How to Start Bookkeeping for Free (Easy Google Sheets Tutorial)

[@HectorGarciaCPA]

Brilliant! I hope this video goes viral Jamie!😊

[@JamieTrull]

Thanks Hector! This was a fun one to create!

[@maritzaecd]

@@JamieTrull, would you consider creating one for personal finances?

[@JamieTrull]

@@maritzaecd Great question! I typically try to stay in my lane (biz finances), but in reality you can probably modify the existing spreadsheet to work for personal finances too! It would just mean changing some of the accounts to be more focused on your personal categories vs. business.

[@Aklcorp]

this video is virtual gold. Thank you

[@JamieTrull]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sylviacardona9815]

Thank you! I use qb desktop but I was appalled by the price increase Switched on qbo and totally hated it Now I’m using qb desktop manually as I don’t want to pay huge amounts just to download transactions I love your system I might switch 🙏🙏

[@JamieTrull]

Great to hear! It's a great way to simply keep everything organized :)

[@ElenaHarris-y2w]

Thanks so much for this tutorial!

[@JamieTrull]

You are so welcome!

[@jackiebarraza9858]

This video was super helpful! Thank you

[@JamieTrull]

Glad it was helpful! You're welcome

[@LRR-b1w]

So incredibly helpful. Thank you!

[@JamieTrull]

so glad you found it helpful!!

[@jacquelinevulcano2215]

Very cool! I've used a few free tools that don't allow more than one level of Chart of Accounts. This is an easy work around for beginner businesses. Thanks!

[@JamieTrull]

My pleasure, glad it was helpful.

[@jogburn]

This is amazing, thank you! Quick question: do you need a separate transaction page for each month? Or do you put everything for the year under one? I’ve heard of “closing the books” every month and not sure what that means

[@pegleg1az]

I LOV how you were so step by step showing how to set this up... This will be my weekend project before the end of the year. I have majorly downsized my business and do send some Invoices to some fleet accounts. [less than 500 in a year]. Do you have or can I find a way to add invoices that can be added into this excel or sheets for my sales? I was for 30 years QB desktop and the price has NOW driven me away from QB completely.

[@JamieTrull]

No problem, you could always upload invoices to google drive and then link them in the spreadsheet.

[@tmaxx3]

Great video! This was great for me. I've just started a consulting business and only need the basics for now. I followed along and built it in Excel. Do you recommend creating a new one for each year? Or could I just make another column in the Chart of Accounts page for each year? Is there a way to adjust the formula to identify the date where it will put the transaction in the correct year column?

[@JamieTrull]

I would simply save a new copy of the worksheet and delete out all the data, and then you can have a second file for the new year! You can even copy/paste your final P&L from the prior year onto one of the tabs of the new file too so you can more easily compare results.

[@Absolutelyrandom97]

1) This video is exactly what I was searching for, so thank you so much for taking the time to put this together! 2) If we want to take this a step further and have a YTD column but also month columns summed does that make the formula too complicated? So instead of just looking for something that is marked “205 Wages” it also checks the date of the transaction to return everything in like the month of August or something? Apologies if that’s too nuanced I’ve just been reading on how to make other MONTH or certain formulas function. I’m just wondering if there is a relatively simple way to alter the formula you step through only be the month. Or do you just have to alter the range it looks at to just be your August transactions and then remember to update it if any additional August transactions got added. Hope that makes sense. Thank you for all your content!!

[@JamieTrull]

Great question, I think it needs more detail than I can anwser in the comments section here. I would love for you to submit it to my live show here, so I can anwser it better for you: www.JamieTrull.com/KZbin

[@chewie1355]

Thanks

[@JamieTrull]

No problem

[@jainejackson8897]

do you have a simple invoicing template that is also linked to this for Income? I have tried to set mine up in excel but have a couple of fails/issues.

[@JamieTrull]

I dont, but that is a great idea. I will make a note of it for my team.

[@pegleg1az]

@@JamieTrull I am with jainejackson8897... I would lov to use an invoice linked for my verry small Self Employed service

[@riggsron]

I guess AI could also be useful. One of my biggest challenges is receipt capture, i.e., a gas receipt or a HOME DEPOT receipt . Any ideas?

[@JamieTrull]

Have you checked out my video on my channel where I show you how to use Relay's Receipt capture tool? It's a great way to stay organized and it's free!

[@minnahu7674]

I might have something you are looking for. I developed this for my own business, but it might be helpful for you. Receipts usually comes in 2 ways, 1. vendor sends you an email. 2. store purchases, where you have paper receipts. My AI bookkeeper grabs the bills/receipts from email, or from a google drive folder where paper receipts are uploaded, then it automatically categorizes the purchases and organizes the bills/receipts by month and by category in the google drive, put into a spreadsheet for you.

[@MazingerZX]

Question: Why are you using "Account" column in the manual sheet to identify Chase Card and Relay bank account? Doesn't "Account" values come from "Chart of Accounts"? Why is "Category" column using CoA values? Very confused.

[@JamieTrull]

It means bank account, not GL account in this instance. Sorry for not being clear!

[@Eachone2]

P& L, profit loss.

[@hollymiller5598]

I followed this click for click more than 3 times and my SUMIF isn't adding. My formula looks exactly like yours, but it isn't working!

[@JamieTrull]

Oh no! What message does it give you when you try? Do you get an error or the math just isn't working?