Small Group Accounting made easy

 Kishore (June 2000)

During last one month I had a challenge to keep track of shared expenses. I had to find a simple way of recording the expenses and coming up with a balance sheet.

 We were 5 of us who were staying together. Keeping track of how much is to be paid by everyone would have been easier in a normal case. But in our case we had the following scenarios:

• Most of the expenses are to be shared by 5 of us. Example: We go for lunch together.

• Some of the expenses may be limited to only a few and not all of us. Example: on Weekend one member of our group dines with his/her relative or friend

• Anyone of us may pay for expenses based on availability of change. In most cases I was paying the expenses but sometimes to pay for a cab or bus I don’t have necessary change.

 What I needed was a simple way of recording all the following: Date, Purpose, Total Expense, Shared by, Paid by and automatically find out what is due from everyone.

Finally I came up with a simple Excel Template that helped me do the same. The Sheet has all 5 names with a Debit and Credit Column. I defined formula to automatically compute money due. The table I have used is as shown below. 

 Examples of Recording Expenses 

1. For lunch of 5 Kishore pays 50 Rs. then kishore gets 50 Credit and 10 Debit. Everyone else gets 10 Debit.
2. For Cab of 4 Pramod pays 10 Rs then Pramod gets 10 Credit and 4 of us get 2.5 Debit.

Using the above method I was able to record expenses very easily and automatically get a report of how much is due to everyone. Detailed Expenses Sheet is available as a zip file. Save this file and check the sheet with data.

I am sharing this design and template so that it can be useful to any one who is in similar scenario.

Do let me know if  you find this useful