Serge's 500 chickens

Before spending a single franc, Serge first has to fund his activity. He estimates he'll need about 1 800 000 FCFA to cover the first cycle: chicks, feed, animal health, litter, energy, transport, labor and contingencies.

This money can come from his own funds, a loan, or a mix of both.

Case 1 — Serge contributes his own funds

If Serge already tracks his personal finances in zBilling.net, the cleanest approach is to make a Transfer from his personal account to his farm account. This transfer creates neither income nor an expense: the money simply changes pocket.

If his personal finances aren't tracked in zBilling.net, he can record the funds entering the farm as an income entry:

Case 2 — The cycle is funded by a loan

If Serge receives outside financing:

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Why start with this step? Cash and mobile-money accounts can't pay out more than their available balance. Only bank accounts can be allowed to go negative. A farm that's starting out must therefore receive its financing before recording its first expenses.

Serge buys his 500 chicks for 400 000 FCFA. He immediately records the expense:

The cycle's first expense is now recorded, reducing the cash funded in the previous step.

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Serge isn't trying to calculate his profit yet. He's simply starting by not letting a single expense slip from memory.

A few days later, Serge buys feed, litter, veterinary products and disinfectant. Each purchase is recorded the moment the money goes out:

The principle stays the same: a real expense = one entry in zBilling.net. Serge doesn't need to wait until the end of the cycle to try to remember everything he bought.

Farming isn't just a string of expenses. There are also dates to keep: vaccination, a treatment reminder, ordering feed, the technician's visit, preparing the coop, the expected start of sales.

Serge therefore uses Calendar → Tasks for simple reminders:

• Order growth feed
• Vaccinate the batch
• Call the vet
• Prepare the transport cages
• Contact the resellers

This is often when the numbers start to blur. Serge pays, one after another, 10,000 FCFA for transport, 7,500 FCFA for a repair, 5,000 FCFA for disinfectant, 15,000 FCFA for occasional help, and several small cash expenses.

Taken separately, these amounts look small. But added up over the whole cycle, they can add up to a significant sum. Serge therefore creates a short list of categories and sticks to it.

These categories explain where the cash comes from, but they must not be added to sales when calculating the cycle's result.

The simpler and more consistent the categories, the easier the cycle's results will be to read.

The chickens are approaching selling age. Serge starts calling restaurants, resellers, neighbors, regular customers, small shops.

In Contacts, he records his main partners:

The goal isn't to build a big, complicated file. It's simply to be able to link money movements to the right people or businesses.

A reseller buys 225 000 FCFA. Serge records the income:

Another customer pays in cash: 90 000 FCFA. The income is recorded on Caisse élevage, with the same category VENTE POULETS.

This way, Serge clearly tracks where the money was received, who paid, and for what activity.

But watch out: a result doesn't necessarily mean money is available

Another common mistake is confusing what the activity earned with the money still sitting in the account.

Serge may have made money on his cycle while already having used part of it to prepare the next batch, repay a debt, cover a personal expense, or buy equipment.

An account represents an actual pocket of money. Examples:

Funding the accounts before the first expenses

At the start of a cycle, first record where the cash comes from:

• a transfer from a personal account already tracked in zBilling.net;
• or an income entry APPORT INITIAL ;
• or an income entry EMPRUNT REÇU.

This transaction must come before buying the chicks and the first costs.

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To later analyze the cycle's profitability, don't count APPORT INITIAL or EMPRUNT REÇU as sales.

Create, for example: Clients, Fournisseurs, Prestataires. Then gradually add the partners who really matter:

• the hatchery;
• the feed supplier;
• the veterinary pharmacy;
• the vet or technician;
• the main resellers;
• the restaurants that buy regularly.

No need to enter every small occasional buyer.

Record the expense the same day. It's far more reliable than trying to reconstruct six weeks of expenses at the end of the cycle.

For regular buyers, use their actual contact record. For small anonymous sales, you can create a generic contact once Clients divers and reuse it.

If Serge raises several batches a year, he needs to be able to tell them apart. A simple method is to use a consistent label containing the cycle's name:

• October batch — feed
• October batch — chicks
• October batch — sale
• January batch — feed
• January batch — sale

He can then use keyword search to find every transaction from the same cycle.

Filter by the cycle's period, or by the keyword matching the batch. You then get the receipts, the outflows and the net balance for the filtered period.

For deeper analysis, use the CSV export. In Excel or Google Sheets, a pivot table by category lets you immediately see which line items cost the most.

What Serge can now compare from one cycle to the next

From the second batch onward, the tracking becomes even more useful:

The goal is no longer just to keep track of numbers. The goal is to start making decisions based on those numbers.

Useful reminders in the Calendar

Agenda → Tâches — a few examples:

• Order growth feed
• Vaccinate the batch
• Call the vet
• Cleaning and disinfection
• Contact the resellers
• Prepare the next cycle