As a business owner, you need a reliable way to track income, expenses, invoices, and monthly performance. One of the fastest ways to get organized is to use Google Sheets accounting spreadsheet templates you can copy, customize, and update over time.
This guide includes 7 free accounting templates for Google Sheets you can download, plus practical instructions so you can set them up quickly and avoid common mistakes. The goal is better Financial Management with simplicity, fewer errors from manual data entry, and a clearer snapshot of your business each month.
Pick the Right Accounting Spreadsheet in 60 Seconds
If you’re not sure where to start, use this quick picker. Most small businesses do well with an invoice tracker, a ledger, and a monthly P&L. Add payroll and inventory only if you need them.
| What you need | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Get paid on time | Invoice Tracking Template | Track due dates, overdue balances, and outstanding receivables for more consistent invoices. |
| Record every transaction | Google Sheets Ledger Template | One source of truth for income, expenses, and categories. |
| See monthly profitability | Profit and Loss Template | Summarizes financial performance, it is not the same thing as a ledger. |
| Pay employees and track deductions | Payroll Spreadsheet | Reduces payroll errors with structured inputs and automatic totals. |
| Manage products and stock levels | Inventory Template | Track quantities, reorders, and inventory value. |
| Plan spending and stay on budget | Business Budget Template | Budgeted vs actual views help you manage cash and priorities. |
| Snapshot for lenders, taxes, or investors | Balance Sheet Template | Shows assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time. |
Different Google Sheets Accounting Templates
Accounting templates cover different parts of the financial picture. A ledger records transactions line by line, a P&L summarizes performance by month, and a balance sheet shows what you own and owe at a specific time. Together, these support repeatable accounting processes and clearer financial reports.
Profit and Loss Templates
In any business, a profit and loss (P&L) statement should not be overlooked. A P&L summarizes revenue and expenses over a period, usually monthly, it functions as an income statement template that helps you judge trends and margins.
If you want a free option, you can copy our bookkeeping template to help you keep track of profits and losses.
Invoice Tracking Templates
Invoices serve as records of sales and what is owed to you. An invoice tracking template helps you manage due dates, outstanding balances, and payment status, which is the core of accounts receivable for many small businesses. It also helps you keep consistent invoices across team members and clients.
Business Budget Spreadsheets
A business budget spreadsheet supports planning by laying out income and expenses. The most useful version also compares budgeted vs actual, so you can adjust allocations based on real spending patterns and produce better financial reports.
Avoid relying on mental math and rough estimates, a structured budget is easier to maintain and easier to review.
Payroll Templates
A payroll tracking template helps you track hours or salary, deductions, and net pay. Payroll is also a major expense category that often rolls into your P&L.
Balance Sheet Templates
Balance sheets provide a snapshot of assets, liabilities, and equity at a point in time. They are commonly used for taxes, financing, and business health checks. When paired with a P&L, you can create a simple monthly snapshot of your business.
Account Ledger Templates
Ledgers are detailed records of financial transactions organized by category. Unlike a P&L, which is a summary, a ledger is the transaction-level record you can reconcile to bank activity.
7 Accounting Google Sheets Templates for Business
Below are seven copyable templates, each built for a specific job. Use the picker above if you want the shortest path to the right spreadsheet.
1. Invoice Tracking Template
Best for: service businesses, freelancers, agencies, anyone billing clients
What it tracks: invoices, due dates, outstanding balances, payment status
Setup time: 3 to 5 minutes
An invoice tracker keeps billing in one place, which makes it easier to follow up and forecast cash. This template includes automated totals for outstanding amounts and a metric showing how many days have passed since the payment deadline.
2. Google Sheets Ledger Template
Best for: transaction tracking, expense categorization, monthly reconciliation
What it tracks: income, expenses, categories, running balance
Setup time: 5 to 10 minutes
A ledger template helps you record every transaction. This version includes dropdowns for categories and formulas for balance calculations, which reduces manual errors and makes monthly review faster.
3. Profit and Loss Bookkeeping Template for Google Sheets
Best for: monthly profitability, tax-time summaries, business health checks
What it tracks: revenue, COGS, operating expenses, net profit
Setup time: 5 to 10 minutes
If you want a monthly view of whether you are earning or losing money, a P&L is the clearest place to start. This template is divided into sales, COGS, operating expenses, and add-backs, so you can see performance in a structured way and produce financial reports.
