expense tracking spreadsheet

Expense tracking is a process to manage and control the budget. The budget is only helpful if it is tracked properly. Spreadsheet template is very useful regarding creating expense budget plans for new or small businesses.

Therefore, if every expense will not be tracked. It can’t be judged that if one have overspent or not. Just like issue tracking spreadsheet.

Moreover, even the ignorance in tracking the small expense can divert the project to become out of budget. Therefore, it is recommended and a standard practice of project management professionals to use project expense tracking systems after the development of a project budget plan.

expense tracking spreadsheet

The following simple steps must be followed to effectively use the expense tracking spreadsheet:

  1. Check the account statement and petty cash sheet to include all the cash and bank transactions into the analysis.
  2. Categories the expenses to record in certain category type on the expense tracking spreadsheet.
  3. Develop a Budget Plan and Make it available to all the stakeholders.
  4. Track and compare the actual expenses with the allocated budget for analysis.
  5. Identify the room for improvement and change based on the analysis results.

The tracking of expenses focus to record the information such as what is being spent and where? So, the critical areas can be identified for improvement.

Related Article: Cost Spreadsheet

Applications of Expense Tracking Spreadsheet:

The expense tracking spreadsheets are very helpful for the business as well as projects. Some of the most obvious uses of the spreadsheet are:

  1. It records each cost incurred on a project with certain details.
  2. It helps the project team to keep the project within the budget.
  3. The project costs can be controlled using an expense tracking spreadsheet.
  4. It gives transparency to procurement, financial, and accounting system.

However, these spreadsheets are useful in many areas such as:

  1. To track the project expenses for all project scales.
  2. To track the renovation expenses of a house.
  3. To track the remodeling expenses
  4. To track the expenses of small to medium businesses.

Essential Elements in Spreadsheet:

There are several ways of creating an expense tracking. However, all the spreadsheets are developed to fulfill the main purpose. Therefore, a simple tracking sheet to track the expenses of a project contains the following information:

  • Title or Heading of a Sheet
  • Month of Tracking
  • Date of the Transaction
  • Description of the Expense
  • Category of the Expense
  • Payment Method
  • Amount
  • Comment

Moreover, some advance forms of expense tracking spreadsheets also contain subtotal of the expenses to date. Transaction ID, Amount Paid to, Subtotal of each transaction, and a total of a certain period are also important in the project expense tracking spreadsheet.

Steps to Tracking Expenses using Spreadsheet:

The expenses incurred to perform different activities of a project are tracked to stay within the project. Any variation and diversion from the allotted budget are recorded in real-time.

  1. Therefore, the rigidity of the project budget can be tested using continuous monitoring or tracking. So, the re-budgeting approach can be adopted on time to avoid the permanent loss to project KPI’s.

The expense tracking spreadsheet is an excel based tool. So, it is easy to use, edit and customize.

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