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QuickBooks bookkeeping for farmers and growers

Farm money moves with the seasons: large receipts when a crop or stock is sold, contractor bills that land together at harvest or shearing, and finance drawn down and repaid around them. We keep the farm's QuickBooks file up to date through all of it, so you and your accountant can see what's come in, what's owed and what's left in the bank.

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  • By Book Keeping Pros
  • Sources checked 15 Oct 2026

What we keep up to date for a farm

The work covers the bills, grants and finance between sales, with every account checked against its statement.

  • Bills from shearing, spraying, harvest and cartage contractors entered on arrival, with a list of unpaid supplier bills showing what's due and when
  • Grant payments recorded when they reach the bank, as your accountant specifies, and spending on the funded work kept together under a class if class tracking is on the farm's plan
  • Drawdowns and repayments on the overdraft or seasonal finance taken from the lender's statements, keeping the farm's borrowing clear at any point in the season
  • Machinery purchases listed apart from repair and parts bills, with how each new machine is treated left to your accountant
  • Bank feeds for the partnership's or trust's accounts connected when the bank has a data sharing delegate on record for them
  • Statements for the farm's bank, card and loan accounts reconciled, with differences explained and a saved reconciliation report for your accountant to go back to
  • Help inviting your accountant into the file from the QuickBooks user settings, so they work from the same records

Not included

Grant applications and the reports a grant body asks for. We keep the grant's income and spending recorded in QuickBooks, so the figures are ready when a report is due.

Businesses in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (ANZSIC division A)

Actively trading businesses across Australia
170,890 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, classified as non-employing
127,517 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026
Of those, with 1 to 4 employees
31,588 businessesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2025, checked 15 October 2026

Businesses by main state or territory

These counts are for the ANZSIC division Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, which includes forestry, fishing and aquaculture businesses as well as farms, so they describe a wider group than farms alone.

  1. New South Wales52,896 businesses
  2. Queensland41,591 businesses
  3. Victoria37,570 businesses
  4. South Australia16,301 businesses
  5. Western Australia15,711 businesses
  6. Tasmania5,473 businesses
  7. Northern Territory928 businesses
  8. Australian Capital Territory363 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 8: Businesses by industry division by Statistical Area Level 2 by employment size ranges (8165DC08.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Businesses by number of employees

  1. Non-employing127,517 businesses
  2. 1 to 4 employees31,588 businesses
  3. 5 to 19 employees9,564 businesses
  4. 20 to 199 employees2,142 businesses
  5. 200 or more employees79 businesses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2025. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 8: Businesses by industry division by Statistical Area Level 2 by employment size ranges (8165DC08.xlsx). Checked 15 Oct 2026.

Related pages

The service

The industry

More for farms and agriculture

QuickBooks bookkeeping for other industries

Farmers' questions about QuickBooks

Our farm is run by a family partnership. Can its bank accounts connect to QuickBooks?
Yes, with an extra step at the bank first. For a partnership's accounts, the bank needs to record who may share the account data, a person the Open Banking rules call a data sharing delegate. When that's in place, the account holder signs in through internet banking to approve the QuickBooks connection. Our part is limited to connecting the supported feed and showing you how it works.
We've received a grant for fencing and water points. How does it show in QuickBooks?
The grant goes into QuickBooks when the money lands, treated however your accountant advises. With classes available on your plan, everything spent on the funded work carries the grant's class, so the spending can be totalled for the grant.
Contractor bills all land at harvest. How do we keep track of what's due?
We enter every contractor's invoice as it comes in, then we list what's owed to whom and when it falls due. Put next to what's in the bank after reconciliation, it shows whether there's enough on hand to cover them.
We're flat out during harvest. Can the bookkeeping wait until after?
It doesn't need to. The bank feed keeps bringing transactions into QuickBooks, so we keep matching and reconciling while you're in the paddock. Anything the paperwork doesn't explain waits on a list until you have time.
We've bought a new tractor and paid for repairs on the old tractor. Why do you ask which is which?
Because a new machine and a repair bill can be treated differently in the accounts, and that's your accountant's decision. We keep machinery purchases and their finance on a list of their own, apart from repairs and parts, so your accountant can deal with each correctly.
Can whoever prepares our accounts work in the same file?
Yes. The file's admin invites your accountant from the Manage users settings, on the Accounting Firms tab. Your accountant gets an email invitation, and after they accept, their status changes from Invited to Active.

Sources

  1. Counts of Australian Businesses, data cube 8: Businesses by industry division by Statistical Area Level 2 by employment size ranges (8165DC08.xlsx)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. Actively trading businesses at 30 June 2025, released 16 December 2025. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  2. Correspondence, GCCSA 2021 to GCCSA 2026 (CG_GCCSA_2021_GCCSA_2026.csv)

    Australian Bureau of Statistics. ASGS Edition 4, July 2026 to June 2031, released 22 July 2026. Checked 15 October 2026.

    Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Licence: CC BY 4.0.

  3. Connect a new bank account to Open Banking in QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  4. Get started with class tracking in QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  5. Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).

  6. Inviting your accountant into QuickBooks Online (Australia)

    Intuit Australia Pty Ltd. Current at 16 October 2026, released 16 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.

    QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Licence: Intuit Australia legal terms (facts quoted with attribution, no endorsement implied).