Patrons’ credit balances and other liabilities grew
by 32 percent, mostly due to the inclusion of payables
due on grains and oilseeds trading and other market-
ing activities.
Accrued expenses and patronage refunds were
the only other current liabilities that grew in double
digits. Accrued expenses grew by 17.7 percent and
were a slightly larger percentage of total assets for
larger cooperatives and for both types of farm supply
cooperatives. Cash patronage refunds and dividends
grew by 15.5 percent, but was less than 2 percent of
total assets for all sizes and types of cooperatives.
Long-term Debt
Long-term debt increased by 16.3 percent from
1994 to 1995. As a percent of total assets it generally
increased with cooperative size, but interestingly,
tended to be higher for both types of farm supply
cooperatives. By type as a percent of total assets, long-
term debt ranged from 6 percent to 7.8 percent with
the farm supply cooperatives at the high end, about a
percentage point higher than the marketing coopera-
tives. Twenty-nine percent of the cooperatives had no
long-term debt. About half were small farm supply
cooperatives and combined together, farm supply
cooperatives made up more than half.
Nearly 66 percent of the cooperatives provided
information that broke out four main sources of their
$500 million total debt (short- and long-term com-
bined)-Bank
for Cooperatives and CoBank, commer-
cial banks, debentures or notes, and other.
A regional cooperative was most often the source
in the “other” category. The local cooperative often
purchases its farm supplies and markets its grains and
oilseeds through a regional cooperative, which
becomes a source of debt capital. The debt may be
short-term operating capital or long-term investment
capital.
Bank for Cooperatives and CoBank were the
most frequent source of debt capital (59 percent).
Others were regional cooperatives (32 percent), deben-
tures or notes (5 percent), and commercial banks (4
percent). Most sources, except debentures and notes,
extend lines of credit. Only 90 cooperatives reported
their lines of credit for both years, but in total it
increased by $20 million to $308 million in 1995. Of
this line of credit, the unused portion fell by $20 mil-
lion to $166 million in 1995.
Member Equities
Member equities to total assets represent the per-
cent of the cooperative’s assets owned by the mem-
bers, with creditors claiming the rest. Over all sizes
and types of cooperatives, members averaged 50.3 per-
cent ownership of the cooperative, down from 55.7
percent in 1994.
Members of small cooperatives had the highest
percentage of ownership (72.1 percent) while members
of super-size cooperatives had the lowest (41.2 per-
cent). By cooperative type, members of mixed farm
supply cooperatives owned at least 56 percent of their
cooperatives’ assets while farm supply cooperatives’
members owned more than 66 percent. Both types of
marketing cooperatives had lower member owner-
ship-38.3 percent for marketing and 47.4 percent for
mixed marketing cooperatives.
Member equities consisted of both allocated (pre-
ferred, common, and other kinds of ownership certifi-
cates) and unallocated equity. Allocated equity as a
percentage of total assets was highest for small cooper-
atives at 53.6 percent and more than 45 percent for
both farm supply cooperatives.
Unallocated equity averaged more than 13 per-
cent of total assets for all sizes and types, but fell as
cooperative size increased. By type, unallocated equity
was around 15 percent of total assets for farm supply
and mixed marketing cooperatives and around 11 per-
cent to 12 percent for mixed farm supply and market-
ing cooperatives.
Description of Income Statement
The income statement shows the results of opera-
tions for the past year and usually includes both the
current and prior year. It lists all sources of revenue
and expenses. The statement measures the profitability
of the cooperative for a given period of time. Although
it does not show timing of cash-flows, the statement
best describes the status of the business.
In the analysis of income statements, net sales
were set at 100 percent to find out the proportion that
a single item represented in a total group or subgroup.
Because the income statement variables were
expressed as a percent of net sales, comparisons were
possible between different sizes and types of opera-
tions. Thus, the statement used in this report became
known as a “common size” income statement. This
statement was provided for the average cooperative
respondent in table 9. The first item listed on the
income statement net sales was the primary source of
revenue-farm supplies sold and products marketed.
Cost of goods sold (COGS) was the amount a
cooperative paid for the products it sold and market-
9