Spreadsheet Questions | Basic Accounting Help

On this page you can find answers to common questions about my newsletter and the free accounting spreadsheets.

Also, occasionally someone runs into a problem when downloading the free spreadsheets or subscribing to my newsletter.

Below are the answers to some commonly asked questions:

Does this subscription cost anything?

No. As I have explained on several pages on my site, I started this site to help small business owners with their accounting needs. I try to find the most valuable information and resources I can find to assist you with your accounting needs. What happens once you click “Subscribe”? You will be receiving an email that asks you to confirm your “subscription”. Once you click the confirmation link , you will receive an email from me with the subject headline “Welcome to Small Business Accounting News”. Your free accounting spreadsheets download link will be in this email. I send out my regular newsletter once a month. If you don’t want to receive this monthly newsletter, just click the “unsubscribe” link that is included at the bottom of every newsletter. There is no catch, all of this really is free, and I hope you will find it useful.

I tried to subscribe but got the message “An Error Occurred”.

The full message on that page, below the “An Error Occurred” headline, said: “Notice: Our records indicate that you are already subscribed to this list and have verified your subscription” What I suspect happens here is that people double click on the link in the confirmation email. Many people are used to double clicking on files from using Microsoft software. (Don’t double click on internet links. It is not necessary.) But it can also happen accidentally without you noticing. The first click would have confirmed your subscription. With the second click you got the notice that you are already subscribed. It happens so fast that you can’t see the first page. So, you should be successfully subscribed to my newsletter and receiving the “Welcome” email shortly. If you do not, please check your spam folder first (sadly…sometimes that is where my emails end up the first time they are sent to you) If you did get a different error message and wonder if you are subscribed to the newsletter or not, please send me a message through the contact form and I can check it for you. Please include when you clicked and where, and the error message you received.

I subscribed but haven’t received the email with the free spreadsheets yet.

After you have confirmed your subscription, a “Welcome” email should be delivered to your inbox. If you do not receive it immediately, check your spam folder and if it is not in there, please send me a message through the contact form and I will resend the welcome email with the free accounting spreadsheets download link in it.

I can’t download the free spreadsheets!

Theoretically something to do with the free download could break at my end, but to date that has not happened. Chances are that this is a problem with your computer or internet service. Since there are so many different internet browsers, possible browser settings, operating systems, software programs etc. it is impossible for me to give a general answer here. Contact me and I will send you the file manually.

I can’t open the file!

There are three possible reasons that I am aware of:

The file was damaged during the download. That occasionally happens, especially if the internet connection is a bit unstable. Delete the file and try the download link again.
You do not have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer. The spreadsheets were built in Excel and you have to have Excel to open them.
It could be your operating system and browser combination or settings. A couple of my readers reported having problems like this with Windows 7. The problem resolved when they moved the file to another computer. This is extremely rare and I haven’t had any reports of it lately. But if the above two fixes didn’t work, try opening it on another computer.

If none of this works, then get in touch with me. I will send you the file manually and we’ll see if that makes a difference.

I forgot to save the free spreadsheets/had a problem with the download and now I can’t get to it again.

I can reactivate paid download links but not the free download links, so I would need to send you the file manually. Please contact me.

I have received my free spreadsheets and want to unsubscribe.

Every newsletter includes an “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom. Click on it and click the unsubscribe box. If you can’t get it to work contact me and I will remove you manually.

I want to change the email address the newsletter is sent to.

Click on the link that says: To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: Then click on the edit contact information link that is found in the grey Subscriber Information box at the top. You can update your name and/or email address there. If it doesn’t work, you can contact me.

Can I get the free spreadsheets without subscribing to your free newsletter?

Yes, contact me and I will send them to you. I started requiring people to sign up for my newsletter in order to receive my spreadsheets after I had sent out hundreds of them without getting any email addresses and then found an error that would affect their balances and I had no way to contact people to instruct them on how to fix it. After all these years, I believe I have all the bugs worked out…until I “revise” them again 🙂 So if you want them and then want not be contacted EVER again from me…that’s fine. However, let me tell you, I work hard every month to find interesting articles and helpful resources to share with my readers, so signing up for my newsletter maybe something you would like to do later.

Priority Contact Form

Please use this form if you have a question or problem regarding my free newsletter or the spreadsheets books that could not be resolved via the frequently asked questions. If you have encountered a problem, please provide as much detail as possible. (What exactly you were doing, what did you click on, what error message were you getting etc.)