Where is my money?
Balances across all accounts and cash desks on the dashboard and in the cash flow report, including different currencies.
What breaks when money lives in spreadsheets
A spreadsheet works while there are few transactions and one person maintains it. As the business grows you get several accounts and cash desks, prepayments, customer debts and supplier bills. Formulas are patched by hand, file versions drift apart, and a simple question takes half a day of reconciliation.
The usual result: the owner sees the bank balance but not how much of it is already spoken for — planned payments, taxes, salaries. Profit does not match cash either: a customer paid in April for work done in March, and buying stock is not yet an expense.
Financist keeps these apart: cash flow shows the money, the profit and loss report shows the result of operations, and the balance sheet shows what you own and owe.
Owner questions that get an answer
Will the cash last the month?
The payment calendar places planned payments and receipts on dates and shows the days when the balance would go negative.
Am I making money?
A profit and loss report with gross, operating and net profit and the matching margins.
Who owes me, whom do I owe?
Receivables and payables by counterparty, split by how overdue they are.
Am I on plan?
Budgets compare plan with actual for every category and highlight overruns.
Ask in plain words
The AI assistant answers questions about totals by category, counterparty and period using your workspace data.
Excel versus Financist: what changes
| Task | Excel / Google Sheets | Financist |
|---|---|---|
| Account balances | Reconciled and carried over by hand | Calculated from transactions and opening balances |
| Reports | Formulas and pivot tables you must maintain | Cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet built from the same transactions |
| Future payments | A separate sheet or notes | Planned transactions and a payment calendar |
| Team access | The file is open to everyone or to no one | Roles, account and project visibility |
| Bank statements | Copying rows | Import via Claude MCP with duplicate detection, or from CSV |
Your first week in Financist
You do not need to adopt “proper” bookkeeping to begin — a few steps are enough.
Day 1: accounts
Add bank accounts and cash desks with opening balances. Check that the total matches reality.
Day 2: categories
Create a short tree of income and expense categories. A few dozen is usually plenty.
Days 3–4: history
Load the last few months of statements through Claude or CSV, review the suggested categories and confirm.
Day 5: the future
Enter upcoming payments and expected receipts so the payment calendar comes to life.
Days 6–7: reports
Compare the cash flow report with your spreadsheet, fix discrepancies and agree where the source data lives from now on.
When a spreadsheet is still enough
If you have one account, a few dozen transactions a month and you are the only person looking at the numbers, a spreadsheet will do. Consider moving when you spend hours reconciling, do not trust balances, plan payments “in your head” or need access for an accountant or partner. More in the Excel migration checklist.
Financist is management accounting, not tax reporting and not a replacement for an accountant. The product is in early access: pricing and onboarding are on request.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need accounting knowledge to use Financist?
No. You work with accounts, income, expenses and a payment plan, much like in a spreadsheet, while the reports are built automatically. Terms such as cash flow or profit and loss are explained in our guides, and the AI assistant can help when you are unsure.
How do I move my data from Excel?
Create accounts with opening balances, then load statements through Claude MCP or CSV with a preview: the system looks for duplicates and suggests categories. A step-by-step list is in the guide to moving from Excel.
Does Financist replace an accountant?
No. It is management accounting for owner decisions: money, profitability, debts, plans. Tax returns and statutory documents are handled by your accountant or specialised software, and Financist can serve as a shared source of figures for both.
How much does it cost?
The service is in early access, and terms and pricing are provided on request through the contact form. You can try it on demo data immediately, without connecting your own business.