the market economy constantly present new challenges, the causes of which include growing competition. The achievement of good results requires knowledge, but also entrepreneurship and innovation in the recognised activities.
The results of the economic account for production activity may be used in various ways and in a wide ambit, depending on the set goal. They provide absolutely original and unique material. It is possible to group holdings according to random criteria; due to this, the analyses are performed in regional terms, depending on the production scale, level of direct costs incurred and other classification criteria. The information collected in the databases allows the following:
• the calculation of the unit costs of manufacturing agricultural products and potential income from a given type of production for the farmer,
• the evaluation of the impact of CAP mechanisms on the economic effects of agricultural products, • the definition of production competitiveness and labour consumption,
• the performance of various production and economic analyses.
3.2. Reports for farmers
The database created in the domain of the AGROKOSZTY system and with the use of other data (the Polish FADN system database, additional information collected through questionnaires, e.g. for organic products) allows the generation of cost and income reports for examined production activities, with various levels of detail. Such reports contain unique data, generated according to the needs of the recipients. It is possible to present the results for agricultural production activities e.g. depending on the scale of their production or in a regional arrangement, i.e. in selected agricultural regions.
The data included in the reports is a useful tool in the creation of analyses at the level of production activities conducted in agricultural holdings. They are also a valuable tool in decision making for the farmers as self-employed entrepreneurs who face constant production and organisation decisions, often associated with risk. This risk is reduced by access to information allowing the making of more apt decisions. One of the sources of such information for farmers can be the reports generated by the AGROKOSZTY system.
4. Conclusion
As a system of processing information, the costs account covers a sequence of ordered and logically-associated actions. The drive to learn the reasons for the costs leads to the development of this account. On one hand, this development is expressed in the improvement in the procedures applied in the existing costs account, and, on the other hand, in the creation of new models – which occurs with the change of the orientation of the account from retrospective to prospective and anticipative. As a result, the use of the regularities observed in the past produces short-term projections of costs and income and medium-term projections for the main agricultural products. The holdings are obliged to constantly adapt to the transforming conditions. In order to make this adaptation quicker and oriented in the right direction, it is necessary to use the appropriate instruments.
Today, specialised and developing commodity holdings have high informational needs, while the cost account is not only a measure of expenditures, but also a tool supporting the process of planning and controlling the use of the resources, costs and risk in the field of enterprise management. In this field, the costs accounts are very useful, as they provide the possibility to manage the activities (processes) occurring in the enterprises [2, 1–12]. In this case, the management focusses on e.g. the elimination of unnecessary actions entailing specific costs without the creation of additional value. Based on the processed cost accounts cost management is a continuous selection of which actions should be abandoned and which continued from the viewpoint of achieving income [5]. In this sense, cost management is a process actively leading to effectiveness, because costs have a significant impact on the formation of the effect-expenditure connection, while cost reduction is a process which is a reaction to the changes in the conditions of the environment. Cost management is closely associated with the creation of values for the recipients and their satisfaction, which translates directly into the income obtained by the holdings.
In the conditions of the market economy, costs are among the basic factors determining the growth of effectiveness. This is why the drive towards more effective management of production factors is creating constant interest in the level of incurred costs. Kulawik [8, 3–16] states that the ability to cover alternative costs determines the competitiveness of the household in the final account. Costs play a significant role in the decision-making process, as both selection parameters and criteria. The access to and use of such information is a necessary condition for making rational decisions. These expectations are met by such research into agricultural production activities as those conducted under the AGROKOSZTY system. Of course, one should remember that the results of this research do not fully exhaust the issues of cost management, production profitability or rational management. However, the generated accounts give a good picture of the situation in the holdings participating in the research, as they reflect the present trends and allow for an explanation of occurring changes.
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ZARZĄDZANIE KOSZTAMI PRODUKCJI ROLNICZEJ – WYKORZYSTANIE SYSTEMU ZBIERANIA DANYCH O PRODUKTACH ROLNICZYCH „AGROKOSZTY”
Streszczenie
Prowadzenie gospodarstwa rolnego stawia przed rolnikiem wiele wyzwa. Rozwaania na temat kosztów produkcji stanowi punkt wyjcia dla decyzji operacyjnych, maj wpływ na decyzje o zasigu taktycznym, a take stanowi wany element rónych wyborów strategicznych. Wychodzc na przeciw oczekiwaniom odbiorców zaistniała potrzeba gromadzenia szczegółowych danych na poziomie działalnoci produkcyjnej. W tym celu utworzony został System Zbierania Danych o Produktach Rolniczych AGROKOSZTY. Analizy wykonywane na podstawie baz danych systemu AGROKOSZTY wykorzystywane s orodki decyzyjne kształtujce polityk roln i jednostki wspierajce rozwój rolnictwa. Stanowi take wan przesłank do podejmowania wielu decyzji przez rolników, tym bardziej, e prowadzenie gospodarstwa rolnego odbywa si w coraz trudniejszych, a czsto kryzysowych warunkach rynkowych.
Słowa kluczowe: koszty produkcji rolniczej, system gromadzenia danych rachunkowych
Aldona Skar yska Marcin ekało
Zakład Rachunkowo ci Rolnej
Instytut Ekonomiki Rolnictwa i Gospodarki ywno ciowej – PIB w Warszawie ul. $witokrzyska 20, 00-002 Warszawa
e-mail: skarzynska@ierigz.waw.pl zekalo@ierigz.waw.pl
