One of the most important tasks faced by management in any business is the function of control. Control is the process by which current and past performance is measured and evaluated, corrections or improvements suggested, and planning consolidated. Accounting or bookkeeping is part of control, because performance cannot be measured without financial facts and figures. The manager of a dairy farm is, in effect, the company comptroller, and must direct accounting, budgeting, and financial analysis for the business. He must also continually appraise his own management performance. In performing these management tasks, two things are of vital importance: First, financial and production information on one's own business, and second, standards of comparison, or similar information on other similar businesses. The Cortland County Farm Business Management Program helps provide both of these things for the farmer who participates and for other Cortland County dairy farmers. The objectives of this program are to help members do a better job of record keeping and business analysis and thus allow them to more accurately rate their own management performance. During the past ten years, group membership has been as follows: l959 - 30 l960 - 29 l96l - 20 l962 - l3 l963 - l9 l964 - 20 l965 - 2l l966 - 20 l967 - 23 l968 - 28 It is hoped that the information in this booklet, summarizing the information on the 28 farms participating in l968, will provide a basis for improving management decisions on Cortland County dairy farms. Although the figures in this booklet should prove most useful to the farmers who provided the information, any farmer with good financial information for his business can use these summary figures as standards for comparison