Every effort has been made to ensure that the published information is correct at the time of printing, but readers should appreciate that prices do not remain stationery. The Financial Manual should therefore be used as a guide only. Trade names have been used to acquaint the reader with some of the products available, for clarity and for convenience. No preferential endorsement by the College is intended; no criticism is implied of any alternative product or of any product which does not appear in the Manuals.The 1986 Financial Budget Manual has been extensively updated and revised with changes being made to both content and layout, especially in the section on expenditure which is now grouped under the main topics of Livestock, Cropping and Horticulture, plus a general group of other items of expenditure. This should make the Manual easier to use. 

We draw readers’ attention to the fact that Section 4, Enterprise Analysis, is now a set of examples, and should be used as a guide only. We have limited our example calculations to Wheat, Glass-house tomatoes, Sheep (under two different management systems), and dairy cows. A kiwifruit example has also been included to demonstrate the long term nature of cash flows that are appropriate for this type of perennial crop. 

The Taxation Section has increased in order to cover changes in legislation that have occurred, as well as those that have been proposed. These additions cover the Good and Services Tax (GST), the Fringe Benefits Tax and the proposed taxation reforms for farmers. We draw your attention to the caution expressed at the beginning of Section 6