Income, expenses, profit, and what to put aside before you spend it.
Most small businesses do not fail at bookkeeping because it is hard. They fail because it is done in three places — a banking app, a shoebox and a memory — and none of them agree at year end.
What is in it
- One ledger for everything in and everything out
- Categories you rename to match how you actually talk
- Profit by month, and by category
- A tax set-aside figure so the bill is not a shock
- Filled example plus a blank copy in the same download
Who it is for
Sole traders, freelancers and anyone running a small limited company.
How it works
Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, and Google Sheets — upload the file and open it with Sheets, every formula works. LibreOffice too. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create and nothing to install.
The download is instant. Every workbook ships twice: one with a worked example already filled in so you can see what each column expects, and the same file completely blank for your own numbers. A plain-English Start Here guide comes with it as a PDF.
Sold through my Etsy shop, ThePlainLedger, so the download, the payment and the buyer protection are all handled by Etsy. I never ask for access to anything — no password, no manager invite, no app permissions. You download a file; that is the whole transaction.