I originally shared my Microsoft Excel Checkbook Register in 2019 as an alternative to Quicken. Since then, I have received lots of positive feedback on YouTube which has helped inspire ongoing enhancements.
“I mistakenly thought that Excel would have a simple and easy to use checkbook register template. Not so! They offer one but it was extremely frustrating to use. However, your spreadsheets were extremely easy to use and I thank you very, very much for sharing your expertise!” (John J.)
In a hurry and want the spreadsheet template right away? Scroll toward the bottom of this post (or click here).
Summary of Features
- (New for 2024!) Manage up to 5 different bank accounts
- Easily categorize each entry to track spending by category
- See a visual reminder at the top of each register with current balance and last check number entered
- (New for 2024!) Enjoy two ways to reconcile your checkbook with your bank statement
- Gain the ability to post recurring transactions to your register with a single click
- Track and visually graph your progress for paying down your credit card debt
- View your spending with the revamped dashboard (New for 2024!) which displays charts for deposits/withdrawals by month or year, expenses by category and sub-category, and buttons to filter your data by year, month, register and/or category
Compatibility Note: this Excel template is compatible with Excel 2013 or higher (Mac and Windows)
Up to 5 Registers
You can record transactions for five different bank accounts. Those can be any combination of checking, savings and/or credit card accounts — anything that has transactions with dates and dollar amounts.
Post Future Transactions with a One-Click Button
This feature makes it super quick to post your recurring transactions into your checkbook with a single button click. In other words, you can create a list of expenses that you have every month, and when you want to paste them into your register, you can click a button and all of them will get entered!
Why is this handy? I like to keep an eye on my bottom line. How much money will I have at the end of the month before I get paid again? By putting in those future expenses, it helps me see how much money I’ll likely have later in the month.
Reconcile Transactions
If you need to reconcile your transactions against your monthly bank statement, there are two different features to make that task easy. The first feature will show you the total dollar amount of withdrawals, deposits and checks that you have already entered into your spreadsheet for the date range specified. This is often all that is needed to confirm you have everything entered correctly.
When needed, you can also review each transaction against your monthly bank statement. As you mark each one with an “R”, the screen will subtract each amount from the totals displayed.
Financial Dashboard
Totally revamped for 2024, the new dashboard consolidates all of your bank accounts to a single dashboard. There are filter buttons to easily focus in on a particular year, month, category and/or to focus on a specific account.
Track Your Progress on Reducing Card Debts
If you would like to visually track your progress on paying off credit card balances or other personal loans on a single dashboard screen, this sheet makes it easy to update your card balances each month in order to visually track your efforts.
Looking good… couple of things.
– I assume no issues with Excel 2021 on Mac OS? Curious if you tested it.
– Is the Excel Checkbook Register January 2024 VBA locked/password protected? Just in case I need to make some changes. Most likely going to pay for this. It appears to be well worth it.
Thanks
Hi there,
While I have tested it on Mac OS, I have not tested it specifically on Excel 2021 but I have intentionally gone with formulas and functions that are supported in Excel 2016 or newer. The VBA is not locked or password protected, so if you’d like to make changes, you are welcome to do so!
I am not using Excel 2021, but MS Office 365 Mac Version 16.81, and the workbook works excellently. I was disgusted with YNAB when I ran across your YouTube video and purchased a copy; I love your work! I am reasonably experienced in Excel; I am not an MVP but pretty good. I need to add eight register tabs and look into the power query editor. I also realized that with Excel, I added a column to my register, and using the Excel Link function, I linked my receipts that I keep on Google Drive. It works great!
Hi Gary, thank you for the note and sorry for the delayed response. I was working to move all of my Excel related content to a new site at https://excel-checkbook.com/
I hope to do a short video in the near future on how to add more registers to an existing copy.
Hello,
I love the checkbook register, however the copy function (meaning, continuing work downwards in a column), does not seem to work. The formulas don’t translate. How do I add new rows that will utilize the formula(s) of the row above? The insert function does not seem to do this either. Sorry for the bother – and thank you!
Hi Maxwell, I’m glad you like the checkbook. I’ll email you directly so we can figure out the issue. The formulas should definitely auto-populate as you continue adding rows as well as use the Insert Row feature in Excel.
I am using the Checkbook Register, and believe it is doing what I need done. However, I have (I thought) reconciled every month. How I did is a mystery to me. In the last couple of months though it says the totals agree, they don’t BECAUSE OF MY ERROR all the way back in January. Now my question is this, by deleting two entries that are incorrect in January… will that cause errors in the total balance calculations all the way to the present??
Hi Vera,
Thank you for reaching out. It sounds like your transactions are all good and have reconciled for a long time except that you discovered a couple of incorrect entries from January?
If you check your banking website to see what your current balance is with the bank, does your spreadsheet’s current balance match with the bank as of the same date? I have had a few occasions over the years where I messed up an earlier entry and my spreadsheet’s current balance wasn’t matching with my bank’s website current balance (or at least those transactions that have cleared).
If your spreadsheet’s balance matches with your bank’s current balance, then yes, if you delete those entries from January, your spreadsheet’s total balance will suddenly be changed if you delete any old entries. But if those entries are duplicates, then maybe your very first entry in the spreadsheet (the Opening Balance) just needs to be updated after deleting any incorrect transactions from January.
I hope that makes sense.