Excel for Small Business: Essential Spreadsheets Every Owner Needs

Cash Flow Tracker

Monitor your money in and out:

• Starting balance
• Income by date and source
• Expenses by date, vendor, and category
• Running balance: =PreviousBalance + Income - Expenses

Weekly/monthly summaries: =SUMIFS(Income, Dates, “>=”&WeekStart, Dates, “<=”&WeekEnd)

Monthly Budget Template

Compare planned vs. actual:

• Income categories (by product/service type)
• Expense categories (rent, utilities, payroll, supplies, etc.)
• Budget column, actual column, variance column
• Variance: =Actual-Budget (or percentage: =(Actual-Budget)/Budget)

Conditional format variances — red for over budget, green for under.

Customer/Contact List

Simple CRM before you need one:

• Company name and contact person
• Email, phone, address
• Source (how they found you)
• Status (Lead, Customer, Inactive)
• Last contact date
• Notes

Filter by status to focus on active customers or leads needing follow-up.

Invoice Register

Track what you're owed:

• Invoice number and date
• Customer name
• Amount and due date
• Status (Sent, Paid, Overdue)
• Payment date (when paid)

Days outstanding: =IF(Status=“Paid”, “”, TODAY()-DueDate)

Total outstanding: =SUMIF(Status, “<>Paid”, AmountColumn)

Simple Profit & Loss

Monthly P&L structure:

• Revenue: Sum of all income
• Cost of Goods Sold: Direct costs of products/services
• Gross Profit: =Revenue - COGS
• Operating Expenses: Rent, utilities, payroll, etc.
• Net Profit: =GrossProfit - OperatingExpenses

Create columns for each month to track trends over time.

Expense Tracking

Log every business expense:

• Date and vendor
• Category (for tax purposes)
• Amount and payment method
• Receipt status (Yes/No)
• Notes

Category totals: =SUMIF(Category, “Office Supplies”, AmountColumn)

Official Resources

• SUMIF function — sum by category
• Create tables — organize business data