Excel (or likely other spreadsheets) can be fairly powerful. You can build and modify your own "templates" as you get more familiar with it, and the file format will probably be around for 50 years. [I am not sure of this, but] the ability to use someone else's templates is probably greater than what may be an accounting package’s typically proprietary format. One of the moderators—Scott35—has posted some pretty decent panel schedules that run in Excel. Its more complex sibling is Access, and that is powerful enough to “keep the books” for a business short of Enron. Find someone like yourself, and find out what they are doing. Above all, RTFM! Keep your “how do I do...” questions to an absolute bare minimum. It’s possible you could take a local community college class as an introduction to the material if needed. RTFM! If you have to hit the ground running, i.e., should have started documenting your work a year ago, be ready for some frustration {and possibly time-consuming) study of manuals. OTOH, what you learn now about spreadsheets will be useful for the rest of your life.
And—Never Forget—Back Up Your Data. Can’t stress that enough. RTFM!
