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Iowa | Most of the spreadsheets I see made for accounting purposes would quickly get too big to navigate or search if a large number of transactions are recorded. Most any of them can keep track of account totals, but most are not formatted to easily search and print out detailed account reports. It all depends on how the spreadsheet is set up and organized. I like spreadsheets over purchased accounting software for a lot of reasons, but it basically comes down to the ability to make it whatever I want it to be instead of being stuck with someone else's system and dealing with all the hassle that comes with it.
There are far more things that can be done with a spreadsheet than most people seem to realize, and I probably know how to use only a small fraction of that. For you or anyone inclined to use accounting spreadsheets, I'll share some of the things that help my spreadsheet work a little better than most I've seen as size and complexity of the business grows:
1)
Most general ledgers are set up on a line by line basis with each new transaction creating a new line on the entire sheet with the entries being made in the left columns and the amount also posted under the proper account column somewhere off the screen far off to the right and the account totals somewhere off the screen at the bottom right. Mine is set up so the entire entry is made only once in one location directly under the specific account heading. All of the transactions for that account are right there with the totals appearing in the account heading. Entries for each account can easily be searched and printed on standard paper. With only a few clicks, those entries can be copied to other sheets to print checks & deposits or various other things. All of the account totals are also listed together in another section in a format that is easily viewed and printed on standard paper. Any account subtotals can be computed and displayed below the account entries and printed out along with the account entries.
2)
I organized the spreadsheet into a workbook rather than trying to put it all into one sheet. For example, my workbook has the general ledger and main financial statements on one sheet with various other things on other sheets (cash flow budget & tracking, enterprise income statements, crop field budgets, check printing, contacts, investment portfolio, and so on. I currently have 17 tabs on my accounting spreadsheet, many of which update automatically with the general ledger. All are accessed with one click on the tab bar. If there is a new feature I want, I can simply add it to one of the current sheets or put it in a new sheet.
3)
Even with having the whole system split up into several different sheets in a workbook, the general ledger alone is really too big to quickly navigate. That's where the use of hyperlinks is helpful. Most any non formula cell can be turned into a clickable hyperlink that will take you to a specific location on your current sheet or another sheet in your workbook. For example, in the area of my ledger where all of the accounts and their totals are listed, each account name has a hyper link that will take you directly to that account where all the entries are listed. Likewise, each account has a hyperlink that will take you directly back to the ledger account totals section which also serves as a directory in this process. The hyperlinks allow instant movement from any account to any other account with two clicks.
Not everyone likes spreadsheets or wants to work with them. Most would rather do something else. To each their own. My main point is spreadsheets can do more and better than most people think, and the software is already on most people's computers anyway.
Edited by tigger 1/6/2020 07:44
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Accounting Software
