Accounting System
Updated: Sep 1
Problem: Separate accounting sheets for each banking account across family members.
My Role: Systems Designer
The Result: A collated system for all banking accounts and transaction cards across multiple household members + removing an extra step for end of year accounting.
01 Product Overview
This product is a personal accounting tracker designed to manage both personal and business finances in one organized system. It allows users to record and categorize income and expenses, separate business transactions from personal spending, monitor financial activity, and generate summaries for tax preparation. The product aims to simplify year-round financial record keeping and make filing taxes more accurate and efficient.
What do I need to product to do?
simplify accounting for two people <> both with business and personal accounts log expenses and income for all without overlap between business and personal separate chequing and visa expenses for each
The accounts for each person (P1 and P2):
P1
RBC business chequing
RBC business master card
RBC business invoices
RBC personal chequing
RBC personal visa
RBC personal savings
P2
TD personal chequing
TD personal visa
TD personal platinum
RBC business chequing
RBC business master card
+ Track monthly investments for each person and subtract from income
+ Create individual sheets that hold all data separately, with main page showing the summary/dashboard
Each chequing sheet to show income and expenses
Each master card / visa sheet to show expenses
All sheets link to main page with outlines each account’s total income and expenses
Main pages shows calculated income and expenses in a table
Main page shows a bar graph of income and expenses, and net income
Each account sheet shows a pie chart of allocated expenses by category
What are the expense categories?
Meals
Gas
Car Insurance
Car Payment / Maintenance
Travel
Phone Bills
RBC monthly expense
Subscriptions
Entertainment
Personal / Home Care
Donations
Dental/Optical
Education
What are the current income categories?
Paycheck
Freelance
Other
What are the investment categories?
ETFs
Education / Learning
02 Accounting - Problem Statement / Initial Outline
Problem Statement
Managing personal and business finances across separate accounts, receipts, invoices, and spreadsheets makes it difficult to maintain accurate records and distinguish business expenses from personal spending. A centralized accounting tracker is needed to organize income, expenses, and supporting documents throughout the year, providing a clear financial overview and reliable records for filing taxes.
Objectives
Centralized system for accounting to be used for personal tracking as well as yearly accounting when needed for filing personal and business taxes.
Categorize transactions using tax-relevant categories
Monitor cash flow, spending and income
Make financial information easy to navigate and review
Produce accurate summary and report for tax filing
Scope
The project will cover the design and development of a personal accounting tracker that records and separates personal and business income and expenses across multiple household individuals. It will allow transactions to be categorized, and financial activity to be filtered by date, account, category, and transaction type. The tracker will also provide summaries and exportable reports to support tax preparation and filing. The initial version will not include automatic tax filing, advanced bookkeeping, or direct submission to government tax authorities.
Deliverables
Dashboard to track personal and business financial summaries/overview
Income and expense tracking
Tax relevant transaction categories
Steps:
Create a new excel sheet
Create separate sheets for each card to track all expenses and income
Monthly format
Create a main sheet where total will be calculated - with the exact same categories as all sheets
Total amounts calculated on the main sheet using excel formulas
Main sheet auto calculates for pie chart and bar graph for each month
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