An executor accounting spreadsheet lists every deposit into and payment out of the estate account, taken row by row from the bank statements, with a category on each line. Totals by category become the receipts and disbursements a probate court asks for, and the closing balance must match the bank. Heirs get the same sheet, filtered to what they need.
What goes in an executor accounting spreadsheet?
An executor accounting spreadsheet needs one tab of transactions and one tab of totals. The transactions tab holds every line from the estate account statements. The totals tab adds those lines up by category and checks them against the bank, so the court form and the heirs' report both come from the same numbers.
The transactions tab works best with these columns:
| Column | What goes in it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Posting date from the statement | 2026-04-09 |
| Description | Text exactly as the bank printed it | DEPOSIT REF 88172 |
| Money in | Amount credited, positive | 14,200.00 |
| Money out | Amount debited, positive | |
| Category | One of the categories on the totals tab | Proceeds from sale of personal property |
| Payee or source | Who paid or was paid, in plain words | Car sold to private buyer |
| Document | Where the backup lives | Bill of sale, folder 3 |
| Statement | Which statement the row came from | April 2026, page 2 |
Two columns matter more than they look. Document is what lets you answer an heir who asks "what was this payment?" without hunting. Statement is what lets a court clerk or an accountant find the original row in seconds.
Keep money in and money out in separate columns rather than one signed amount. Court forms list receipts and disbursements separately, and two columns make each total a single sum.
The totals tab holds one row per category, a sum of each, and the balance check described below. Nothing on it is typed by hand except the opening balance and the bank's closing balance.
Executor spreadsheet categories that match a court's receipts and disbursements
Pick categories from the accounting form your probate court uses, so each category total drops straight into a line on that form. Courts publish their own forms, and the headings differ by state and county. Using the court's labels from the start saves re-sorting every row at the end.
The Ohio Supreme Court's Form 13.0, the fiduciary's account for executors and administrators, is one court's version of that structure. Its summary lists receipts and disbursements separately:
Receipts
- Personal property not sold
- Proceeds from sale of personal property
- Real property not sold
- Proceeds from sale of real property
- Income
- Other receipts
Disbursements
- Fiduciary fees this accounting period
- Attorney fees this accounting period
- Other administration costs and expenses
- Debts and claims against estate
- Ohio and federal estate taxes
- Personal property distributed in kind
- Real property transferred
- Other distributions to beneficiaries
- Other disbursements
The form ends with the "balance remaining in fiduciary's hands", and it is filed with an itemized statement of receipts and disbursements behind the summary. Your transactions tab is that itemized statement.
Some of those lines never pass through a bank account. Property not sold and property distributed in kind are carried at a value rather than paid. Add them as rows with no bank statement reference, and put the appraisal or inventory in the Document column instead.
If your court's form uses different headings, replace these with its exact words. Your court's probate clerk or its website is where to find the current form.
Filling the executor spreadsheet from estate account statements
The estate account statements are the source for nearly every row, so the fastest way to fill the sheet is to turn each statement into rows rather than typing them. A typed estate account of a year or more has hundreds of lines, and one transposed digit stops the balance check from closing.
Work one statement at a time, oldest first:
- Download the monthly statement PDF from the estate account's online banking.
- Convert it into rows with date, description and amount columns.
- Paste the rows below the previous month's, and fill the Statement column with the month.
- Check that the last running balance on your rows equals the statement's closing balance before moving on.
- Assign a category and a document to each new row.
Step 4 catches problems while the month is still fresh. If April does not close, the missing row is somewhere in April.
For the conversion itself, a tool that stamps its name into the rows or leaves lines out is a poor start for a court document. Why free PDF to Excel converters add watermarks, and how to avoid them explains where those marks hide. CheapBankConvert, which has not opened yet, is being built to convert one statement for a single early price of $2.99 up to 10 pages, or 5 statements in a bundle for $9.99, with no subscription. The get started page takes sign-ups.
