EXPENSES.MDB Microsoft Access expense ledger database

EXPENSES.MDB is a database for storing expense records and grouping them into categories to get category totals. It has queries to summarize the data in different ways over various time periods, which can be used as examples of how to create other similar queries more customized to your needs, and it has several ledger-style reports, a couple of which were originally created for a 10 cpi "generic / text only" (non-graphics) printer that had a 14" wide carriage.

Although simple, this database and its Condor rDBMS predecessor have served me well for many years.

The best way to find your way around is to enter some data to start with and then experiment.

Its tables are:

• Journal - the account from which the expense was paid
• table1 - the expenses table

The fields of table1 are:

• jr - the journal, as above
• ckno - alphanumeric check number or other transaction identifier
• date
• payee - the payee and any other notes about the transaction
• category - the category names are free-form text chosen by you, not numbers
• amount

If you're new to Access, the queries can serve as examples to learn from. One is a crosstab query. Its output is in spreadsheet format with the years across the top and the categories down the left side so you can see how the category totals changed from year to year.

Download:

Download links	Descriptions
US$3.00 (57KB)	Expenses.mdb for Microsoft Access 2003. You can modify the database however you want. I believe this will not work in Access 2007 or later. The Buy Now button goes to the PayPal website: If you pay from your PayPal account, PayPal automatically redirects you to my download page.   If you pay with a credit card, the redirect to my download page is not automatic. You will see a "Return to Merchant" button/link on the last PayPal confirmation page. Click that link to go to my download page.   If you cancel the transaction at PayPal with their "Cancel and return to [my email address]" link, you will return to this page you are reading now instead of going to the download page.
Access 2.0 Expenses.mdb	This version of Expenses.mdb is only for Access 2.0, Windows 3.1. It is free. (45KB)

Related project - Microsoft Excel checkbook register

There is a companion project to this one:

The Excel worksheet CHECKS.XLS is a checkbook (check register) that maintains your running balance when you enter the data from your checks or debit card transactions.

The worksheet is structured so you can copy its data and PasteAppend it into the EXPENSES.MDB database (table1) to calculate category totals for year-end bookkeeping and income tax return preparation.

Expenses that were not paid by check, and other transactions, would normally be entered directly into EXPENSES.MDB. Whenever needed, copy and paste the check data from CHECKS.XLS into the database, where it all gets mixed together and you can get the category totals regardless of how the expenses were paid.