small business spreadsheet for income and expenses free

It will be tough to prepare a corporate tax return if the bookkeeping has been done in a spreadsheet. Corporations - Businesses that are balance sheet heavy like corporations will find it difficult to get the info needed out of a spreadsheet.Spreadsheet bookkeeping typically doesn’t work well for:

Larger businesses or those needing more robust financial reporting should look at other options. Who Should Not Use a Spreadsheet for Bookkeepingīecause spreadsheets are not inherently built for bookkeeping, they’re not the best bookkeeping tool for every business.

Side Gigs - If you’re just earning a bit of income on the side through a small business, a spreadsheet can work great to do your bookkeeping.

New Businesses - New businesses that don’t have a lot of transactions can make use of spreadsheets for bookkeeping.

Sole Proprietors - Sole proprietors who just need to complete their bookkeeping once in a while for income tax filing or sales tax filing purposes.

Spreadsheets typically work well for the following businesses: If you’re just starting out with your business or if you’re a sole proprietor, our Google Sheets bookkeeping template works really well. Who Should Use a Spreadsheet for Bookkeepingīecause spreadsheets are not purpose built for bookkeeping, they’re suited for smaller businesses or those that don’t need custom financial reporting. This means you may only have annual financial data for your business and not monthly.

Less Robust Reporting - Getting customized reports is a lot more difficult when using a spreadsheet compared to using bookkeeping software.

That’s not ideal, but is ok for many businesses as you may just need to record A/R and A/P at the year-end to get ready to file your taxes.

Cash Basis Bookkeeping - It’s more difficult to do accrual basis bookkeeping in a spreadsheet.

Errors - Because spreadsheets are mostly manual entry, it’s easier to make errors than when using bookkeeping software like Xero.

The main drawbacks of doing your bookkeeping in Excel or Google Sheets are: Copy and paste your bank transactions into the sheet and you’re 80% of the way done!ĭrawbacks of Bookkeeping in a Spreadsheet

Save Time - Doing your bookkeeping in a spreadsheet can help you save time compared to learning a whole new software program.

As long as you have a reasonable template to use like ours, it’s not difficult at all.

Simple - Bookkeeping in a spreadsheet is simple data entry.

Google Sheets works great and is a free program to use.

Low Cost - Doing your bookkeeping in Google Sheets or Excel keeps the cost down compared to other options.

The main benefits of doing your bookkeeping in Excel or Google Sheets are:

There are a few benefits and drawbacks when it comes to keeping your books in a spreadsheet.

Whether you’re using Google Sheets or Excel, doing your bookkeeping in a spreadsheet is a proven method.

Small business spreadsheet for income and expenses free