Okay, this year is looking to be different than what we have been expecting over the past years. Obviously, I am merely speaking from my vantage point; after being involved in audits, sitting through board and annual meetings, visiting with you managers and our partners who are involved in your audits. What we expect to...

Those of you reading this article every year must think we sound like a broken record, not much changes here. Much of what we expected to see over the last year continues to be what we expect over the coming year. Mergers: The mergers just keeping coming. Across the Midwest (IA, NE, SD, MN &...

Sales dollars decreased considerably with lower grain and energy prices. Better corn and bean margins on steady to lower volumes. Agronomy margins down on steady to lower tons. Energy margins up slightly on steady to lower volumes – propane volumes down considerably with drier 2014 harvest. Feed divisions showed improved results. The drier harvest led...

We are seeing more use of non-qualified patronage from the regional cooperatives. Treatment of these allocations varies from client to client, firm to firm, etc. Even our decision may change as we see the regional indicate or demonstrate they intend to revolve the non-qualified patronage. For example, CoBank specifically indicates they have no intention of...

In late April, our cooperative clients received a letter from the Board Chairman of CHS, Inc. regarding the company’s annual equity redemption program.  We have fielded a number of calls on what the letter is telling the member cooperatives regarding their non-qualified equity.  We would tell you “nothing new” (particularly from a tax standpoint). In...

Many companies spend a lot of time and money creating mission statements to highlight their products and services and align employees around a common vision. But the fact is that many mission statements fail, becoming nothing more than a wall ornament or a bunch of words tucked into a seldom-read company handbook. For the most part,...