Accounts Payable Spreadsheet in Excel - How To

Anyone who runs a business needs to keep track of any outstanding amounts owed to creditors. With a spreadsheet, you can track and manage accounts payable for your business, ensuring that you meet your financial obligations and keep your business on track. Accounts payable spreadsheets can also provide a useful reference if you encounter any queries about past payments later on. Creating an accounts payable spreadsheet requires a few steps that anyone can carry out, even if you have no experience with accounts.

1

Open Excel and create a new workbook. In Excel, select "New" from the "File" menu then choose "Blank Workbook" from "Available Templates." In the worksheet that opens, enter a heading for each data item you want to store for each accounts payable record, adding each heading to a cell in the top row. Common data items to record for accounts payable include the date an invoice was received, the creditor, for example using any account or invoice reference numbers you have, the amount and when the payment is due. You can also include a column representing the date on which an amount has been paid if you wish to keep records in the spreadsheet after payment occurs. In this case you would need to update the amount in the column representing funds owed when you settle a payment.

2

Enter some accounts payable data. Add some actual records to your spreadsheet so that you can be sure you have all of the rows and columns you need. Try to use real data from your accounts, including the reference numbers or other identifiers you use within your organization to refer to the creditors in question. If you find that you do not have sufficient columns, you can add new ones by right-clicking within the worksheet and choosing from the Insert menu. Add a new heading at the top of any new columns you insert.

3

Perform calculations on your data. You can use spreadsheet functions to apply calculations to your accounts payable data. For example, you may wish to include a cell in which you calculate the total amount currently outstanding to your creditors. You can do this by selecting all of the values in the column representing the amounts owed, plus an empty cell under them, then clicking the AutoSum button. The new cell will automatically update to include the total of amounts listed in the spreadsheet. For this total to remain accurate, you will need to update records as you make payments to settle any amounts listed in the spreadsheet.

Notes

• You can use an accounts payable spreadsheet in conjunction with other spreadsheets for your business, for example to keep a running total of the liability amounting from your outstanding bills.
• If you plan on using the accounts payable spreadsheet as your main reference for making payments to creditors, you must ensure you enter each amount owed as you receive bills or invoices.

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