How I Control My Business Money Without Complex Spreadsheets

I don’t manage money with big spreadsheets.

I use bank accounts and simple percentages.

That’s it.

For a long time, I thought good financial management meant understanding everything.
Balance sheets.
Reports.
Complex formulas.

So I added more and more complexity.

And still, at the end of the month, I felt unsure.
Busy, but not calm.

What changed was this question:

Instead of asking “Do I understand the numbers?”
I asked “Where is the money actually going?”

Here is the system I use today.

One sales account. Then I split the money.

All income goes into one Sales account.

From there, the money is divided by simple rules.

• Profit → 1% of revenue

• VAT → 10–15% of revenue (depends on the year and country)

• Profit tax → around 4–5% of revenue

• Operating expenses → the rest

No guessing.
No monthly discussions.
Just percentages.

How do you choose the percentages?

You don’t guess them.

You look at last year.

Take your numbers from the previous year and check:

• How much of your revenue went to VAT?

• How much went to profit tax?

• How much was real profit?

Turn those into percentages.

What is left is the money you can use to run the business.

Why this works

Because you can see the truth immediately.

If the Operating account is empty, there are only two reasons:

• You are spending too much, or

• Your business is too expensive for its size

No spreadsheet needed to explain that.

This system also removes a common mistake:
Thinking things are fine because there is money in the bank.

With this setup, you quickly see if:

• You lose money every month

• Profit exists only on paper

• Taxes are being delayed instead of planned

You can start very simple.
The percentages don’t need to be perfect.

The goal is not accuracy.
The goal is clarity.

When money has a place, decisions feel easier.

First clarity.
Then optimisation.