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Campbell Tyson

Campbell Tyson

A Better Understanding of Business Profitability

Based in Pukekohe, Campbell Tyson is a practice with Agribusiness at its core.

They’re also one of the strongest Xero partner practices in the area. With an increasing number of farming customers on their books, Campbell Tyson wanted a farm accounting solution that would work hand-in-hand with Xero, whilst making managing farm finances easier for both the practice and their agribusiness clients.

One source of truth

The firm had been big users of Banklink but as their rural client base grew and new clients were being put straight onto Xero, they found they were spending too much time gathering information from different places.

“We were using different solutions that then had to be pulled together. We had Xero for processing data and GST returns, Dairy Base for benchmarking and we had our own livestock valuation templates in Excel for year-end. We were pulling together lots of pieces” says accountant Sarah Miskell.

With Figured, the process is greatly simplified, whilst making client discussions more beneficial for both the accountant and the client. “It’s certainly much easier to prepare for client meetings. Instead of spending hours before a meeting pulling the information from different places, I can just run the majority of what I need straight out of Figured", explains Sarah.

It’s meant the preparation is easier but also the meetings are more productive because we have really accurate up to date information."


Understanding profitability

As accountants, Sarah says the biggest challenges are firstly to predict profitability for tax purposes and secondly to predict cashflow through a season when prices and conditions are changing - essentially, trying to understand what is coming up in the future.

The challenge for farmers, she says, is understanding the profitability of what they are doing. “They tend to farm the way they have always farmed, making decisions for spending, or even selling, without any real information.”

Now, Figured is helping to give farmers a better perspective around their cashflow, in real-time.

“As an example, at a client’s last quarterly meeting they shared how there were two or three key pieces of equipment that they needed. We looked at what they had been spending in terms of repairs and maintenance over the last couple of years and what impact it would have if that level of spending carried on, versus if they applied for finance and purchased some new gear. As a result, they could determine which was a more cost-effective option.”

A connected industry

Campbell Tyson have a strong relationship with BNZ partners in Pukekohe and with BNZ moving to a Figured platform, they’re excited about how between them they’ll be able to better support farming clients.

“With BNZ using Figured as their credit reporting platform, it’s going to make that process so much easier for BNZ clients. There’s not going to be the same deadline for accounts and it will cut down the time that the whole process takes. Overall, the client should find it much less stressful dealing with the bank,” Sarah explains.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to better support our farming clients but also how much easier it’s going to make it for them with the bank and accountant working together.”