Basic Accounting Template in Excel: Quick Start Guide
Get from zero to usable books in minutes. Follow the steps, and you’ll be reviewing automated financial reports before your coffee cools. This guide covers setup, day-to-day capture, and how to view your trial balance, income statement, cash flow statement and balance sheet.
Tip: Use the Basic Accounting template if you’re a service-based business and don’t need invoicing.
One-time setup (5–10 minutes)
- Set your reporting period & year-end. Choose any 12-month period and your preferred year-end date.
- Edit your chart of accounts. Start with the defaults, then add, rename, or remove accounts so the template mirrors your business.
- Configure sales tax / VAT. Add your standard rate(s) so tax is calculated and reported automatically.
- Add bank accounts. Create rows for each bank or card account you’ll track.
Daily/weekly capture
Record income & expenses
- Enter the document number, date, customer / supplier, description and amount.
- Select the appropriate account number from the drop-down list.
- Allocate sales tax by selecting a sales tax code and select the appropriate bank account code.
- Keep source documents (bank statements, receipts, invoices) handy. Consistency beats perfection.
Good hygiene = clean reports
- Use clear descriptions (e.g. “Zoom annual plan” beats “Subscription”).
- Post bank account transfers as transfers — not income or expenses. You need to record both the deposit and withdrawal transactions.
- Reconcile bank totals to the workbook at least weekly.
Seeing the numbers
As you capture transactions, the template automatically compiles:
- Trial Balance — balances for every account.
- Income Statement — revenue, costs, and profit for the period.
- Cash Flow Statement — movements by operating, investing and financing activity.
- Balance Sheet — assets, liabilities and equity at period-end.
Tip: Need to review a different year? Use the built-in reporting year selector on the Setup sheet to roll forward or back between financial years.
Month-end mini-checklist
- Bank balances in Excel match actual bank statements.
- All high-value invoices/receipts posted.
- VAT totals reviewed before submission.
- Reports exported to PDF or saved to the cloud for filing purposes.
Next steps & related templates
