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Free Small Business Bookkeeping Templates

July 27, 2023
Bill Kimball

If you are a small business owner, you can select from a range of retail business accounting templates to get started. Accounting is a broad term that is used to define the monitoring and analysis of a certain function, in order to uphold certain set of standards for a company or organization. Each type of accounting has corresponding forms and documents needed. As a self-employed individual, you need to put extra effort into keeping the finances of your business afloat. You have to work harder than the regular business owners because you are juggling every business transaction on your own.

Also, bookkeeping will include methods in recording those transactions. For small businesses, either the owners have to set their bookkeeping system or hire a professional to set it up. In reality, hiring staff to grow the business may result in hiring a controller. If you want to anticipate gradual growth, as self-employed, you can handle your bookkeeping system all by yourself. Despite the considerable overlap between accounting and bookkeeping, there is a significant difference.

  • Despite the considerable overlap between accounting and bookkeeping, there is a significant difference.
  • Thus, encouraging bookkeeping is the secret of a successful business.
  • Liabilities are basically your company’s outstanding responsibilities, such as debts to be paid or services to be rendered.
  • Record debit and credit transactions in this double-column cash book template to monitor your cash balance.
  • The template subtracts payments to show a running balance for each line item and displays the total amount due to all vendors at the top of the spreadsheet.

To fix this discrepancy, it can be accounted for in bank reconciliation statements. A cash flow statement is an integral financial document that shows how changes in income affect assets in either cash or cash equivalent formats. You can use this information to create a cash flow forecast that allows you to predict the outcome of future investments and acquisitions. Free accounting templates make managing your books simple and affordable. Better yet, you can customize them to suit the unique needs of your business.

Sample Accounting Form – 9+ Documents in PDF

This accounting document contains the deposits and checks of an organization and allows comparing the remainder on an entity’s balance sheet to the amount on its bank account. For related templates, including those for reconciling petty cash and general ledger accounts, see our collection of free reconciliation templates. Track the value of your current inventory and determine the cost of goods sold with this inventory tracking template.

  • If you want a bookkeeping job, you need to have good communication skills, knowledge of bookkeeping principles, and an interest in improving your knowledge in accounting.
  • The template provides a running total each time you enter a new invoice and calculates the total amount invoiced to date.
  • Bookkeeping refers to a process of keeping unabridged records of all financial operations of the business.
  • Knowing your numbers will only help you when it comes to making important business decisions.

Thus, encouraging bookkeeping is the secret of a successful business. This timesheet template includes break time, regular and overtime hours, sick days, vacation time, and holidays. Enter the starting date for the week at the top of the template, and the dates will automatically populate the timesheet. View hourly rates, total hours, and total pay for each day and week. List each invoice by ID number, date, customer name, description, and amount.

Understand Assets, Liabilities, and Equity

Understandably, partnering with an accounting firm can cost part of the business income. But that would not hinder a business to benefit from bookkeeping services. Also, there are downloadable bookkeeping templates if you own a small business or self-employed. FreshBooks offers free accounting spreadsheet templates to suit all your business bookkeeping needs. Some of these templates include profit and loss templates, expense report templates, simple balance sheet templates, general ledger templates, bank reconciliation templates and more.

free bookkeeping forms

Bank reconciliation is a more advanced accounting record that accounts for money leaving its origin and arriving to its destination. This sort of record is important to keep for money leaving and entering your bank account. General ledgers are basically the mastersheets of all of your business’s finances. They include all of your important business numbers–from how much revenue has come in to how much money has gone out. Save time on your bookkeeping by using accounting software in your business.

Knowing your expenses is also essential when it comes to determining your profits and taxes owed. External documents are forms that are issued to customers and parties outside of the company for reference, monitoring and documentation. Primarily used as proof of transactions done between the company and the persons involved. This document gives a company the permission to charge their customer (or their credit or debit card) recurring payments for a fixed amount of time. This XLS template is a financial statement that is used for reporting a company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ equity.

