Farm and Homestead Bookkeeping Spreadsheet

About this template

This farm bookkeeping spreadsheet shows which parts of your farm or homestead actually make money. Instead of one whole-farm profit figure, it works out a gross margin for each enterprise, so a losing flock cannot hide behind a good harvest.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

Gross margin for every enterprise

A farm with a dairy herd, a couple of crops and a flock is several businesses sharing one bank account. The Enterprises tab separates them.

• Eight enterprises in the example, with room for 20 rows, each with its own revenue, direct costs and gross margin
• Margin per acre and per head, the figure that lets you compare a wheat field with a dairy herd
• Anything under 15% is flagged, and anything losing money is named

Revenue that sorts itself

You never type an enterprise's revenue. Each enterprise has its own income code, so a sale entered once in the ledger lands against the right one. Direct costs are what you spent on that enterprise alone, such as seed, feed and vet bills, which is why the result is a gross margin rather than a profit. Whole-farm overheads stay in the profit and loss, where they belong.

The full farm books underneath

Everything recalculates from two registers, money in and money out. Nothing is entered twice and there are no pivot tables to refresh.

• 1,000 ledger rows, with two years of demo data in the filled copy
• Profit and loss by category, with monthly and quarterly views
• A custom date range and a year-on-year comparison
• Every total, margin and percentage calculated for you
• Charts that redraw from your own numbers, not static pictures

Fifteen connected tabs

A Start Here tab walks you through setup in a few minutes. The workbook covers setup, income, farm expenses, enterprises, monthly and quarterly views, profit and loss, sales tax, estimated tax, a custom range, the year-on-year comparison, mileage, balances and a dashboard. It is farm record keeping and homestead finance in one file, from the first load sold to the year-end figures.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016 or later, on Windows or Mac
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a PDF with a link in it.
• Built with no dynamic arrays, no macros and no add-ins, so it behaves the same on Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365 and in LibreOffice. No Microsoft 365 subscription is required.
• No subscription and no bank connection

What you download

• Two Excel files: one filled with two full years of example data so you can see it working, and a blank one for your own farm spreadsheet
• The instruction guide, which has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready to download as soon as payment clears. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use it in Excel or Google Sheets?

Either. The download has Excel files for Excel 2016 or later on Windows or Mac, and the instruction guide has one-click links to the Google Sheets versions, which need only a free Google account.

How does it work out the margin for each enterprise?

Each enterprise has its own income code, so sales attribute themselves from the ledger. Direct costs for that enterprise are subtracted to give a gross margin, shown per acre and per head as well.

Is gross margin the same as profit?

No. Gross margin counts only the direct costs of each enterprise. Whole-farm overheads are kept in the profit and loss tab.

How many enterprises can I track?

The Enterprises tab has 20 rows. The example uses eight.

Does it cover tax and mileage?

The workbook includes Sales Tax, Estimated Tax and Mileage tabs alongside the profit and loss. It records and calculates what you enter and is not tax advice.