Small-Business Bookkeeping Template: Excel and Google Sheets
Use a transaction ledger to retain the original bank descriptions, assign your own categories and summarize cash activity by month. This workbook keeps source rows separate from reviewed transactions and excludes internal transfers from income and expense totals.
Inspect the worked example
What you download
- Instructions
- Source retention, signs, row limits and manual import/review steps.
- Categories
- Up to 30 editable categories mapped to Income, Expense, Transfer or Other.
- Source Rows
- Retain up to 200 original records and their source references without cleaning away legitimate repeats.
- Transactions
- 200 reviewed rows, manual categories, derived category type and row warnings.
- Monthly Summary
- Two selected months of income, expenses, net cash results and excluded activity.
- Reconciliation Handoff
- One selected bank account: opening balance, monthly movement, pending items and statement comparison.
- Example Sources
- Original fictional records, including both sides of two internal transfers.
- Example Transactions
- Reviewed October and November records with distinct equal-value payments.
- Example Summary
- October income $1,500, expenses $205; November income $900, expenses $680.
- Example Handoff
- Checking closes at $1,995 in October and $2,315 in November after a $75 pending payment.
Scope: Manual cash-activity workbook, not an automatic categorization service, tax-compliance guarantee or complete accrual accounting system. Formula ranges cover 200 transaction rows, 30 categories and two months. Keep original documents and reconcile each account separately.
Follow the numbers
Fictional educational example. Not customer records or professional accounting advice.
| Month | Income | Expenses | Income less expenses | Transfer in | Transfer out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 1,500.00 | 205.00 | 1,295.00 | 300.00 | 300.00 |
| November 2026 | 900.00 | 680.00 | 220.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Two-month total | 2,400.00 | 885.00 | 1,515.00 | 400.00 | 400.00 |
Use it with your records
Open or import the workbook
Keep an untouched download. Open the XLSX in your spreadsheet app, or in Google Sheets choose File, Import, Upload and Create new spreadsheet. Import the whole workbook, not one CSV tab. Check formulas, dates, dropdowns and print settings against the completed example before entering live records. No hosted Sheets copy or actual Excel/Sheets compatibility test is claimed.
Retain source records before categorizing
Keep the actual statements and receipts separately. Copy original date, description, account, positive money-in/money-out amounts and source reference into Source Rows, rows 6 through 205. Assign a unique row ID. Preserve legitimate repeated payments.
Review each transaction manually
Copy each source record to Transactions with its row ID and original description. Choose a category from Categories after reviewing evidence. The workbook derives the type from your category selection; it does not decide the category for you. Mark Cleared only after matching the statement and enter the actual cleared date in column L. Leave the date blank for Pending. The handoff uses this date to preserve each month-end balance even when an older item clears later.
Review monthly totals and transfers
Set the first month in Monthly Summary B2; the next row is the following month. Internal transfer pairs receive the same transfer reference and the Transfer category. Both original rows stay visible, but neither enters income or expense totals. Other covers non-income/expense movements that require separate review.
Hand off a single account for reconciliation
Choose the account and opening balance in Reconciliation Handoff, then enter each month's statement balance. Compare the resulting book balance with statement plus pending deposits minus pending payments. Attach the statements, receipts and outstanding-item detail for the next review.
Two months with repeated payments and transfers
October includes $1,500 service receipts, two separate $100 supplies payments and a $5 bank fee. A $300 transfer from Checking to Savings is retained as one outgoing Checking row and one incoming Savings row. Income less expenses is $1,295, not $995.
November includes $900 service receipts, $600 rent, $75 supplies and a $5 bank fee. A $100 transfer back from Savings to Checking is also excluded from income and expenses. November income less expenses is $220. Across both months, $2,400 income less $885 expenses leaves $1,515.
A summary is not a bank reconciliation
Checking starts October at $1,000 and ends at $1,995. It ends November at $2,315. November's bank statement is $2,390 because a $75 payment has not cleared: $2,390 - $75 = $2,315. Savings ends November at $200. Combined cash of $2,515 equals opening combined cash of $1,000 plus the $1,515 two-month result.
The handoff uses one selected account and all prior pending rows in the two-month file. Enter any earlier outstanding items explicitly and avoid double counting them in the opening balance. Reconcile each bank account separately; a combined cash total can hide an account-level error.
Manual categories and original rows
Categories includes Service income, Supplies, Rent, Bank fees, Internal transfer and Owner funds. You can edit up to 30 category rows and map each to Income, Expense, Transfer or Other. The original source description is retained alongside your classification. Unknown categories and mismatched source IDs require review.
An incoming amount in an Expense category reduces expense, and an outgoing amount in an Income category reduces income. Use those signs only for a documented refund or reversal. Asset purchases, loans, owner movements and tax treatment need deliberate review, not automatic expense classification.
Questions about this resource
Is this a complete accounting system?
No. It is a cash-transaction organization and review workbook. It does not maintain full accrual books, payroll, inventory, depreciation or tax compliance. Use a double-entry ledger or accounting software when those are required.
Do internal transfers count as income or expense?
No. In this template Transfer rows are shown separately and excluded from income and expense. Keep both sides with a common transfer reference when both accounts are in the source set. If only one account is included, the transfer in/out totals need not match.
Can I paste bank transactions directly?
Yes, after mapping the fields and checking dates, signs and source IDs. Paste values only into yellow input cells, not over formulas. Keep a separate original statement or export. The workbook does not connect to the bank, extract PDFs or classify transactions automatically.
Is there a Google Sheets version?
The download is XLSX. Use File, Import in Sheets to create a new spreadsheet, then check the completed two-month example, validation and dates. No hosted Sheets copy or actual Sheets/desktop Excel testing is claimed.
Sources and documentation
- IRS Publication 583: recordkeeping, journals, ledgers and reconciliation(opens in a new tab)
- Google Docs Editors Help: import Excel data into Sheets(opens in a new tab)
Examples are educational. Check your records and accounting policy before posting entries or relying on a forecast.
Statement rows still trapped in a PDF?
Fulla turns bank-statement PDFs into rows you review against the source before exporting CSV, Excel, OFX or JSON. These free workbooks are separate manual tools, not automatic accounting or financial advice.