How do you track inventory with Excel?
Step-by-step setup of inventory tracking in Excel: which columns you need, which formulas to use, how to set up a reorder-level alert, and when Excel is no longer enough.
Business tracking guides for Excel
Business tracking in Excel rests on three basic ledgers: the inventory sheet showing how much stock you have on hand, the customer/supplier account statement (cari hesap, Turkey's term for a running account with a customer or supplier) that tracks the debit-credit difference with each of them, and the record of credit extended to customers (veresiye). All three are built on the same rule — every movement is entered as its own row in date order, and the balance is never typed in by hand but calculated by formula.
The 3 guides below explain how to build these three ledgers from scratch, which columns are needed, what each formula does and where Excel falls short. All of them are free and linked to the matching ready-made template.
Step-by-step guides
What is an account ledger and how do you track it?
What an account ledger means, how debits and credits are recorded, how to read the balance and how to set up due date tracking. A step-by-step guide with an Excel template.
How to keep a customer credit ledger in Excel
What information should a credit ledger contain, how do you speed up collections, and what limits should you set? Practical methods for small shopkeepers and a free Excel template.
Need a single number, not a read?
The guides are for building a ledger from scratch. If you only want the result of one calculation — separating out VAT, finding a selling price, measuring how many days it takes stock to turn over — the free calculators run in your browser, with no file to download.
VAT Calculator
VAT-inclusive to exclusive and exclusive to inclusive. 1%, 10% and 20% are preset; net amount and VAT amount instantly.
Profit Margin Calculator
From purchase price to selling price, from selling price to margin. It shows markup on cost and margin on sales separately.
Price Increase and Discount Calculator
The new price after a percentage increase or discount, the rate of change between two prices, and the effect on profit.
Frequently asked questions
Which guide should I start with?
Choose based on your most urgent question: if you don't know how much stock is in the warehouse, tracking inventory with Excel; if customer and supplier balances are getting mixed up, the customer account guide; if you write credit sales in a paper notebook at the counter, the credit ledger guide.
Can I download the template without reading the guide?
Yes. The templates come with formulas and drop-down lists already set up, so you can download one and start filling it in. The guides are for adapting the sheet to your own needs, understanding what a formula does and avoiding common mistakes.
Are the formulas written for Turkish Excel?
The formulas in the guides are given with English Excel function names: IF, SUMIF, COUNTIF and SUM. In Turkish-language Excel their equivalents are EĞER, ETOPLA, EĞERSAY and TOPLA; the template you download opens in either language and the formulas work.
How do the guides relate to the templates?
Each guide is linked to a ready-made template for its topic: the inventory guide to the inventory tracking and warehouse count templates, the customer account guide to the customer account and credit ledger templates, and the credit ledger guide to the credit ledger and customer account templates.
When does Excel start to fall short?
A spreadsheet slows you down when your product or account count passes a few hundred, when several people enter data in the same file, when you need fast barcode entry, or when you want due-date reminders sent automatically. The last section of each guide covers this threshold separately.
Ready-made versions of the sheets described in the guides: 22 free Excel templates.