On opening the spreadsheet, you must Enable Macros

If you ever click Disable Macros, simply close the spreadsheet and open it a second time.

This is the menu, which will allow you to move around the spreadsheet

The spreadsheet should open on the Set Up worksheet, if it doesn’t click the Orange Set Up button from the menu.

You must only ever change text in a Yellow coloured cells.

As you use the spreadsheet some Yellow cells will change to white cells – changing the text at this point will break the built in analysis for Year End.

You need to enter your charity’s information into the first five yellow boxes.

  • If you are a new charity, the ‘money in Bank Account at start of the year’ will be “£0”, just as your actual bank will have £0 when you opened the account.
  • If you are an established charity switching to the spreadsheet, the ‘Money in Bank Account at start of the year’, will be the “Closing Balance” from your bank statement on the last day of your previous accounting year.
  • The final two boxes are your accounting year, the start and end dates. Some charities stick to the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, some align with the tax year, 1 April to 31 March. But, it does not need to be, your charity will probably start in a month that is not January or April, so your first month will be when you started up the charity. The last day, will be 365 days later.

The remaining boxes we will change as and when the need arises. In short, as and when income and payments are recorded the following cells can be changed to reflect the specific needs of your charity.