A P&L is commonly used for taxes. It can be helpful for businesses filing Schedule C forms. It can also be combined with a ledger if you want a more complete system.
4. Payroll Spreadsheet for Small Businesses
Best for: hourly teams, small payroll runs, tracking deductions
What it tracks: hours, gross pay, deductions, net pay
Setup time: 10 minutes
This payroll spreadsheet tracks hours and pay, then calculates totals with built-in formulas. It includes fields for sick leave and holidays, and a deduction area to help you avoid underwithholding and other payroll mistakes.
Employers typically must withhold some wages and pay their share of Social Security and Medicare taxes. Learn more from the IRS: Understanding employment taxes.
5. Google Sheets Inventory Template
Best for: product businesses, retail, simple inventory management
What it tracks: quantities, reorder cues, inventory value
Setup time: 10 to 15 minutes
This inventory spreadsheet calculates totals based on the data you enter, and uses conditional formatting to flag issues like overstocking. It’s built for visibility, so you can scan and spot problems quickly.
6. Business Budget Template
Best for: planning spending, forecasting, budgeted vs actual review
What it tracks: income sources, expense categories, summaries
Setup time: 5 to 10 minutes
This business budget template provides a snapshot at the top, then detailed tables for income and expenses. The most useful habit is to compare forecasted vs actual monthly, then adjust based on what you learn.
7. Balance Sheet Template
Best for: lenders, investors, tax-time snapshots, financial health checks
What it tracks: assets, liabilities, equity, ratios
Setup time: 10 minutes
This balance sheet template includes a side-by-side layout and ratios, like a debt ratio that compares liabilities to assets. Investors and lenders often look at this kind of signal to evaluate risk.
Instructions on Using Our Bookkeeping Templates for Google Sheets
These templates are designed to be easy to use, but a few setup steps will save you time later. If you collaborate with team members, protect formula areas so edits do not break your reports.
Before You Start
- Make a copy of the template to your Google Drive, do not request edit access to the original.
- Set currency and locale so dates and money formatting behave correctly.
- Do not edit formula cells unless you know what the formula does, protect them if you share the sheet.
- Standardize categories early, category drift is what makes spreadsheets messy.
- Schedule a monthly review, even 20 minutes per month keeps your data usable.
1. Track Pending Payments With Our Invoice Template
When you download our invoice tracking template, start in the โClient Baseโ tab. This is where you enter customer details. After that, enter invoices in the Tracker tab so you can maintain consistent invoices and avoid chasing missing information later.
Client Base Tab
The first three columns capture primary info, Name, Client ID, and Affiliation. The next columns are for contact details like billing address and phone.
Tracker Tab
After the Client Base tab is set, enter invoice records in the Tracker tab.
- Invoice Number
- Date Issued
- Client
- Purchase Details
- Payment Deadline
- Amount Due
- Amount Paid
- Outstanding
- Age
- Payment Status
Invoice Number and Client Columns
Avoid duplicates in invoice numbers. For the Client column, use the dropdown so invoices stay tied to the Client Base list.
Outstanding, Age, and Payment Status
Do not edit the Outstanding and Age formulas. Set Payment Status using the dropdown, To Send, Partially Paid, Fully Paid, or Closed.
Summary Section
Use the client dropdown in the summary area to view client details and per-client outstanding balances. This gives you a fast snapshot of your business receivables.
2. Using Our Google Sheets Ledger Template
When you open the ledger template, decide whether you want it to function as a general ledger or a sales ledger. Then customize categories early so you do not have to recode history later.
Primary Ledger Information
Start with ledger date range and opening balance, then record transactions by date with a reference and category.
Transaction Details
Categorize each transaction under Account and describe it under Explanation. Enter values in Credit or Debit depending on the entry type.
Other Features
Leave formula cells alone to preserve automatic balances. Use filter buttons in headers to review categories, vendors, or time ranges.
3. Tracking Profits and Losses
Feed the P&L template with your monthly totals. Unlike a ledger, which stores transactions, a P&L is a monthly summary view. You typically roll up totals by category from your ledger to produce financial reports and graphs.
Fill income first, then cost of goods sold, operating expenses, and add-backs. Totals calculate automatically.
Gross and Net Profit
Gross profit and net profit calculate from your inputs. Review these monthly, it is the quickest health check you can do in a spreadsheet.
4. Checking Your Employeesโ Payroll
Track pay period and payment date first, then fill in hours and rates. Adjust overtime formulas to match your policies, then review totals for deductions and net pay.
