When we started Peapod last year, there were a million things to do all at once. Our biggest priorities were (and still are) getting our products out to customers and hearing their feedback. It’s been a crazy whirlwind of learning and doing.
Finally, I’ve taken some time to tidy up things behind the scenes. One priority was getting our bookkeeping in order. It was actually really fun. It helps that I secretly love making spreadsheets.
Because Peapod is registered as a small business (Kleinunternehmen), the bookkeeping required by the government is pretty simple. There is basically just one form, called the EÜR (Einnahmenüberschussrechnung), which has to be filled out at tax time. It shows the company’s income and expenditures. It’s important to update these numbers on a regular basis though so that everything is compiled by tax time.
It was also important to me to develop a quick, easy way to see our finances at a glance.
So what better excuse to make a neat set of spreadsheets! I did a bunch of reading and research about the best way to structure everything. Now I can input our income into one sheet and our expenditures into another sheet, and some simple functions do the rest of the work. Our yearly tax information generates itself, and our monthly/yearly finances are output in simple, understandable tables.
Bookkeeping isn’t so scary after all.