Accounting built around the way farmers and agribusiness operators work
Accounting, payroll, and tax planning built around planting seasons and multi-entity operations.
Quick answer
TruCount CPA PC is a Brookings, SD CPA firm serving farmers, cattle operations, agribusiness owners, and professional service businesses with bundled accounting, payroll, and tax planning for one fixed monthly fee. The firm specializes in agricultural strategies like the R&D credit and excess fertility deduction, alongside entity structuring for multi-entity operations.
Brookings sits in the middle of South Dakota farm country, and TruCount CPA PC was built for the people who work that ground. Since 2009, we've watched cash flow swing with commodity prices, equipment purchases hit in the same month as land payments, and family operations juggle two or three entities just to keep the tax bill fair. That's the reality we plan around.
Our team is backed by experienced people who grew up farming or currently own farming operations, so our farm clients know we have their best interest at heart because we understand what it takes to run a successful farm in today's agricultural economy.
Farmers, agribusiness operators, and professional service businesses across South Dakota and throughout the Midwest come to us for one reason: they want to know their numbers before a decision gets made, not after.
Farmers and crop and cattle operations
Row crop income doesn't arrive on a predictable schedule, and cattle operations carry their own rhythm of feed costs, calving cycles, and market timing. Accounting and payroll built for a retail business doesn't fit a farm, so we build yours around planting, harvest, and calving instead.
We track machinery purchases, land transactions, and input costs in real time through a secure online platform, so you can see where you stand before the banker asks. Year-round tax planning happens instead of a March scramble, which means fewer surprises when it's time to file.
Two strategies most local firms overlook: the research and development credit for farmers experimenting with seed varieties, soil practices, or equipment modifications, and the excess fertility deduction for producers who purchase farmland with elevated nutrient levels already in the soil. Both can mean real dollars back in your operation, and both take a firm that knows agricultural tax law well enough to find them.
Agribusiness operators managing complex, multi-entity structures
Plenty of agribusiness operators we work with run more than one entity: a farm corporation alongside a trucking company, or a cattle operation paired with a custom application business. Each entity has its own books, its own tax treatment, and its own set of decisions that affect the others.
Entity type analysis is where that gets sorted out. We look at how your operation is structured today, whether an S corp, partnership, or sole proprietorship still makes sense, and what state and federal filings each entity requires going forward. Then outsourced accounting keeps the reconciliation, reporting, and advisory work bundled under one fixed monthly fee, so nothing slips between entities and nothing shows up as a billing surprise.
The goal is simple: clean numbers across every entity, so you know exactly where profit is coming from and where it's getting eaten by overhead, well before your CPA calls in April.
Professional services businesses that want their numbers in real time
Professional services business owners, architects, chiropractors and consultants tell us the same thing: they don't want an accountant who shows up once a year. They want to log in and see where they stand today.
Our secure online platform gives you that, plus a bundled fixed monthly fee that covers the full relationship instead of piling on invoices every time you have a question.
Anytime access to your financials through a secure online platform, updated continuously rather than dumped at tax time
One fixed monthly fee covering accounting, payroll, and advisory work, so there's no per-question invoice
Year-round tax planning built into the relationship, not a once-a-year filing appointment
CFO-level insight on pricing, cash flow, and growth decisions, without adding a CFO to payroll
Planning ahead for succession and the next generation
Every farm eventually changes hands, and every professional service business owner eventually thinks about what comes next. Neither conversation should start the year someone decides to retire.
We build farm succession planning into the ongoing relationship, along with exit planning for professional service business owners who want a clean handoff or sale. Because we already know your numbers year-round, the plan reflects your actual operation instead of a generic template.
Whether that means bringing a son or daughter into the operation over five years or preparing a service company for sale, the planning starts long before the transition does.
Frequently Asked Questions About Industries we serve
Let's talk about your operation
Your books shouldn't be the reason you're up at midnight before a bank meeting or a land closing. If you're ready to trade scattered spreadsheets and year-end surprises for a bundled, fixed-fee relationship with a firm that already understands ag and professional service business numbers, let's talk.
Schedule a consultation and tell us about your operation, your entities, and what knowing your numbers sooner would actually change for you this year.
Why clients trust us
- Julie Underwood is a CPA and member of the AICPA and South Dakota Society of CPAs
- Firm founded in 2009, operating in Brookings, SD for over 15 years
- Active member of the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce