How to Create an Expense Account Spreadsheet

An expense-account spreadsheet tracks business purchases and reimbursements.

An expense-account spreadsheet is important for employees who travel frequently or meet clients for work. It tracks business expenses and make sure staff is reimbursed for business-related spending. Your expense-account spreadsheet may be simple or detailed. You may leave room for travel and non-travel expenses and make employees certify that the purchases are valid. You can use a spreadsheet application, such as Excel, OpenOffice Calc or Google Spreadsheet to create the spreadsheet and automatically calculate expenses.

Instructions

1. Open a new spreadsheet in your favorite spreadsheet application.

2. Type "Expense Account" in the cell A1 and press "Enter."

3. Type "Employee's Name: _________________" in cell A2 and press "Enter."

4. Type "Date: _________________" in cell A3 and press "Enter" twice.

5. Type "Expenses" as a column heading in cell A5 and press the "Tab" key.

6. Type "Description/Details" as a column heading in cell B5 and press the "Tab" key. This may be used to provide an explanation of expenses, such as who was entertained and why, if some kind of entertainment was expensed.

7. Type "Amount" as a column heading in cell C5 and press "Enter."

8. Type any expenses you want to track, starting with cell A6 (pressing the "Enter" key after each entry) as follows:

   "Lodging," "Travel," "Mileage," "Entertainment," "Food," "Gifts/Donations," "Cell Phone," "Training," "Office Supplies/Materials," "Postage" and "Miscellaneous/Other."

9. Type "Total" below the last entry under column A.

10. Place your mouse on the right of the column A header (between columns A and B) and double-click the divider. Column A expands to fit the contents of the longest cell. Double-click the divider between columns B and C and columns C and D to expand columns B and C as well.

11. Go to the cell containing "Total" and press the "Tab" key twice to move to column C.

12. Click the "Sum" button in the menu. Highlight the rows above column C (cells C6 to C16, or the cells where the expenses will be added) and press the "Enter" key.

13. Press the "Enter" key twice and move to column A. Type a signature line (for the employee).

14. Press the "Enter" key and type "Employee's Signature" in column A under the signature line.

15. Press the "Enter" key twice and type a signature line (for approval) in column A. Press the "Enter" key and type "Approval Signature" or "Supervisor's Signature."

Tips & Warnings

• Some expense accounts may require receipts for purchases that are out of the ordinary. You may add a statement to the bottom of the account spreadsheet asking users to submit receipts with the completed form.

References

• Netmba: About Expenses

Resources

• Microsoft Office: Sample Expense Account Templates