Bookkeeping Spreadsheet for Small Business: How to Set Up

By Cedar & Ledger

If you're a freelancer, side hustler or small shop, a spreadsheet can handle your bookkeeping until you outgrow it. You need four tabs: income, expenses, a monthly profit and loss summary, and a tax set-aside. Here's how to build each one and keep it current in about 15 minutes a week.

This is general information, not tax, legal or accounting advice. A tax professional can confirm what applies to you.

Who a spreadsheet works for

A bookkeeping spreadsheet usually works well if you: - have one business bank account (or can keep business transactions clearly marked), - have fewer than a few hundred transactions a month, - don't run payroll or track inventory across many locations.

If you have employees, sales tax in several states or big inventory, accounting software or a bookkeeper is likely worth it.

Tab 1: Income

Record the gross amount when platforms take fees, and log the fee as an expense. That keeps your income matching your 1099s.

Tab 2: Expenses

Use a category dropdown (Data > Data validation) based on common small business expense categories, such as Advertising, Fees, Supplies, Software, Car and mileage, Phone and internet, Contract labor and Other. Matching the categories your tax form uses makes tax time much faster.

Tab 3: Monthly profit and loss

Add a month column to both tabs: =TEXT(A2,"yyyy-mm"). On a P&L tab, list months down column A (as text, e.g. 2026-11), then:

• Income: =SUMIFS(Income!E:E, Income!G:G, A2)
• Expenses: =SUMIFS(Expenses!D:D, Expenses!G:G, A2)
• Profit: =B2-C2

Add a year-to-date row with =SUM(). That's your profit and loss statement, the number lenders, landlords and your tax preparer will ask for.

Tab 4: Tax set-aside

Next to profit, add a set-aside percentage cell (many self-employed people use 25–30% until they know their real rate) and:

=MAX(0, D2) * $F$1

Move that amount to a separate savings account each month, so quarterly estimated taxes don't catch you short.

Example month

The 15-minute weekly routine

1. Download or open your bank and card activity for the week.
2. Add any income and expense rows that are missing.
3. Snap and file receipts (a phone folder named by month works).
4. Check that the sheet's balance roughly matches your bank. See how to reconcile your business bank account.

Common mistakes

• Mixing personal and business purchases on one card with no notes.
• Logging net platform payouts and forgetting the fees.
• Waiting until April to catch up.
• Forgetting mileage. Log trips as you go; the deduction can add up.

Want it ready-made?

Our Self-Employed & Small Business Bundle ($29) includes 8 spreadsheets: bookkeeping, invoices and clients, side hustle income, pricing, mileage, reseller inventory, Etsy fees and rental tracking, plus a one-page website template. Formulas are already built, and it works in Excel and Google Sheets. Just need the books? The Small Business Bookkeeping Tracker is sold on its own too.

Made with AI assistance and reviewed before release.

Related template: Self-Employed & Small Business Bundle. Also see: Small Business Bookkeeping Spreadsheet · Mileage Log & Car Expense Tracker

See all Cedar & Ledger templates

Try the free profit and loss calculator →