Running a farm isn't just about knowing when to plant or harvest anymore. The farms that thrive today are the ones that treat financial management with the same care they give their crops. Whether you're managing 50 acres or 5,000, understanding your numbers means the difference between guessing and knowing exactly where your money goes and how to make more of it.
Modern farmers face razor-thin profit margins, unpredictable weather, volatile commodity prices, and rising input costs. Without proper agriculture accounting, you're essentially flying blind. You might feel busy, but are you actually profitable? Which enterprise makes you money, and which one bleeds cash? These aren't philosophical questions—they're survival questions that proper farm bookkeeping answers.
Learn how to set up farm-specific accounting systems, choose the right methods for your operation, track costs accurately, manage seasonal cash flow, and use financial data to make smarter decisions.
What Makes Agricultural Accounting Different from Regular Business Books?
Farm accounting isn't just bookkeeping with a tractor in the background. Agriculture enterprises face unique challenges that standard business accounting simply wasn't designed to handle. Understanding these differences helps you avoid costly mistakes and set up systems that actually work for how farms operate.
How Farm Operations Create Unique Accounting Challenges?
Unlike retail stores or service businesses with predictable monthly income, farms deal with long production cycles where you spend money for months before seeing a single dollar in revenue. You plant corn in April, spend thousands on inputs through the summer, and don't get paid until October or later. This creates cash flow challenges that require specialized accounting approaches.
Farms also manage living inventory that grows, reproduces, or changes value while you own it. A calf born in spring isn't worth the same amount in fall. Stored grain changes in value daily based on commodity markets. Your chart of accounts needs to handle these biological and market-driven valuation changes that traditional businesses never encounter.
Then there's the complexity of enterprise accounting. Most farms run multiple businesses under one roof. You might grow corn and soybeans, raise cattle, rent out land, and run a small agritourism operation. Each enterprise has different cost structures, profit margins, and financial cycles. Generic accounting software treats everything as one business, making it impossible to see which activities actually make money.
What Are the Main Types of Agricultural Enterprises and Their Accounting Differences?
Different farm types require different accounting approaches because their revenue cycles, cost structures, and inventory management needs vary dramatically.
1. Crop Farming Requires Seasonal Cycle Accounting
Annual crop operations like corn, soybeans, or wheat accumulate costs over several months before harvest and sale. Your accounting system needs to track expenses by field and crop type, then match those costs against revenue when you finally sell. This requires accrual-based adjustments even if you normally use cash accounting for tax purposes.
Perennial crops like orchards or vineyards add another layer of complexity. You capitalize establishment costs over multiple years and track both production expenses and long-term asset depreciation simultaneously.
2. Livestock and Dairy Operations Need Inventory Valuation Systems
Dairy farms generate steady income throughout the year but must track complex inputs including feed costs, veterinary expenses, and facility maintenance. You're also managing living assets that change classification from raised livestock to breeding stock to production animals.
Beef and specialty livestock operations combine aspects of both crop and dairy accounting. You manage grazing land, grow or purchase feed, track animal health inputs, and value animals that increase in worth as they mature.
3. Mixed Operations Demand Enterprise-Level Financial Tracking
If you run multiple enterprises—maybe row crops plus a cow-calf operation plus custom farming services—you need accounting systems that can track profitability separately for each activity. Without enterprise accounting, profitable operations subsidize losing ones without you even knowing it.
What Are the Core Components Every Farm Accounting System Needs?
Building a farm accounting system that actually helps you make money requires setting up the right foundation. These components work together to give you complete financial visibility.
1. Your Chart of Accounts Should Reflect Actual Farm Activities
A farm chart of accounts organizes all your financial transactions into categories that make sense for agricultural operations. Start with major categories: operating revenue, other income, direct expenses, indirect expenses, capital assets, liabilities, and equity.
Under operating revenue, create accounts for enterprise grain sales, livestock sales, milk production, custom work, and government payments. Don't lump everything into "farm income", or you'll never know what makes money.
Direct expenses are costs you can trace to specific enterprises: seed, fertilizer, chemicals, feed, veterinary supplies, crop insurance. Indirect expenses support the whole farm: utilities, property taxes, insurance, office expenses, professional fees. This distinction is crucial for calculating true profitability by enterprise.
