We do pretty good planning in the winter but don’t really look at our financials in the summer. Any suggestions for using our plans more year-round? — S.T., Iowa

One opportunity to use your financials in the summer is to view them as a chance to test your projection abilities. Since you have more information about your expenses now, how well did you do at estimating them this past winter?

This feedback can help you continue improving at doing projections. Put it on your calendar this summer that you’ll sit down to review your projections versus what actually happened.

It can be helpful to do that with someone who can hold you accountable to getting it done. That might be your spouse, brother, farming partner or financial adviser.

In addition to helping improve your ability to project, your review can provide a reality check on how you’re doing in terms of responsibility for expense management. One of the leader’s responsibilities is to manage capital effectively — and that’s typically done best by staying close to the farm’s numbers.

Going forward, you can set a day on the calendar — quarterly or monthly — to review your financials. Have someone hold you accountable to following through, while you develop the habit. Otherwise, some “fire” always draws attention away from doing this type of longer-term thinking.

This might mean having a finance coach who helps you stay on top of the numbers, and develop an ability to understand and apply what’s happening to improve your business.

There will always be circumstances that come up where we need to adjust our plan as we get more information. But the overall goal, over time, is to continue getting better at expense management and projections for our operation.

Frye is president and CEO of Water Street Solutions. [email protected]