Tracking Expenses and Income

Category: Shops Reading time: 4 min

Groomera's Budget & Expense section is your financial ledger — a running record of your shop's income and spending. It's not a full accounting platform, but it gives you a clear picture of where your money is going and how your revenue is trending, without leaving your dashboard.

What Gets Tracked Automatically vs. Manually

Understanding this distinction saves a lot of confusion.

The Budget & Expense section is where all manual entries go. Together with auto-tracked booking and product revenue, it gives you a complete financial picture.

Accessing Budget & Expense

1. Log in as an owner
2. Click Budget & Expense in the left sidebar
3. You'll see a summary view with income and expense totals, plus tabs for Income, Expenses, and Overview

Logging an Expense

1. Go to Budget & Expense → Expenses
2. Click + Add Expense
3. Fill in the form:

1. Click Save

The expense is logged immediately and appears in your expense total for that period.

Logging Manual Income

For cash sales, external transactions, or any income that didn't come through Groomera's booking or product systems:

1. Go to Budget & Expense → Income
2. Click + Add Income Entry
3. Fill in the form:

1. Click Save

Expense Categories Explained

Using categories consistently is what makes your reports useful. Here's how to think about each one:

The more consistently you apply categories, the more useful your monthly expense breakdown becomes — especially at tax time.

The Overview Dashboard

The Overview tab shows a summary of your financial health for a selected period:

• Total Income — auto-tracked bookings + products + manual income entries
• Total Expenses — all manual expense entries for the period
• Net Revenue — income minus expenses
• Income by Category — breakdown of where revenue came from
• Expenses by Category — breakdown of where money went

Use this to answer questions like: "How much did I spend on supplies last month?" or "Did I turn a profit in Q1?"

Select any date range using the filter at the top — view by week, month, quarter, or custom range.

Practical Tips for Staying Current

Log expenses weekly, not monthly. Trying to recall and enter a month of purchases in one sitting leads to missed entries. Five minutes every Friday is enough to stay accurate.

Log cash income the same day. Cash transactions are easy to forget. Build a habit of logging them at end-of-day so nothing slips through.

Reconcile against your bank statement once a month. Pull your totals from the Overview and compare against your business bank account. Discrepancies usually mean a missed entry or a manual correction needed.

Use Notes for invoices and reference numbers. When a supplier sends an invoice, note the invoice number in the Notes field. When you pay a contractor, note the payment reference. This audit trail is valuable if questions come up later.

At Tax Time

Groomera's Budget & Expense data is a useful starting point for tax preparation, but it's not a replacement for proper accounting software. When preparing your taxes:

1. Export your income and expense data from the Reports section (CSV export available)
2. Share it with your accountant as a supporting document
3. Your accountant will reconcile against your Stripe payouts, bank statements, and any external records

⚠️ Groomera is not accounting software. It doesn't calculate tax liability, handle payroll tax, or generate official financial statements. Use it as a clean ledger for day-to-day tracking, and work with an accountant for formal filings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can my accountant access my financial data directly? Not currently — there's no accountant guest access or direct export integration. Export your data as CSV from Reports and share the file with your accountant manually.

Q: Can I attach receipts to expense entries? Receipt attachment isn't currently supported. Note the receipt reference number in the Notes field and store physical or digital receipts in your preferred document system.

Q: Does logging an expense in Groomera affect my Stripe payouts? No. Expense entries in Budget & Expense are for your records only. They don't trigger any Stripe transactions or affect your payout schedule.

Q: If a client pays cash for a service, should I log it here or in Bookings? Log the booking in your Bookings section (as a manual booking) and log the cash payment in Budget & Expense → Income. This keeps both your appointment history and your financial records accurate.

Related articles:

• Reading Your Reports →
• Setting Up Your E-commerce Store →
• How to Start Your Free Trial and Choose a Plan →