Tracking Total Hours Worked
Most columns here require manual input. Update overtime calculation rates in the MULTIPLY() formula if your rates differ.
Calculation of Net Pay
Enter tax rates and deductions, net pay totals calculate automatically. Protect formula columns if the sheet is shared so edits do not overwrite calculations.
5. Using Our Google Sheets Inventory Template
This inventory template separates manual input cells from formula cells, so you can update stock quickly without breaking calculations.
- Yellow cells are for manual entry.
- Purple cells are formulas that compute inventory insights.
Stock Status
Review metrics like โIn Store + On Orderโ and use conditional formatting indicators like Stock Status and Overstocked to spot problems early.
Inventory Cost
Costs and totals calculate from quantity and unit price inputs. If you handle returns, record them as a negative adjustment so quantity and value stay accurate.
Premium Inventory Management With a Dashboard
If you want a more advanced inventory setup with dashboards, consider the inventory and sales tracking spreadsheet below.
Why Use an Accounting Spreadsheet Template?
I use accounting spreadsheets to track expenses, handle basic formulas, and generate reports. These spreadsheet templates include formulas, tables, and a structure that simplify organizing financial data, without starting from scratch each time.
Google Sheets is a flexible platform for Financial Management, especially for teams already working in Google Workspace. It supports integration with other tools, and you can extend workflows with an add-on when you need automation or smoother data entry. For many businesses, the best balance is ease of use now, with the option to scale into more advanced accounting processes later.
Accounting spreadsheets commonly include tabs for assets, liabilities, cash flow, income, and expenses. When you keep your inputs consistent, you can generate financial reports and graphs that summarize financial performance and give you a monthly snapshot of your business. Some templates are designed to mirror reporting documents required for tax filing, but this article is not tax advice. If your situation is complex, consider working with a CPA.
If you want more options, here are additional templates:
- Expense tracker template
- Cash flow template
- Expense report template for Microsoft Excel, helpful for structured expense reports and team member reimbursement workflows
- More Google Sheets templates
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I format cells to accounting in Google Sheets?
Select the cells, then go to Format > Number, and choose Accounting.
This applies a currency-style format that aligns decimals and improves readability for financial tables.
Are spreadsheets better than bookkeeping software?
Spreadsheets are a strong fit for simple workflows, smaller transaction volume, and teams that want flexibility. Bookkeeping software tends to win when you need automation, audit trails, bank feeds, invoicing workflows, and clean handoff to accountants.
If you are spending too much time reconciling, fixing broken formulas, or chasing inconsistent categories, it may be time to switch.
What should an accounting spreadsheet track for a small business?
At minimum, track income, expenses, categories, payment status, and monthly totals. Many businesses also track invoices due, outstanding balances, and cash flow planning for a clearer snapshot of your business.
Which templates do I need if I am starting from zero?
Start with an invoice tracker (if you bill clients), a ledger (to record transactions), and a monthly P&L (to summarize results). Add payroll only if you pay team members, add inventory only if you sell products.
What is the difference between a ledger and a profit and loss statement?
A ledger is a transaction-by-transaction record. A P&L is a summary of revenue and expenses over a period, usually monthly. In practice, you record activity in the ledger, then roll totals into the P&L or income statement template.
How do I keep categories consistent so my spreadsheet stays clean?
Use dropdown categories instead of typing categories by hand. Lock the category list, keep it short, and review it monthly. This reduces cleanup work caused by manual data entry and makes financial reports more reliable.
How do I prevent people from breaking formulas in a shared accounting spreadsheet?
Protect formula ranges and lock key tabs. Use separate input cells for manual entry, then keep calculation columns protected. If multiple team members edit, define clear rules for what they can change and where edits should happen.
Can I use an expense report template with these accounting spreadsheets?
Yes. Many businesses track reimbursements and expense reports separately, then post totals into the ledger. If you want a structured Excel option, use our expense report template and summarize it into your monthly categories.
What formulas are most useful in accounting spreadsheets?
SUM and SUMIFS for totals by category and month, FILTER for pulling subsets like unpaid invoices, and QUERY for flexible reporting. Keep formulas in dedicated columns, and avoid mixing formulas and manual entries in the same range for better ease of use.
Wrapping Up
A good Google Sheets accounting template can save time, reduce mistakes, and help you see what is happening in your business month to month. In this article, we covered seven templates you can copy and customize, plus practical steps to use them correctly.
If you want more options, browse our Google Sheets templates.