Looking for a simple way to keep track of your business income and expenses without paying for complicated bookkeeping software?
Our free bookkeeping spreadsheet has been created to help UK sole traders, freelancers and small business owners keep straightforward business records using Google Sheets.
Created by Yorkshire Accountancy, Cash Book Pro gives you a simple place to record the money coming into and going out of your business throughout the year.
There are two versions available:
For businesses that are not VAT registered.
For VAT-registered businesses that need to separately record Gross, Net and VAT.
Both versions are completely free.
There’s no Microsoft Excel file to download and no accounting software to install. Cash Book Pro runs in Google Sheets, making it easy to access and update your bookkeeping online.
Choose the VAT or Non-VAT version and enter your email address. Yorkshire Accountancy will create your copy and email you when it’s ready.
If you’re not VAT registered and simply want somewhere to record your business income and expenditure, choose our Non-VAT Cash Book.
You can record:
You can customise the categories to suit your own business rather than having to work with a fixed list.
VAT registered?
Our VAT Cash Book includes the same straightforward bookkeeping system with additional VAT recording.
For each income and expense transaction you can record:
You enter the Gross amount and VAT, and the spreadsheet calculates the Net amount for you.
There’s also a VAT Return summary to help you review the VAT information you’ve recorded for each period.
The VAT Cash Book does not itself submit your VAT Return to HMRC. See the Making Tax Digital section below.
Bookkeeping doesn’t have to be complicated.
For many small businesses, the most important thing is having a consistent system for recording what’s coming into the business and what’s going out.
That’s exactly what Cash Book Pro is designed to do.
Instead of leaving everything until the end of the year or trying to piece together information from bank statements, receipts and invoices, you can keep an organised record throughout the year.
HMRC requires self-employed people to keep records of their business income and expenses. Those records are used to help work out the figures needed for Self Assessment.
Cash Book Pro gives you a straightforward way of organising that information.
Customise your income, expense and payment categories to suit your business.
Start by entering details about your business and the period covered by your cash book.
Rather than forcing every business to use exactly the same bookkeeping categories, Cash Book Pro lets you tailor the spreadsheet to suit the way you work.
Choose income categories that make sense for your business.
Depending on what you do, these could include things such as:
The supplied categories can be changed and additional categories can be added.
The cash book includes common business expense headings which you can tailor to suit your business.
These can include areas such as:
Again, you’re not stuck with our choices. You can change the categories and add more where needed.
You can also customise how you categorise the way money is paid or received.
For example:
Once set up, your payment methods appear in dropdown lists when you enter transactions.
The Expenses tab provides a straightforward transaction-by-transaction record of money going out of the business.
For each payment you can record information such as:
Your Payment Method and Expense Category are selected using dropdown lists based on the options you’ve set up in Business Details.
That makes it easier to keep your bookkeeping consistent throughout the year.
Record your business expenses and categorise each transaction using simple dropdown lists.
The Income tab works in a similar way.
For each receipt, you can record:
Again, the dropdown choices come from the categories you’ve set up for your business.
Keep your business income organised with customer details, references, payment methods and sales categories.
Cash Book Pro doesn’t just give you a list of transactions.
It also includes summary information and charts to help you understand what you’ve recorded.
You can quickly review things such as:
The Overview page gives you a visual snapshot of the figures recorded in your spreadsheet.
The Cash Book Pro Overview helps you see your recorded income and expenditure at a glance.
Cash Book Pro includes a tab called Profit & Loss Summary.
Despite the name, this should be treated primarily as a cash-flow-style management summary of the income and expenditure recorded in your cash book.
It is not a set of year-end accounts and should not be used on its own as the basis for completing a Self Assessment tax return.
Cash basis is now the standard accounting method for eligible sole traders and partnerships without corporate partners. Under cash basis, income and expenses are generally recorded when money is received or paid. However, the rules governing allowable expenses and taxable profit still need to be applied.
There may therefore be accounting or tax adjustments required before your records are used to complete a tax return.
If you’re unsure, seek support from an accountant.
Cash Book Pro runs in Google Sheets, so you don’t need to buy Microsoft Excel just to use your cash book.
Because you’re using Google Sheets, you can access the cash book through your Google account rather than relying on a spreadsheet stored on one particular computer.
Google Sheets saves changes as you work, reducing the risk of forgetting to save your spreadsheet at the end of a bookkeeping session.
If you work with an accountant or bookkeeper, Google Sheets makes it straightforward to give another person access to your spreadsheet.
Only share financial information with people you trust and always check the permissions you’re granting.
You don’t need to create the initial copy yourself.
When you request Cash Book Pro:
Select either the VAT or Non-VAT cash book.
Tell us where you would like us to send it.
Yorkshire Accountancy will create your individual Google Sheets cash book.
We’ll email you when the cash book is ready and give you access to your copy.
Complete the Business Details page and customise your income, expense and payment categories.
Enter your income and expenditure as you go.
We recommend keeping an unused blank copy of Cash Book Pro.
Treat this as your master template.