Does the executor spreadsheet balance against the bank?
The executor spreadsheet balances when the opening balance, plus all money in, minus all money out, equals the closing balance on the latest statement. If the two figures differ, a row is missing, doubled or mistyped, and the account is not ready for heirs or the court until the difference is found.
A worked example
The rows below are an example of a small estate account over three months. The figures are made up.
| Date | Description | Money in | Money out | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-02 | Opening deposit from decedent's checking | 18,450.00 | Other receipts | |
| 2026-03-18 | Funeral home | 7,900.00 | Debts and claims against estate | |
| 2026-03-25 | County probate filing fee | 435.00 | Other administration costs and expenses | |
| 2026-04-09 | Car sold to private buyer | 14,200.00 | Proceeds from sale of personal property | |
| 2026-04-30 | Interest | 6.12 | Income | |
| 2026-05-14 | Final medical bill | 1,288.60 | Debts and claims against estate | |
| 2026-05-28 | Attorney | 2,500.00 | Attorney fees this accounting period |
The totals tab then reads:
| Check | Amount |
|---|---|
| Opening balance (account opened with $0) | 0.00 |
| Total receipts | 32,656.12 |
| Total disbursements | 12,123.60 |
| Computed balance | 20,532.52 |
| Closing balance on the May statement | 20,532.52 |
| Difference | 0.00 |
A difference of zero means every row the bank recorded is in the sheet. If the difference were, say, 435.00, you would search the money-out column for a missing fee of exactly that amount first.
Uncleared checks are the common cause of a small gap. A check written on May 30 that the bank pays in June belongs in June's rows, not May's. Record items on the date they cleared so the sheet tracks the statements exactly.
Executor spreadsheet edge cases: the decedent's own accounts and bills you paid yourself
Not every estate dollar passes through the estate account, and those exceptions are where executor spreadsheets go wrong. Money left in the decedent's own accounts, bills the executor paid personally, and assets that never become cash each need their own treatment in the sheet.
The decedent's own accounts. Before an estate account exists, money may move from the decedent's checking, or the bank may hold it until you show your appointment. Record the final transfer into the estate account as a receipt, and keep the decedent's last statements in the Document column. Getting those statements is its own task; getting a deceased parent's bank statements as executor covers what the bank needs from you.
Bills you paid yourself. If you paid the funeral deposit on your own card before the estate account opened, the estate owes you that money. Add a row for the reimbursement when it is paid from the estate account, and attach your card statement and the receipt as the backup.
Earlier care costs. If the person who died applied for Medicaid in their final years, someone may already have sorted their statements for the look-back review. Organizing bank statements for the Medicaid look-back period describes that set, and it can answer heirs' questions about money spent before death.
Cash withdrawals. Avoid them. A cash withdrawal from an estate account has no payee on the statement, so it needs a receipt for every dollar.
Executor spreadsheet reports for heirs, the court and Form 1041
The finished executor spreadsheet produces three outputs from the same rows: the court's accounting form, a plain report for heirs, and the figures a tax preparer needs. Making all three from one sheet means they can never disagree with one another.
The court. Copy each category total onto the matching line of the court's form, and attach the transactions tab as the itemized statement. Print it with the Statement column so the clerk can trace any row.
The heirs. Heirs usually want three numbers: what came in, what was paid, and what is left for them. A filtered view of the totals tab, plus the list of distributions to beneficiaries, answers most questions. Share the full transaction list with anyone who asks to see it.
Taxes. The IRS page about Form 1041 says the fiduciary of a decedent's estate uses the form to report the estate's income, deductions, gains and losses, and any income tax liability. Your Income and sale-proceeds categories are the starting point for that return. Whether a return is due, and what goes on it, is a question for the preparer.
The habit of a sorted, sourced spreadsheet carries over to other paperwork that asks about family money. A family adopting a relative's child after a death, for example, faces a home study with its own financial questions, covered in what an adoption home study asks of your bank statements.