The ABECAS™ Insight Farm and Ranch Software provides a full operations, management and accounting system for larger and more complex farm operations. This includes row crop, field crop, tree crop, specialty crop, livestock, poultry, and fish farms. The center of the system is Activity Based Costing (ABC). This allows all costs and revenue to be allocated to a cost center (or job), such as a field, a crop or a lot, by the activity involved. This provides a four dimensional view of each relevant part of the farm or ranch by account and activity over time. For example, this allows you to see what activities make up an expense or revenue account. Similarly with activities, it allows you to see what accounts were involved. The result is improved decision making and more efficient operations.

In farming, labor and equipment make up a large share of costs. The ABECAS™ Insight Payroll module allows labor hours and/or pieces to be entered for all employees by cost center, account and activity. This can be by individual or by crew. In addition, equipment usage associated with the employee can be entered and allocated along with production or performance information. In calculating the payroll, overtime, bonus pay and minimum wages are considered along with all employee deductions and reimbursements, employer contributions and employee accruals (vacation, sick leave, other). All of this flows through to the cost and financial accounting. The direct labor cost comprises three components: the direct labor expense for regular hours, the overtime expense or premium, and the payroll burden. This burden can include an allocation for indirect labor costs, such as training, vacation, supervision, unproductive work time, and so on, as well as the employer burden. Payment can be by check or direct deposit. If an outside payroll service is used to pay employees and handle taxes, it generally makes sense to still use the Payroll module but to transfer the summary payroll amounts to the service.

In ranch and animal operations, the animals, feed, and professional services often make up a large share of costs. These costs can be allocated as they are incurred or allocated from a supplies inventory. In addition, labor and equipment costs can be allocated through the Payroll module.

Various other modules can be included as part of the Farm and Ranch system. For example, Production Management can be included to provide for production planning, operations, work assignments, and recording completed activities. It is also a valuable resource for understanding your operations and for researching variations in performance. Purchase Orders and Supplies Inventory can be used to manage purchases and the allocation of supplies. Equipment and Facilities Management can be used to schedule preventive maintenance, track repairs, and all expenses, including fuel, by item. If an over-the-road fleet is involved, this module also provides IFTA fuel tax reporting. The HR module can be used to track applicants, the hiring process, training, drug testing, medicals, violations, accidents, and so on.

The system supports both accrual- and cash-basis financial accounting concurrently with the cost accounting working off the accrual records. If production needs to be capitalized , procedures are available to automatically transfer costs to a work-in-process account. Sales can be handled either through Account Receivable or the Sales Order-Inventory modules.

The cost accounting tracks quantities as well as amounts and these may be included in reports, as relevant. In addition, multiple divisors are available to express quantities and amounts in per unit terms, such as per acre and per hundred weight. Cost centers can be grouped in various ways in the reports to allow summary comparisons. In addition to the standard and ad hoc reports, a reporting tool is provided that allows you to define the layout and content of the specialized reports you require. This allows for an endless range of reports.