You run a small business and you want to know whether you are spending within what you planned: in which category, in which month, and by how much you went over. The free business expenses and monthly budget sheet is built for that. You set a budget for each category in each month, log each expense once, and the sheet compares actual with budget. The template and its page are in Arabic.
The goal and the problem
A budget that lives in your head fails quietly: rent is fixed, but marketing and supplies drift, and you only notice at the end of the month. The usual fix is a sheet where you total each category by hand and compare it with last month. That is slow and easy to get wrong. Here the comparison is automatic and the over-budget categories turn red.
What the template gives you
- Settings: the year, the first and last month to compare, and the warning percentage for a category approaching its budget.
- Categories: your expense categories and payment methods, which feed the drop-down lists.
- Expenses: each expense with date, category, payee, amount and payment method, with a warning if the category is not in the list.
- Income: what came in, with date, description and amount.
- Monthly budget: the allowed amount for each category in each month, with totals.
- Actual vs budget: the actual spend per category and month, then the variance. Categories over budget turn red.
- Annual summary: the status of each category, the five biggest spending categories, and income, expenses and net for each month.
A walkthrough with the sample data
The sample data covers July to October. The numbers are examples, not a real business. The annual summary shows, for the period:
- Rent: budget 16,000, actual 16,000, variance 0, "near the limit".
- Salaries: budget 36,000, actual 36,800, variance -800, "over budget".
- Supplies and materials: budget 12,000, actual 10,150, variance 1,850, "within budget".
- Transport and shipping: 2,400 against 1,950, variance 450, within budget.
- Marketing and advertising: 6,500 against 6,100, variance 400, near the limit.
- Electricity, water and internet: 2,600 against 2,340, variance 260, near the limit.
- Maintenance: 1,200 against 950, variance 250, within budget.
- Administrative expenses: 1,200 against 630, variance 570, within budget.
- Total: budget 77,900, actual 74,920, variance 2,980.
Read it like this: overall the business stayed 2,980 under budget, but one category, salaries, went 800 over, and that is the line to look at. Three more categories are near their limit. This is why a total alone is not enough: an overall surplus can hide one category that is over.
Features and why they matter
- Variance and status per category, so you see the problem category instead of one total.
- Warning before the limit, using the percentage you set.
- Unknown category flagged: an expense whose category is not in the Categories sheet gets a warning. It is left out of the category tables, but still counted in the month's expenses and net.
- Monthly net from income and expenses side by side.
- Works in Excel 2016 and later, Google Sheets and LibreOffice; free, no sign-up. It holds 20 categories, 1,000 expenses and 500 income rows for the year in Settings.
Using the online version
The template page opens directly on this worked example. Type into the white (input) cells right on the page and the grey (calculated) cells update at once. You can import your own .xlsx made from this template, export your work to .xlsx, or download the original Excel file. Your data stays in your browser and is not sent to the server. Open the template page or the template list.
Common mistakes, and when a sheet stops being enough
Typical mistakes: leaving the comparison on July to October when you want a full year (set 1 to 12), typing a category slightly differently from the list, and treating the budget as fixed instead of revisiting it after two months. This sheet compares against a budget; if you want a running balance after every movement, use the cash book template on the template list. When the real work is moving every invoice and payment into the sheet, Accountwiro records them when they happen and shows a customer's balance in one statement. For what software costs, see what a custom system costs.
FAQ
How is this different from the cash book sheet? The cash book tracks the cash balance after each movement. This sheet starts from a budget per category per month and shows the variance; it does not keep a running balance.
How do I compare a full year or one quarter? In Settings change "from month" and "to month": 1 to 12 for the year, 1 to 3 for the first quarter.
What if an expense has a category that is not in the list? It gets a red warning and is left out of the category tables, but it still counts in the month's expenses and net.