The skill-set for British farming is changing, guests were told at the UK launch of Figured, a real-time accountancy software package that for the first-time, will enable the whole farm team to focus on profitability ahead of production.

Séan Rickard addresses guests at the UK launch of Figured

Independent economic analyst Séan Rickard addressed delegates during the official UK launch of Figured at Rise London, in Shoreditch, on Thursday 28^th June, explaining that British farming needs to be more efficient and automated systems must be integrated into supply chains to guarantee future success.

“This is both in terms of agri-biotechnology, but also precision, or digital farming,” explained Mr. Rickard. “In both cases, farmers will be reliant on data, being able to process data quickly, and acting on this data in real-time.”

This, he believes, is where Figured adds value to the UK farming sector, having been successfully introduced into the New Zealand market some four and a half years ago, and subsequently launched into Australia and the USA.

“Farmers must start to plan, especially in the light of Brexit and Making Tax Digital,” explains David Kirby, Figured’s UK and Ireland managing director. “Farming is changing, and becoming more of a business, with producers, alongside their accountants and advisors needing to rely more on data to be able to make the right decisions. Farmers should be using the latest proven technology to do this.”

Enabling farmers to have an up-to-date view of their farm financial position, with minimal effort, Figured uses the latest technology to take automatic feeds from the bank account to update current, and forecast future, financial positions for the year.

It enables farmers to accurately see the impact of changes to, for example, milk prices, or cost variances, to profitability.

Figured works alongside Xero, the number one online accounting platform in the UK. It enables farmers, their accountant and any other members of the farming team, including advisors and bankers, to see the same up-to-date financial data on the farm operation. This means peace of mind for the farmer, with access to the current and forecast financial position, and more efficient dealings with accountants and advisors.

The market entry will initially focus on dairy and livestock markets, and Figured has also formed a leading arable beta group of accountants and advisers to support the arable sector later in the year.

“With its UK launch Figured offers UK farmers a unique opportunity to plan better for the future, and to use the leading innovative package to do that” adds David. “We are continually developing the package to make sure it fits the growing need for tomorrow’s professional farmer.

Figured is a platform which provides accountants. Farm advisors, farmers and agri banks (the Farming Team) a single source of truth for making financial decisions. It used cloud technology alongside Xero, the leading cloud accounting platform, to provide up-to-date financial information, reports and analysis. Figured is a disruptive and ambitious international software company that believes it can change agriculture for the better.

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