Recording ABN income & expenses via Excel S/Sheet

Author: Duncan Warnock CPA | July, 2026

My view is that it is best practice to use accounting software to record ABN income & expenses. If you pay employees or contractors then I think you definitely should use Accounting software.

This Article provides a simple example on how to record ABN business income & expenses via EXCEL  as per  Option 3 below. 

Preferred Option 1 - Use accounting software to record ABN income & expenses.

Preferred Option 2 - If you can not meet Option 1 then my view is that the next best option if using EXCEL is to Export Business Income & Expense transactions from INTERNET BANKING into a CSV/Excel file as the basis for compiling the ABN income & expenses. WHY? Its because the bank transaction info is real without manual intervention and after exporting it into Excel you can add extra info as needed in additional columns (ie If you spend $200 at Officeworks then you need to describe WHAT you purchased and if it was a business expense?)

Option 3 - If you can not meet Option 1 or 2 then as a fall back option you can start compiling an EXCEL file from a blank excel file.

THIS ARTICLE provides an example of how to compile a single EXCEL File with your ABN Income & Expenses which includes

• ABN Expenses
• ABN Income

NOTE 1 : If you are a Business that has employees you NEED to use ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE compliant with tax office requirements for PAYROLL & SUPER. If you pay Contractors you ALSO probably need to use accounting software.  

NOTE 2 :  This article shows you how to document and summarise your ABN business income & expenses for a tax year. You ALSO still need to keep your Business Bank Statements and also your receipts to support the info in the excel file. 

ABN Business that is NOT GST Registered 

NOTE: This is a simple example so if the business activity is more complex then then example may not be suitable or may only partly assist with recording of business income & expenses. 

ABN Expenses (NOT GST Registered) 

Recording ABN expenses via Excel worksheet when your business is NOT GST registered

The example below contains the following columns

1. Bank Account (Account number that bank transaction was paid from)
2. Date (of bank transaction) 
3. Payee (Supplier/Service provide you paid when incurring the business expense)
4. Description (brief .. ususally 1 to 5 words describing the nature of the expense)
5. Total cost including GST (Cost of the SPEND Money transaction)
6. Business Use % (record 100% if 100% business related or a lower % if partly business & partly private use) 
7. Expense Category (assign an expense category to group like minded expenses together) 
8. Other Notes & Adjustments (when needed record additional notes & info as needed 

ABN Income (NOT GST Registered) 

Recording ABN income via Excel worksheet when your business is NOT GST registered

The example below contains the following columns

1. Bank Account (Account number that bank transaction was paid into) 
2. Date (of bank transaction) 
3. Total Bank Transaction Amount  (Total of the RECEIVED MONEY transaction)
4. Business Income (Yes or No) (Confirm that the transaction is Business income by recording a YES)  
5. Customer (Customer you  invoiced/recieved money from when earning the business income) 
6. Notes & Comments (when needed record additional notes & info to describe the ABN business income)  
7. ABN Business Income SUB-TOTAL (use this to help total the ABN business income if some of the excel rows are not ABN business income)

ABN Business that is GST Registered 

NOTE:  Unless the transaction volume is low when a Business is GST registered it usually means that using a manual process is no longer practical and that accounting software should be used. Sometimes there is an exception to this (ie less than 50 transactions for the 12 month period)

ABN Expenses (Your Business is GST Registered) 

By being GST registered you need to identify the GST component of the SPEND MONEY transaction.

Depending on the Supplier you may or may not have been charged GST when invoiced.

An EXCEL file needs to have additional columns in addition to the above example including an extra column called : GST on Expenses 

ABN Income (Your Business is GST Registered) 

By being GST registered you need to identify the GST component of the RECEIVED MONEY transaction.

Depending on the Services you provide you may or may not have invoiced your customer GST.

In most cases you will charge GST when you make a sale to your customer. However, some businesses supply services that are GST Free (Exempted services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST))  been charged GST when invoiced.  If in doubt contact an Accountant before you start selling any goods or services. 

An EXCEL file needs to have additional columns in addition to the above example including an extra column called : GST on Sales