Finance, Schemes & Compliance
Farm Accounts, MTD & Benchmarking
Enterprise-level numbers, not one figure for the whole farm.
A whole-farm profit figure conceals which enterprise is subsidising which. This module allocates costs and revenues to enterprises and to fields, produces gross and net margins that stand comparison with published benchmarks, and handles the digital record keeping and submission obligations that now apply to income tax.
- 12 capabilities
- 2 linked schemes
- Offline capable
- 12
- Capabilities in this module
- 5
- Interactive tools
- 2
- Linked support schemes
- 5
- Data integrations
- 5
- Measures reported
The ground reality
What is actually happening in accounts & benchmarking in the UK
Average farm business income figures conceal wide divergence between enterprises: general cropping incomes have been forecast to halve in a single year while dairy and lowland grazing held or improved, and agri-environment income has risen to around thirty per cent of average farm income. Without enterprise-level accounting, a business cannot see which of those movements applies to it. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is phasing in, adding a digital record keeping obligation.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Accounts & benchmarking, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
Accounts & Benchmarking — a walkthrough
A working pass through accounts & benchmarking: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
Capabilities
What Accounts & Benchmarking does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Enterprise-level cost and revenue allocation with defined apportionment rules
- Field-level costing rolled up to enterprise and whole farm
- Gross margin and net margin by enterprise per hectare and per head
Operate and monitor
- Making Tax Digital compliant digital record keeping and submission
- VAT handling including agricultural flat rate considerations
- Cashflow, profit and loss and balance sheet reporting
Comply and evidence
- Benchmarking against published comparable data with like-for-like grouping
- Support and scheme income shown separately from trading income
- Capital allowance and asset depreciation tracking
Analyse and improve
- Budget preparation with variance reporting through the year
- Payroll and labour cost allocation to enterprise
- Integration with mainstream accounting packages rather than replacing them
Interactive
Tools you actually use, not screens you read
These are working interfaces inside the module — maps, calculators, planners and dashboards that respond to your own holding data.
Enterprise margin comparison chart across the business
Enterprise margin comparison chart across the business
ChartTrading versus support income split showing true agricultural profitability
Trading versus support income split showing true agricultural profitability
ToolBenchmark comparator against comparable farm types and sizes
Benchmark comparator against comparable farm types and sizes
ToolBudget versus actual variance dashboard
Budget versus actual variance dashboard
DashboardCost of production per unit by enterprise
Cost of production per unit by enterprise
ToolEnd to end
How Accounts & Benchmarking runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
-
1
Set the enterprise structure and apportionment rules
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
-
2
Record transactions with enterprise coding
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
-
3
Allocate shared costs on defined bases
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
-
4
Reconcile physical and financial records
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
-
5
Produce enterprise margins
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
-
6
Benchmark against comparable businesses
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
-
7
Report and submit as required
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
-
8
Budget and monitor variance
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Who uses it
Built around four real jobs, not one generic user
Each of these people needs something different from the same record. The module is designed so none of them has to work around the others.
Farm business owner
Deciding what to stop doing
Needs enterprise margins, not a single farm profit figure.
Farm accountant
Preparing accounts
Needs physical and financial records reconciled.
Business consultant
Benchmarking clients
Needs comparable enterprise data across a client base.
Bank relationship manager
Reviewing performance
Needs to see which enterprises generate and consume cash.
Schemes and funding
Support schemes this module works with
Agrivencia holds these schemes as data, so eligibility, payment rates, caps and windows update the day they change rather than at the next software release.
Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Pay farmers for environmental actions taken alongside food production, as the principal replacement for area-based direct payments in England.
Defra / Rural Payments Agency EnglandFarming Resilience Support
Provide free business advice to farmers navigating the agricultural transition.
Defra with delivery partnersRates, caps and windows change frequently and sometimes without notice. Always confirm against the current published scheme rules before applying.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Gross margin per hectare by enterprise
- 02Cost of production per unit
- 03Support income as a proportion of profit
- 04Budget variance
- 05Return on capital employed
Obligation calendar
What accounts & benchmarking asks of you, and when
Windows, deadlines and recurring obligations for England. Set a different nation and the calendar reconfigures; farm across a border and it shows both, reconciled.