2. Revenue Streams Extend Beyond Just Selling Crops
Modern farms generate income from multiple sources beyond traditional commodity sales. Government payments, subsidies, and conservation program payments often represent significant revenue that needs proper accounting treatment.
You might also have rental income from leasing land, storage fees from holding grain for other farmers, custom work revenue from providing services to neighbors, or sales of by-products like straw or manure. Each revenue type may have different tax implications and timing recognition rules.
3. Understanding Fixed Versus Variable Costs Changes Your Decisions
Variable costs fluctuate with production levels—more acres planted means more seed, fertilizer, and fuel. Fixed costs stay relatively constant regardless of production—land payments, property taxes, and insurance don't change whether you farm 100 or 1,000 acres.
This distinction matters tremendously for breakeven analysis and expansion decisions. If you're already covering fixed costs, adding acres only needs to cover variable costs to be profitable. Many farmers miss profitable opportunities because they don't understand this principle.
4. Inventory Tracking Extends Beyond Simple Product Counts
Farm inventory includes crops in the field, harvested grain in storage, livestock at various stages, seed and chemicals you've purchased but not used, and consumable supplies like fuel or feed. Each inventory type requires different valuation methods and tracking approaches.
Growing crops create unique challenges—do you track in-field production costs? At what point does a crop become inventory? How do you value grain you're storing versus grain you sold immediately? These questions need clear policies in your accounting system.
Should You Use Cash Basis or Accrual Basis Accounting for Your Farm?
Choosing the wrong accounting method can cost you thousands of missed tax opportunities or create compliance problems with lenders.
Cash Basis Works for Simple Operations and Tax Advantages
Cash basis accounting records of income when you receive payment and expenses when you pay them. Most farmers use a cash basis for tax reporting because it offers flexibility in timing income and expenses between years.
If you have a great harvest and high income this year, you can prepay next year's inputs in December to shift expenses forward and reduce current-year taxes. If income is lower, you might wait until January to sell grain and push revenue into the next year. This tax planning flexibility is powerful.
Accrual Accounting Shows Real Profitability but Requires More Work
Accrual accounting matches revenues with the expenses that generated them, regardless of when cash changes hands. This gives you accurate profitability pictures throughout the year but requires tracking accounts receivable, accounts payable, prepaid expenses, and inventory values.
Lenders almost always want accrual-based financial statements because they show the farm's true financial position. Many farmers solve this by using cash basis for tax filing but maintaining accrual records for management and loan applications.
How Do You Actually Set Up Farm Accounts That Work?
Setting up Agriculture accounting correctly from the start saves countless headaches later. Here's the practical process that works for operations of any size.
1. Choose Your Legal and Tax Structure First
Your farm's legal structure sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or corporation determines your tax obligations and accounting requirements. Sole proprietors file Schedule F with their personal returns and can use simple systems. Partnerships and corporations need more formal accounting and separate tax filings.
This decision impacts everything from liability protection to estate planning to how you track owner draws versus wages. Don't make this choice based on accounting convenience alone but understand how your structure affects your books.
2. Build a Farm-Specific Chart of Accounts
Start with the standard farm chart of accounts recommended by agricultural accountants, then customize it for your specific enterprises. Most farms need 50-100 account codes enough detail to track important categories without creating overwhelming complexity.
Create sub-accounts for each enterprise. Instead of one "seed expense" account, have separate accounts for corn seed, soybean seed, and wheat seed. This detail level enables enterprise accounting and identifies where costs are changing.
3. Implement a Field and Enterprise Tagging System
Beyond account codes, implement tags or classes for fields, enterprises, and cost centers. This lets you run reports showing corn profitability separately from soybeans, or compare Field 12 performance against Field 23.
Many farms use field numbers that match their physical maps plus enterprise codes. For example, transaction codes might include field number, enterprise type, and year. This systematic approach makes data analysis powerful without requiring complex software.
4. Create Your Recordkeeping Workflow Before You Need It
Design a system where financial data flows smoothly from initial capture to final reports. Daily receipts get photographed and tagged. Weekly, someone enters them into accounting software. Monthly, you reconcile bank accounts and review reports. Quarterly, you update inventory values and review profitability by enterprise.
Write this workflow down. When you or employees know exactly what happens to every receipt and invoice, nothing falls through the cracks. Farms that struggle with accounting usually lack process, not capability.
