Get the book

The Canadian Sole Proprietor’s Field Guide is available as an eBook from participating retailers.

A financial system does not need to begin with accounting software

Many sole proprietors need only a dependable way to capture what happened and reuse the same facts. The difficulty begins when bank transactions, personally paid expenses, owner activity, GST/HST and unresolved items are recorded in different places or not recorded at all.

This field guide shows you how to create one connected record that can answer practical questions throughout the year:

• What information should be organized for a bookkeeper, accountant or tax professional?
• What did the business earn and spend?
• Does the bank record agree with the statement?
• Which movements belong to the owner rather than business performance?
• What GST/HST-related amounts are currently visible in the records?
• What remains unresolved before the month or year can be considered complete?
• What do the current records support when you are considering a cash decision?

Build it once. Reuse the same facts.

The book begins with two input records: Bank Transactions and Expenses Outside the Bank. Each later chapter adds a calculated view, control or decision record without asking you to enter the same transaction again.

Stage	What you add	What becomes possible
Build	Bank transactions, expenses outside the bank and the full facts behind net movements	Capture each transaction once and explain what actually happened.
Maintain	Open items, reconciliation, owner activity and GST/HST tracking	Complete the month while keeping missing evidence and unresolved treatment visible.
Use	Performance, cash, financial-position and decision views	Read the current picture and record a bounded cash decision.
Complete	Year-end review, handoff summary and system-fit review	Prepare organized information and decide what the system needs next.

THE CENTRAL RULE: Each transaction has one home. Related events share a reference. Calculated views reuse the recorded facts. Missing information remains visible.

What you will learn to build

• A system-fit review for deciding whether to improve the current method or move to a more capable tool.
• A bank-transaction record that follows the order used on bank and credit-card statements.
• A separate record for business costs paid through personal cards, business credit cards, cash or other non-bank routes.
• A running summary and month-completion check.
• Owner-activity and GST/HST tracking views.
• Performance, cash and working financial-position views.
• A cash decision record that preserves the facts, assumptions, outcome and review trigger.
• A year-end adjustment register and professional handoff summary.

Who this book is for

This book is designed for Canadian sole proprietors who:

• maintain some or all of their own financial records;
• want a workable system without beginning with complex accounting software;
• use bank accounts, credit cards, processors, platforms or personal payment routes for business activity;
• need to understand the difference between business performance, cash, owner activity and tax-related amounts;
• want to arrive at month-end and year-end with fewer unexplained transactions and better-organized questions; or
• expect to use bookkeeping software later and want to understand the accounts, categories and reports that must be set up properly.

BOOK BOUNDARY: The book is complete on its own. No workbook purchase is required to build or use the method.

Choose how you want to implement the system

The book teaches every component so you can build the system yourself. The optional Excel workbooks provide the same structure already constructed at two different levels.

Option 1: Build it yourself with the book

Use the simulated sheets, field maps, starter formulas, controlled labels and checklists in the book to create your own record in Excel, Google Sheets, a notebook or another tool you can maintain. how one dependable record can support monthly review, GST/HST awareness, tax planning and year-end preparation.

The Canadian Sole Proprietor’s Field Guide is available as an eBook from participating retailers.

Option 2: Sole Proprietor Daily Tracker

The essential connected workbook, already built.

Use the Daily Tracker when you want the core system from the book without constructing the sheets and formulas yourself.

• Bank Transactions and Expenses Outside the Bank input sheets
• running summary and bank-reconciliation controls
• owner-activity and GST/HST tracking views
• performance view and cash decision record
• year-end adjustments and handoff summary
• built-in categories, status labels, formulas and review checks

Best fit: You want the essential routine already constructed and do not need the Command Centre’s expanded management and year-end components.

Option 3: Sole Proprietor Command Centre

The fuller management and year-end workbook.

Use the Command Centre when you want the core transaction system plus additional records, management views and preparation support in one connected Excel workbook.

• all core Bank Transactions and Expenses Outside the Bank records
• invoice and accounts-receivable tracking
• journal-entry and capital-asset registers
• home-office and vehicle mixed-use estimation for review
• business-health dashboard, performance view, income statement and financial position
• GST/HST tracking plus a planning comparison for review
• owner activity, cash decision record and accountant handoff summary

Best fit: You want a more complete internal management view and expect to maintain the additional records consistently.

Which option fits?

Need	Book	Daily Tracker	Command Centre
Learn the method and build your own system	Yes	Reference	Reference
Bank and outside-bank transaction inputs	Shows how	Included	Included
Running summary and reconciliation	Shows how	Included	Expanded to include Business Health Metrics and Strategic Outlook
Owner activity and GST/HST tracking	Shows how	Included	Expanded to to include analysis of regular vs. quick method
Performance and cash decision views	Shows how	Included	Included
Invoice and accounts-receivable register	Not required	Not included	Included
Capital assets and mixed-use estimations for Home and Vehicle use	Explains boundaries	Not included	Included
Income statement and financial position	Shows working views	Limited	Expanded to include Liabilities and Equity
Year-end adjustment and handoff support	Shows how	Included	Included

The book and workbooks do different jobs

The book explains the structure, the transaction logic, the management questions and the boundaries that remain when professional judgment is required. The workbooks reduce implementation effort by providing prepared fields, formulas and views.

Neither workbook determines deductibility, input tax credit eligibility, mixed-use treatment, capital treatment, Quick Method eligibility, filed tax amounts or whether a cash withdrawal is appropriate for a particular owner. They organize the available facts and make the questions easier to see.

About the Author

Larry Cooper has spent more than 40 years in project and program leadership across public and private sector organizations. In 1997, he started his own consulting business, and has run other small businesses since — including a boutique corporate education firm. Larry is not a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), lawyer, bookkeeper, or tax practitioner. He writes as an experienced business owner, consultant, and educator.

He created Built to Thrive to help Canadian small-business owners build stronger foundations and participate more effectively in important business and professional discussions.

FAQs

• Do I need either workbook to use the book?
  No. The book contains the fields, component maps, starter formulas and procedures needed to build the system yourself. The workbooks are optional built-for-you implementations.
• What is the difference between the Daily Tracker and the Command Centre?
  The Daily Tracker provides the essential connected transaction, summary, owner, GST/HST, decision and handoff components. The Command Centre adds receivables, capital assets, mixed-use estimates, fuller management statements, GST/HST analysis and a broader dashboard.
• Are these tax-filing workbooks?
  No. They support recordkeeping, internal review, planning and professional handoff. They do not prepare or submit a tax return or GST/HST return.
• Is this only for GST/HST-registered businesses?
  No. GST/HST-registered owners will use more of the tax-tracking material, but the recordkeeping, monthly review and year-end preparation methods apply more broadly.
• Does the book replace a bookkeeper or accountant?
  No. It helps you preserve better information, identify unresolved matters and understand the reports and questions involved. Fact-dependent accounting and tax conclusions may still require qualified professional review.
• Is this bookkeeping software?
  No. The book teaches a practical record and review system. The optional workbooks implement that system in Excel. If you later move to bookkeeping software, you will still need to understand how transactions, accounts, categories, reconciliations and reports work.
• Does the book tell me whether I can withdraw money?
  It shows how to record a bounded decision using current cash, protected amounts, commitments, a buffer and stated assumptions. It does not determine that a withdrawal is appropriate for every owner or circumstance.