Free Accounting Templates for Small Businesses

What's in our free accounting templates

These free accounting templates cover the three documents most small businesses and freelancers need first: an invoice to get paid, an estimate to win the work, and a profit and loss statement to see whether the business made money.

Every Excel template has the arithmetic built in. You type in the yellow cells, and line totals, tax, discounts, subtotals and margins calculate themselves. Each file has a print area set to a letter-size page and a "How to use" tab that explains every field. The PDF versions are clean fill-in forms you can type into or print and complete by hand.

• Invoice templates: a simple invoice, an hourly freelance invoice, a service-business invoice with parts and labor, and a printable PDF.
• Estimate templates: a general estimate with a valid-until date and signature line, a contractor estimate with separate materials and labor sections, and a printable PDF.
• Profit and loss template: a 12-month P&L with automatic gross profit, operating income and net income, an annual summary sheet, and a one-page printable PDF.

All of them open in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Apple Numbers.

Who these templates are for

They're built for owners who do their own books: freelancers sending a few invoices a month, trades and contractors quoting jobs, and small shops and agencies that want a clear monthly view of profit. If you're just starting out, a good template teaches you what belongs on each document, which makes the move to software easier later.

They're free to use for your own business. You can change colors, wording and layout, and delete the small PilotLedger footer line.

How to get the most from a template

• Keep one master copy and save a new file for each invoice or estimate, named with its number (INV-0007, EST-0012).
• Use one numbering sequence and never reuse a number.
• Send PDFs, not spreadsheets, so clients can't change your figures.
• Keep a simple log of what you sent, when it's due and when it was paid. Templates don't track that for you.
• Fill in your P&L monthly while the receipts and statements are fresh.

No time to open a spreadsheet?

Our free invoice generator lets you fill in an invoice in your browser and download a PDF in about a minute. It's the quickest way to send a one-off invoice.

When templates stop being enough

Templates are a fine way to start, but they don't talk to each other. An invoice in one file, a payment noted in another and a P&L typed in by hand is where numbers drift apart.

PilotLedger is cloud accounting software for small businesses that connects those steps. Quotes convert to invoices, payments post to your books, and reports like Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet build themselves from what you've recorded. See the full list on the features page. There's a free plan with no credit card required, and paid plans when you need more invoices or users.