What Daily and Weekly Bookkeeping Routines Actually Work on Farms?
Theory is nice, but practical routines keep your books accurate without consuming your life. These habits work for real farmers.
1. Capture Receipts Immediately Using Mobile Tools
The moment you buy something, photograph the receipt with your phone and email it to your bookkeeping system or drop it in a designated folder. Write on the receipt what field or enterprise it's for before you forget. This five-second habit eliminates the shoebox full of crumpled receipts at tax time.
Modern accounting apps integrate with phone cameras. Snap the receipt, and AI reads the vendor, amount, and date. You add the account code and notes. Done in 30 seconds instead of fighting illegible receipts months later.
2. Reconcile Bank Accounts Weekly, Not Monthly
Most farmers review bank accounts monthly, which means errors compound and memory fades about what various charges were for. Weekly reconciliation catches mistakes while transactions are fresh in your mind.
Set a specific day—Saturday morning with coffee, Wednesday after lunch—and make it non-negotiable. Import bank transactions, categorize them, match them to receipts, and you're done in 30 minutes. This habit alone prevents most accounting disasters.
3. Track Field Inputs by Enterprise as You Use Them
When you apply fertilizer to Field 7, log it that day with quantity, product, and cost. Waiting until someone asks creates guesswork. Many farmers use simple field apps or even group text messages to their bookkeeper noting "Field 7 - 200 lbs nitrogen - $180" right from the tractor.
This immediate capture makes enterprise accounting possible. You can't calculate per-acre costs after harvest if you don't know what went into each field. The best time to record information is when you have it.
Which Financial Statements Do Farmers Actually Need to Run Their Business?
Financial statements aren't homework assignments for your accountant. They're decision-making tools that successful farmers use constantly.
1. Your Profit and Loss Statement Tells You If You're Making Money
The P&L shows total revenue minus total expenses for a time period. Simple concept, but crucial for understanding whether your farm generates profit. Run P&Ls monthly to catch problems early, not just annually when it's too late to change anything.
More importantly, run separate P&Ls by enterprise. Your total farm might show a small profit while soybeans made great money and corn lost your shirt. Without enterprise-level P&Ls, you might expand corn next year instead of soybeans, making exactly the wrong decision.
2. Balance Sheets Show Your Farm's Financial Strength
Your balance sheet lists everything you own (assets) minus everything you owe (liabilities) to show equity—your actual ownership stake in the farm. Lenders scrutinize balance sheets because they show whether you could survive a bad year or are one crop failure from bankruptcy.
Update your balance sheet at least quarterly. Track how equity changes over time. Growing equity means you're building wealth. Shrinking equity means something's wrong even if you're staying current on bills. Pay attention to your debt-to-asset ratio—lenders get nervous above 60%.
3. Cash Flow Statements Predict Your Survival
Profitability and cash flow aren't the same thing. You can be profitable on paper but run out of cash during planting season because your revenue comes months after expenses. Cash flow statements show money actually moving in and out.
Project cash flow monthly for the entire year. Show when you'll need operating loans and when you'll repay them. This planning prevents panic and lets you negotiate better loan terms. Banks love farmers who project cash needs accurately instead of calling for emergency funding.
4. Enterprise Performance Reports Guide Strategic Decisions
Beyond standard financial statements, create reports showing key metrics for each enterprise: yield per acre, price received, total revenue per acre, direct costs per acre, contribution margin per acre, and return on investment.
These metrics let you compare this year to last year, this field to other fields, your farm to benchmarks. Enterprise reports answer questions like "Should I plant more corn or more soybeans?" and "Is Field 12 profitable enough to justify farming it?"
How Do You Handle Budgeting and Cash Flow for Seasonal Farm Operations?
Seasonal income creates unique planning challenges. You can't just divide annual revenue by 12 and assume consistent monthly cash flow. Here's how to plan for reality.
Build Seasonal Budgets That Match Your Production Cycle
Start with annual budgets showing expected revenue and all anticipated expenses. Then break this into monthly cashflow projections showing when money actually moves. Input expenses concentrate in spring. Revenue concentrates in fall. Your budget needs to reflect this reality.
Include every payment obligation: operating expenses, equipment payments, land rent, family living expenses, tax estimates, insurance premiums. Many farmers forget about quarterly tax payments or annual insurance renewals and create artificial cash crises.
