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This reconciliation values livestock stock at an average price per head, tracking the quantity and value of each livestock category (opening balance, purchases, sales, births and deaths) and comparing the result to the client's own balance sheet stock valuation.

Table of contents 

When should I use this template?

Use this as an alternative to the Biological Assets Register / Capital Herd template when a simpler, account-level average-cost approach to valuing livestock is preferred, rather than a full per-animal or per-lot asset register.

Before you start

  • Confirm the client is using this average-pricing method rather than the Biological Assets Register. The two are independent approaches to valuing livestock and should not be used together for the same stock.
  • Check whether Agricultural - P&L stock quantities is applied to the mapped purchase and sale profit and loss accounts. If it is, purchased and sold quantities are pulled in automatically instead of being typed here.
  • Check whether Agricultural - Stock Valuation: Livestock is used on the mapped balance sheet stock account(s). This is where the client records their own physical count and valuation, which this template compares to the calculated total (Per client).

Background

Where a farm treats its trading livestock as stock rather than under the fair value/cost biological asset rules, valuing it at an average purchase price is simply a practical way of arriving at a cost figure for animals bought and sold throughout the year.

Steps

  1. Categories with a balance in the current or prior year are listed automatically: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Poultry, Goats, Horses, Dogs, and up to two spare or custom categories. The two spare categories are combined and shown as a single Other livestock line unless historic data already exists against them individually.
  2. For each category, the Valuation row shows the opening balance (from the prior year-end stock account), the amounts purchased and sold during the year (from the mapped profit and loss accounts), and the total, which should agree with the trial balance stock account.
  3. If Agricultural - P&L stock quantities is used on the purchase and sale accounts, the Purchased and Sold quantity cells are filled in automatically, with a note showing where the figure comes from. Otherwise, enter the quantity purchased and sold manually. Enter purchases as a positive number and sales as a negative number (the same convention used by Agricultural - P&L stock quantities), so the subtotal calculates correctly.
  4. Enter the number of animals born and died during the year, and any reconciling difference needed to make the quantity roll-forward agree.
  5. The template calculates an average price per head for the opening balance, purchases, sales, the year-end total, and the client's own figure, so you can sanity-check whether the average price looks reasonable.
  6. Compare the calculated year-end quantity total to the Per client quantity and value figures, which come from Agricultural - Stock Valuation: Livestock (or however the client's own physical count and valuation is recorded). An unreconciled indicator appears if they do not match, showing both figures and the difference.

What flows through to the rest of the accounts/workflow?

The reconciled valuation supports the livestock stock balance in the accounts. No other template reads results from this reconciliation.

What rolls forward next year?

The closing quantity and value for each category become next year's opening balance.

Where the data comes from

Purchases and sales values come from the trial balance. Purchase and sale quantities come from either Agricultural - P&L stock quantities (if used) or manual entry. Births, deaths and any reconciling difference are entered manually from the farm's own livestock records. The Per client comparison figures come from Agricultural - Stock Valuation: Livestock, or however the client otherwise records its own stock valuation.

Frequently asked questions

Does this replace the Biological Assets Register / Capital Herd template?

No, they are two alternative ways of valuing livestock. A farm should use whichever one method suits it, not both for the same stock.

Why are categories like Cattle or Sheep hidden?

A category only appears once it has a non-zero opening or current-year balance.

What happened to my Other livestock category names?

If you are using the two spare or custom categories individually with historic purchased, sold, births and deaths data already recorded, they will keep showing separately. Otherwise they are combined into a single Other livestock line, using whatever custom name has been given to that category on the balance sheet stock account.

Why is my quantity total wrong when I enter purchases and sales manually?

Sales must be entered as a negative number and purchases as a positive number. Entering both as positive figures adds them together instead of netting them off, inflating the subtotal and the year-end quantity.