Accounting In Excel

What makes Excel the ideal accounting solution for small businesses? Many small business owners or managers are already familiar with Excel and it is therefore very easy to start keeping record of business transactions in Excel.

Even with the most basic of accounting software solutions, you would need to study instructions or view training materials to be able to start using the accounting software. This could take significant amounts of time and also be quite challenging for users with limited or no accounting background.

In terms of software, support and also the cost of support is a major concern. Many software based businesses are moving to a subscription model which may make it easier to acquire initially but as time goes by, it can become relatively expensive.

When you get stuck with any of the accounting software features, it may be necessary to obtain technical assistance which can be relatively costly especially when it is needed frequently. This is why Excel becomes such an attractive accounting solution - most users already have access to it and already know how to use it.

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So entering your business transactions in Excel is relatively easy but without having the necessary reporting in place, it is not of much use aside from saving your accountants time at the end of the month. What you really want is to be able to enter your own transactions and be able to see some at least basic level of reporting.

This could be challenging to set up even for reasonably advanced Excel users especially if you want to be able to switch between monthly periods when analyzing data and is probably why for some users, Excel falls short as an accounting solution.

But why not just purchase an Excel based solution with the reporting side already included?

This is a practical and easy solution which will ensure that you can still use Excel for accounting and that you get the benefit of comprehensive automated reporting while still being able to enter transactions relatively easily.

The added benefit is that you can view your data in real-time as soon as you have entered your transactions and be able to produce basic accounts yourself even on a daily basis. This is probably the most cost effective and easy way of accounting for small businesses.