Farm

Type of business

An Organic mixed livestock farm, with a shop, a beautiful wedding venue and other farm related enterprises based in the Cotswolds.

About the business

With a total of 1750 acres and having recently completed their organic conversion, the family and the new managers are looking towards zero carbon farming. The aim is to engage with local markets supplying products that can be produced and prepared on the farm, embracing new technology to promote the story behind the meat, milk, eggs, cereals and vegetables produced from the pasture. 

This is a growing and evolving business, with plans to showcase the value of farming to the consumer. 

How we helped

Originally hired as the bookkeeper it was very clear after only a short period of time, that our role was going to be much more involved. With the remit to also “organise the office”, we used our expertise to streamline processes, create systems and provide ongoing support for the farm team. This had the added benefit of also reducing the ongoing costs to the business. 

What we did 

• Working closely with the farm managers we created budgets and cashflow forecasts providing up-to-date, real-time information that could be reported back to the board. 

• Moved the payroll from Sage to Xero, saving the business over £400 per month in subscription fees.   

• Created a central document filing system and filing protocols for all the farm records and information, complete with controlled access. 

• Implemented supplier invoices, submittal, and approval procedures, gaining the trust to be given access to the business bank account to pay the bills. 

• Introduced staff pre-payment cards to reduce the amount of time spent chasing receipts whilst still giving staff the freedom to purchase the items they require, and the managers can ensure costs are kept within budget. 

• Used our remote telephone answering system to handle telephone enquiries on behalf of the farm. 

• Organised emails, diaries and reminders.  

Where we are now.

Using our services has been estimated to have saved the business £6,000 a month in overhead costs and we still work with the team to improve systems and move the business forward. 

Always available as the first point of contact, the farm takes advantage of the full TPT services, including:- 

Bookkeeping 

VAT returns, invoicing, banking, paying suppliers, payroll, budgets, reporting and cashflow forecasting, liaising with the company’s accountant.  

Creating and developing financial proposals for new enterprises, researching, developing and linking new software and technology to ensure everything is streamlined. 

Admin 

Telephone, website and email enquiries, website updates, marketing and logo design ideas, insurance claims, IT support, research, employment documentation, contract updates, tenancy queries, ordering stock, organising deliveries and collections and much more. 

PA 

Acting as PA to the farm team we relay messages, organise bookings, answer emails and queries. We are on hand to take notes at meetings, provide research, solutions and to delegate all those time-consuming tasks to. 

General 

Our role within the business has grown significantly since the onset. We use our extensive experience to implement time saving systems, offer information and be the one point of contact and a trusted sounding board for the farm team.