Plan Working Capital Solutions Before You Need Them
Most farms need operating loans to bridge the gap between input expenses and harvest revenue. Line up this financing during winter when you're relaxed, not in April when you're panicked about planting.
Calculate exactly how much you need and when you'll repay it. Lenders offer better terms when you demonstrate clear thinking about cash flow. Having backup plans—additional credit lines, ability to sell stored grain, or postponable purchases—provides safety margins when weather or markets disappoint.
What's the Right Way to Calculate Cost of Production?
Knowing your breakeven price for each crop or livestock type is fundamental. Without accurate cost-of-production numbers, you're making marketing and production decisions based on hope.
Direct Costs Are Only Part of the Picture
Direct costs—seed, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel—are obvious and easy to track. Many farmers stop there and wildly underestimate their true costs. A corn crop might have $350 per acre in direct costs, but what about land rent, equipment ownership costs, labor, and overhead?
Indirect costs must be allocated to enterprises to show real profitability. Your property taxes, insurance, equipment depreciation, and shop expenses support corn production just as much as seed does. Including only direct costs makes everything look more profitable than it actually is.
How Do You Value Farm Inventory Correctly?
Inventory valuation significantly impacts both your balance sheet and profitability. Getting this wrong distorts your entire financial picture.
1. Different Valuation Methods Serve Different Purposes
FIFO (First-In, First-Out) assumes you sell oldest inventory first. Weighted average cost spreads costs across all units. Lower of cost or net realizable value compares what you paid against current market value and uses the lower number. Each method produces different inventory values and profit figures.
For tax purposes, farmers often use market value for livestock and cost for crops. For management and lender reporting, consistency matters more than the specific method. Choose an approach and stick with it so year-to-year comparisons are meaningful.
2. Track In-Field Crops, Stored Production, and Feed Supplies Separately
Growing crops in the field represent future inventory but aren't counted on balance sheets until harvest. Once harvested, grain becomes inventory valued at market price on harvest date or cost of production, depending on your policy.
Feed and supply inventory—seed you purchased for next year, chemicals in storage, fuel in tanks—should be counted and valued at cost. These prepaid inputs become expenses when used, not when purchased, under accounting.
3. Account for Storage Costs, Shrinkage, and Quality Changes
Grain stored on-farm incurs costs—electricity for fans, facility depreciation, interest on the value of unsold grain. Some accounting systems add these costs to inventory value while others expense them as incurred. Either approach works if you're consistent.
Shrinkage from drying and storage reduces inventory quantity. Quality downgrades reduce value. Document these adjustments when they occur rather than discovering mysterious shortfalls at year-end.
What's the Smart Approach to Equipment Depreciation and Capitalization?
Capital assets represent major investments that provide value over multiple years. Handling them correctly in your books impacts both taxes and your real financial position.
Know What Gets Capitalized Versus Expensed
Generally, items costing more than a threshold (often $2,500) with useful lives exceeding one year get capitalized as assets and depreciated. Regular maintenance and repairs get expensed immediately. But what about major repairs that extend equipment life?
Establish clear policies: Engine overhauls that extend useful life get capitalized. Routine oil changes and minor fixes get expensed. Having consistent rules prevents confusion and gives you defensible positions during audits.
Depreciation Methods Balance Tax Benefits and Real Economics
For tax purposes, Section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation let you write off equipment purchases immediately or in the first few years. This accelerates tax deductions but shows lower profitability on financial statements.
For management and lender reporting, straight-line depreciation over equipment's useful life better reflects economic reality. Many farmers maintain two sets of depreciation records—aggressive for taxes, conservative for understanding true financial position.
When Should You Outsource Farm Accounting Instead of Doing It Yourself?
As farms grow or become more complex, the do-it-yourself bookkeeping that worked for years starts causing problems. Recognizing when to get help is a sign of smart management, not weakness.
1. DIY Works Until It Doesn't
Many successful farmers start doing their own books and continue for years. This works fine when operations are simple, time is available, and accounting knowledge is adequate. But growth, complexity, or family transitions often reveal limitations in homegrown systems.
Signs you've outgrown DIY include: constantly scrambling at tax time, making business decisions without good financial data, spending farm time on bookkeeping instead of on higher-value activities, or getting turned down for credit due to weak financial records.