Income Statement

The assets of your business are the things you own, like the inventory and receivable accounts. Unlike assets, the liabilities are those things your business owes or the accounts payable. Some examples of these are the money you need to pay to your suppliers, banks, loan providers, mortgages, and any debt on the accounting worksheet. Lastly, equity is the remaining interest to an owner has after the liabilities are deducted from the asset of the business.

Customers also receive an itemized list of charges and credits, including invoice numbers, dates, and amounts. On this page, you’ll find many bookkeeping templates, including a cash book template, a business expense spreadsheet, a statement of account template, and an income statement template. A profit and loss statement—also commonly called a P&L or income statement—shows your business’s cash flow over a designated period of time. Reconcile a financial account by creating a record of transactions to compare to your bank statement. This reconciliation template includes sections for recording deposits in transit and outstanding checks, and it automatically calculates your statement balance. There is no other way to keep a business operating other than channeling money into it.

free bookkeeping forms

This basic cash flow statement tracks the movement of money in and out of your business and compares financial data between time periods. The template lists example cash receipts, payments, operating expenses, and additional costs. Use this template to review each item and determine the overall month-end cash position for each time period. Aside from business accounts, a self-employed individual needs to know the basics of financial statements. That said, you need to learn about the revenue, expenses, and costs of your business.

Billing Statement Template

Bookkeeping refers to a process of keeping unabridged records of all financial operations of the business. This template includes a ledger for tracking customer payments and an accounts receivable aging tab to track outstanding payments. The template automatically populates the accounts receivable aging sheet after you fill in the payment ledger. Add invoice terms, amounts, and payments received to view current and overdue balances.

With the free downloadable accounting templates from FreshBooks, you’re minutes away from creating professional accounting spreadsheets. Use these documents to analyze the success and growth of your business and determine what moves to make in your business. You work hard to grow your business, so you definitely want to know what your business is worth. Balance sheets are statements that express your business’s assets and liabilities. An asset is something that your business owns, like the money in your bank account or items you have in your inventory.

Fostering clear communication between you and your clients ensures that you get paid for your hard work and that your clients know what they are being charged for. Create detailed and professional client account statements so that your clients can see all activity on their accounts. This document is created by a company in order to provide guidelines for employees on how to use employer given petty cash. This document acts as a record of cash inflow and outflow to help a business track its spending compared to its income. This form is completed by the retailer in order to reduce the amount of money owed by a customer from a sales invoice that was issued earlier. This document gives you the perfect format to market your products or services while providing guarantees for any produced work.

free bookkeeping forms

This trial balance worksheet compares beginning and ending balances on each of your financial accounts based on debit and credit transactions over a given period. The template also calculates the total balance across all accounts and the total variance. Customize account titles and categories as needed to reflect your specific business. A general ledger is includes information from other documents, called sub-ledgers. Simply download one of the free downloadable general ledgers samples from FreshBooks to create your own in minutes.

Learn the Basics of Income Statement

If you are using this sheet to reimburse employees, enter the reimbursement rate at the top of the template to determine the total amount owed. Customize with a logo and business details, and enter an invoice number, date, customer ID number, and payment terms for each invoice. Fill in the itemized list of payments due, and adjust the tax percentage to calculate the total amount owed. The Excel bookkeeping system is the most popular form of template, as it’s easy to edit and familiar to customize. With bookkeeping accounting software on your side, you can take your business to the heights it deserves.

Printable Accounting Ledger Forms

Accounting is one of the ways to monitor and communicate the financial status, health, growth or decline of a company, business or organization to all the concerned parties involved. Not only does it assess the assets, liabilities and cash flow, but it also projects the future or possible financial trend. This report is usually represented as an electronic spreadsheet or online application and indicates a worker’s payroll information for a certain period of time. Though other factors needed consideration to make sure that the business is on the right track, stabilizing financial conditions through bookkeeping lessens the burden of overspending. With bookkeeping, the business will understand where their capital is going.

This ledger will help you calculate are amounts due to vendors or suppliers for assets or services that you received but have not paid for yet. After downloading the free template, if you need to fill in it or modify the content of the template, you may need a powerful PDF editor. Using PDF Reader Pro, you can add your own details and use these templates to design for your own needs, editing the PDF more conveniently.