-
March 2 entries
-
8 March: Reconcile physical and financial records
A recurring step in accounts & benchmarking.
-
18 March: Set the enterprise structure and apportionment rules
A recurring step in accounts & benchmarking.
-
-
April 2 entries
-
20 April: Adding Value Grant
Round-based.
-
27 April: Allocate shared costs on defined bases
A recurring step in accounts & benchmarking.
-
-
June 2 entries
-
5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
-
15 June: Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Two windows in 2026: window one from 30 June, window two from September.
-
-
July 2 entries
-
14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
-
17 July: Water Management Grant
Round-based.
-
-
August 1 entry
-
15 August: Farming Resilience Support
Programme dependent.
-
-
September 1 entry
-
2 September: Record transactions with enterprise coding
A recurring step in accounts & benchmarking.
-
-
October 1 entry
-
5 October: Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Round-based, usually open for a defined application period.
-
-
November 2 entries
-
12 November: Improving Farm Productivity Grant
Round-based.
-
27 November: Environmental Land Management Capital Grants
Round-based, with rapid allocation once open.
-
-
December 1 entry
-
26 December: Countryside Stewardship
Rolling and round-based depending on the tier and option group.
-
Payment schedule
What is due, and when it lands
Farm support arrives in instalments from several bodies on different calendars. Set against your own overdraft, the question is not how much but when — so the ledger is ordered by date, not by scheme.
| When | Payment | From | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Expected |
| May | Farming Resilience Support | Defra with delivery partners | — | Agreed |
| March | Countryside Stewardship | Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| June | Environmental Land Management Capital Grants | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| December | Farming Equipment and Technology Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| February | Farming Transformation Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
- — Agreed and scheduled
- — Claimed, awaiting payment
- — Eligible, unclaimed
What the statuses mean
- Agreed
- Under a signed agreement with a scheduled payment date.
- Expected
- Claimed and assessed; payment date per the published standard.
- Eligible
- Your holding appears to qualify but nothing is claimed yet.
Questions answered
What people ask about Accounts & Benchmarking
Does this replace the software I already use?
Not necessarily. Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources and mainstream packages rather than insisting on replacing them. Where an incumbent does one job well, the platform connects to it; where the job spans several systems and nobody does it, the platform does it.
Will it work where I have no signal?
Yes. Field capture in Accounts & Benchmarking is offline first, storing locally and synchronising when a connection returns. Only around a fifth of UK farms report reliable signal across the whole holding, so this is a design assumption rather than a feature.
What happens when the scheme rules change?
Scheme rules are held as data rather than code, so a rate change, a cap change or a window closure is a content update that takes effect the same day. The platform also alerts you to what the change does to your own position.
Who owns the data I put in?
You do. The Farm Data Charter gives you a complete export in open formats at any time, and every instance of data sharing requires an explicit, revocable consent that is visible in your account.
Does it work if I farm across a border?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons the platform exists. A business with land in more than one nation sees one reconciled view rather than two portals, with obligations and deadlines from both administrations in a single calendar.
Can my agronomist or land agent use it too?
Yes. You grant scoped, time-limited access per holding and per module, and you can revoke it in one click. Advisers never get a shared password or a blanket view.
What is the biggest limitation of this module?
Arbitrary cost apportionment distorting comparison. Mitigated by documented, consistent rules. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
Documents
Take it away with you
Everything here is printable and works on a kitchen table with no signal. Where a document asks for an email address, it says so on the button rather than after you press it.
Which Enterprise Is Actually Paying? Enterprise Costing and Benchmarking
The practical handbook for accounts & benchmarking: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
accounts & benchmarking — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
accounts & benchmarking — record template
The record structure the module uses, as a spreadsheet, so a business not yet on the platform can start keeping it correctly today.
Data model reference
Entities, fields and integration points for accounts & benchmarking, for advisers and software partners.
See Accounts & Benchmarking running on your own holding
Thirty minutes, using your parcels, your schemes and your enterprises rather than a sample farm. No obligation and no sales script — if it does not fit your business we will say so.
- Free tier available
- No card required
- Your data stays yours