2. Part-Time Bookkeepers Fill the Middle Ground
Hiring someone a few hours weekly to handle transaction entry, reconciliations, and basic reports solves immediate problems while keeping costs reasonable. This works especially well if you or a family member still handle management reporting and strategic planning.
The challenge is finding someone with agricultural accounting knowledge. Regular bookkeepers often struggle with concepts like enterprise accounting, inventory valuation, and government program treatment that agricultural specialists handle routinely.
3. Full-Service Outsourcing Brings Specialized Expertise
Partnering with firms like Stanfox that specialize in agricultural accounting for US farms provides not just bookkeeping but strategic financial management. We handle everything from daily transaction processing to complex financial reporting, freeing you to focus on farming while ensuring your financial house stays in perfect order.
Outsourced agricultural accounting firms understand nuances of farm accounting methods, tax strategies, enterprise tracking, and lender requirements. They bring best practices from working with hundreds of farms instead of learning through expensive mistakes on your operation.
For many growing farms, outsourcing delivers better financial information at lower total cost than employing in-house staff, especially when you factor in the value of time you gain back for productive farming activities.
4. When to Consider a Fractional CFO
Farms considering expansion, succession planning, major investments, or struggling with profitability benefit from fractional CFO services. These strategic advisors go beyond bookkeeping to help with budgeting, cash flow management, financing strategies, enterprise analysis, and long-term planning.
You get executive-level financial expertise without the six-figure salary of a full-time CFO. For operations grossing over seven figures, fractional CFOs often pay for themselves through better decision-making, improved financing terms, and tax optimization strategies.
Agriculture Accounting Checklist
Consistent routines prevent disasters. Here are the checklists that successful farmers actually use and stick to.
1. Daily and Weekly Tasks Keep Everything Current
Daily: Photograph and tag receipts as they occur. Log field activities and inputs used.
Weekly: Enter all receipts into accounting system. Reconcile bank and credit card accounts. Review accounts payable and upcoming bills. Process payroll if needed.
These weekly habits keep data fresh and prevent the backlog that makes bookkeeping overwhelming. Thirty minutes weekly beats six hours of catch-up quarterly.
2. Monthly Reviews Catch Problems Early
Monthly tasks: Close the month in your accounting system. Review profit and loss statements for unusual items or trends. Check cash flow against projections and adjust if needed. Update enterprise performance reports. Review accounts receivable aging—who owes you money and how long it's been outstanding.
This monthly financial review meeting—even if it's just you and coffee for 20 minutes—keeps you connected to your farm's financial pulse. You'll spot problems like rising fuel costs, declining milk prices, or customers slow to pay while you can still do something about it.
3. Quarterly and Annual Processes Build Long-Term Strength
Quarterly: Conduct physical inventory counts of grain, supplies, and feed. Update livestock inventory values. Review and adjust depreciation if needed. Calculate and pay quarterly estimated taxes. Update cash flow projections for remainder of year.
Annually: Prepare for tax filing—gather all documents, finalize inventory, calculate depreciation. Conduct full equipment and livestock inventory for balance sheet. Review insurance coverage against asset values. Analyze enterprise profitability and plan crop mix for next year. Meet with lender to review financial performance and discuss future needs.
Having these processes documented and scheduled means nothing gets forgotten until it's urgent. Farming is busy enough without financial surprises.
Cash vs. Accrual Accounting Methods
How Do You Troubleshoot Common Farm Accounting Problems?
Even well-designed systems hit snags. Here's how to fix common issues before they become disasters.
1. Missing Records Don't Have to Ruin Your Books
We've all been there—receipts lost, months of missing entries, or discovering checkbook gaps. The fix is systematic reconstruction. Pull bank statements and credit card reports showing all transactions. Contact vendors for duplicate invoices. Estimate minor items if necessary and document your reasoning.
The key is starting now rather than hoping it magically resolves itself. One focused afternoon can usually reconstruct several months of missing data well enough for management purposes and tax filing.
2. Multi-Enterprise Allocation Requires Clear Rules
Allocating shared costs across enterprises stumps many farmers. How do you split shop electricity between corn and soybeans? What portion of the pickup goes to cattle versus crops?
Create simple allocation rules and document them. Shop costs might split based on relative acres or revenues. Vehicle expenses might split by estimated usage percentages. The exact method matters less than consistency—use the same approach every year so comparisons remain valid.