When you start a new accounting period, don’t delete all the transactions from your previous year’s cash book and start again in the same spreadsheet.
Instead:
This keeps your accounting periods separate and means you retain your previous records.
You don’t have to keep using the same version forever.
You are welcome to come back to Yorkshire Accountancy and request a fresh blank Cash Book Pro for a future accounting period.
We may update and improve the template over time, so requesting a new version means you can benefit from any improvements we’ve made since you received your previous copy.
Cash Book Pro is aimed at small businesses with relatively straightforward bookkeeping requirements.
It may be particularly useful for:
If you’re currently keeping receipts in a drawer, trying to reconstruct your bookkeeping from bank statements at year end or maintaining several different spreadsheets, Cash Book Pro could give you a much more organised starting point.
A spreadsheet isn’t necessarily the right answer for every business.
Cash Book Pro is deliberately designed to be straightforward.
As your business becomes more complicated, you may benefit from dedicated bookkeeping or accounting software.
For example, accounting software may be more appropriate if you need features such as:
The right system depends on your business.
If you’re unsure whether a spreadsheet is still appropriate for you, Yorkshire Accountancy can help you decide.
The VAT edition of Cash Book Pro has been developed for businesses that need to separately record VAT.
The VAT version lets you record Gross and VAT while the Net amount is calculated automatically.
For each transaction, the spreadsheet provides columns for:
Gross – the total transaction value.
VAT – the VAT amount entered for the transaction.
Net – automatically calculated as Gross less VAT.
The VAT version also includes a VAT Return summary for the periods covered by your cash book.
Important: Don’t assume every transaction carries VAT at 20%. The correct VAT treatment depends on the transaction and the supporting records.
The VAT Return tab brings together the VAT information recorded in the cash book.
The VAT version lets you record Gross and VAT while the Net amount is calculated automatically.
No.
The VAT version is a record-keeping and calculation spreadsheet. The VAT Return tab provides a summary of information recorded in the cash book; it does not itself submit a VAT Return to HMRC.
HMRC requires VAT-registered businesses to use compatible software to keep digital VAT records and file VAT Returns. Where records are kept in a spreadsheet, bridging software can connect the spreadsheet to HMRC.
Speak to your accountant if you’re unsure whether your VAT process meets the Making Tax Digital requirements.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is now being introduced for some sole traders and landlords.
HMRC allows businesses to continue using spreadsheets as part of their record-keeping process, but appropriate compatible software is required to connect to those records and make the required submissions to HMRC. This is sometimes referred to as bridging software.
We’re developing a separate MTD record-keeping spreadsheet for people who prefer spreadsheet-based bookkeeping.
This will be separate from the standard VAT and Non-VAT versions of Cash Book Pro.
Our MTD spreadsheet will be a record-keeping solution and will need to be used with appropriate compatible software for the relevant HMRC submissions.
Yes.
There is no charge for the standard VAT or Non-VAT version of Cash Book Pro.
Choose the version you want and provide the email address where you would like us to send your cash book.
No.
Cash Book Pro has been developed for Google Sheets.
Yes.
The categories on the Business Details page can be customised to suit your business, and additional categories can be added where required.
Yes.
The Payment Types can also be tailored to match the way you make and receive business payments.
Yes.
Choose the VAT version if you need to separately record Gross, Net and VAT.
Yes.
You enter the Gross amount and VAT amount, and the Net column is calculated by the spreadsheet.
Do not overwrite the Net formulas.
No.
The VAT Return tab provides a summary of the information recorded in the spreadsheet. It does not make the HMRC submission.
An appropriate MTD-compatible filing process is still required.
You should not use the figure shown on its own as the basis for completing your Self Assessment return.
The report is best viewed as a cash-flow-style management summary of the information recorded in the cash book.
Accounting and tax adjustments may be required to calculate taxable business profit.
If you’re unsure, speak to an accountant.
Yes, but we recommend using a fresh cash book for every accounting period.
Keep your completed cash book as a historic record and create the next period’s working file from an unused blank copy.
Alternatively, request another blank copy from Yorkshire Accountancy so you receive the latest version of the template.
Yes.
Google Sheets allows you to share your spreadsheet with another person.
This can make it easier for your accountant or bookkeeper to review your records without emailing different versions of the spreadsheet backwards and forwards.
If Yorkshire Accountancy retains access to the customer’s copy, I would use:
Yorkshire Accountancy creates the initial copy of your cash book and may retain access to the spreadsheet. Please see our Privacy Policy for information about how we handle your information, or contact us if you have any questions about access to your cash book.
If you remove your own access after handing it over, this should instead say so clearly.
Keeping on top of your bookkeeping doesn’t have to mean investing in complicated accounting software.
Cash Book Pro gives you a straightforward Google Sheets cash book for keeping your business income and expenditure organised throughout the year.
Choose the version that’s right for you.
Please call or email to arrange your FREE consultation for any of our services.
We’re a modern, friendly and proactive accountancy service.
Signup for our weekly business newsletter and special offers!
Our goal is to remove as much time and stress from the accounting side of your business so that you can focus on what matters more to you.