3. Fixing Past-Period Errors Without Starting Over
Discovering you miscoded six months of fertilizer purchases to the wrong enterprise doesn't mean redoing everything. Make an adjustment entry in the current period that explains the correction. Your accountant can guide you on material errors that need restatements versus minor issues handled through simple adjustments.
Good accounting software lets you post entries to prior periods if needed before year-end close. After closing the year, adjustments get posted to current periods with clear descriptions noting they correct prior-year items.
Next Steps: Transform Your Farm's Financial Management Today
Agriculture accounting doesn't have to be overwhelming. Start with small improvements and implement weekly receipt capture, reconcile accounts regularly, track costs by enterprise, and review monthly financial statements. Each step builds toward complete financial clarity that drives better decisions and higher profitability.
As your operation grows, consider partnering with specialists who understand agricultural financial management. Stanfox provides comprehensive outsourced accounting services specifically for agricultural operations, from basic bookkeeping through fractional CFO strategic guidance. We work seamlessly with your CPA firm to ensure year-round financial excellence while you focus on what you do best farming.
Contact Stanfox today to discuss how our agricultural accounting expertise can support your farm's success. We'll handle the numbers so you can focus on the land.
FAQs: Your Farm Accounting Questions Answered
1. Do small farms really need formal accounting systems?
Yes, even small operations benefit from organized financial tracking. You might not need expensive software, but documenting income, expenses, and enterprise profitability helps you understand which activities make money and supports tax filing.
2. Which accounting method is best for farms: cash or accrual?
Most farms use cash basis for tax reporting because it offers timing flexibility to minimize taxes, but maintain accrual-based records for management decisions and lender reporting. Cash basis is simpler but doesn't show true profitability during production cycles.
3. How often should I update my farm's financial records?
Enter transactions weekly, reconcile accounts monthly, and review financial statements monthly at minimum. More frequent updates provide better information for decisions. Quarterly reviews of inventory and enterprise profitability help you catch trends and adjust strategies. Annual comprehensive reviews support tax preparation and long-term planning.
4. What financial records do banks require for farm loans?
Lenders typically want three years of tax returns, current balance sheet showing assets and liabilities, year-to-date profit and loss statement, projected cash flow for the coming year, enterprise budgets showing expected profitability, and list of all existing debt obligations.
5. How are government subsidies and program payments recorded and taxed?
Treatment varies by program. Most agricultural program payments are taxable income reported on Schedule F. Some conservation payments might be tax-free if they reimburse specific conservation expenses.
6. Can I use QuickBooks or Xero effectively for farm accounting?
Yes, both QuickBooks and Xero work well for farm accounting if properly configured with farm-specific chart of accounts, class/tag systems for enterprises, and inventory tracking. The limitation is they lack built-in features for per-acre analysis, crop-year versus calendar-year reporting, and agricultural-specific reports.
7. When should I hire a professional accountant or consider fractional CFO services?
Hire help when you're spending too much time on bookkeeping versus farming, making business decisions without good financial data, struggling to secure financing due to weak records, facing complex multi-enterprise operations, planning succession or significant expansion, or when your operation grosses over seven figures.
8. Which financial KPIs matter most for farm profitability?
Track these key performance indicators: gross margin per acre or per head (revenue minus direct costs), net profit margin percentage, operating expense ratio, debt-to-asset ratio, current ratio (current assets ÷ current liabilities), debt service coverage ratio, return on assets, and breakeven price for each enterprise. Monitoring trends in these metrics helps you understand financial health and compare against industry benchmarks.
9. How do I allocate shared costs across multiple farm enterprises accurately?
Establish clear allocation rules documented in writing. Some costs can be directly assigned—corn seed only goes to corn enterprise. Shared costs need allocation bases: shop utilities might split based on relative enterprise acres or revenues; equipment costs might allocate based on hours used for each enterprise; general overhead might split based on relative enterprise gross revenues.
10. What financial documents are essential for year-end tax filing?
You need income statements showing all revenue by source, expense statements by category matching your chart of accounts, depreciation schedules for all capital assets, 1099 forms from customers paying over $600, W-2s if you have employees, records of all quarterly estimated tax payments made, inventory values at year beginning and year end, documentation for any special tax credits or deductions claimed, and carryforward information from prior-year returns.
