Host Books

What Host Books is

Host Books is a simple ledger for your hosting income and expenses. You record what a venue paid you and what a night cost you, and the tool rolls it up so you can see your net by month, by quarter, by year, and by venue. It is built for a working host, not an accountant: dollars in, dollars out, and a clear picture of which rooms actually make you money.

When tax time comes, you export your ledger as a clean CSV shaped for the tool you already use, so you are not copying rows by hand into a spreadsheet.

Recording income

An income entry records the amount, the date it happened, and how you were paid. Payment sources cover cash, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, Zelle, check, invoice, and other. You can link an entry to a venue, a game, or an event so the rollups can credit the right room.

Amounts are always positive. If you need to record a refund or a payout back out, log it as a separate entry on the opposite side rather than a negative number.

1. Open Host Books and add an income entry.
2. Set the amount and the date it landed.
3. Pick the payment source (cash, Venmo, check, and so on).
4. Link it to the venue or game if you want it in the per-venue rollup.
5. Add a note so future-you remembers what it was.

Recording expenses

An expense entry works the same way, plus a category so you can see where the money goes. Categories are equipment, travel, supplies, marketing, fees, software, food and drink, and other. You can attach a receipt link and tie the expense to a venue or game.

See where you stand

Three rollups turn the ledger into answers. The period rollup buckets income, expenses, and net by month, quarter, or year. The venue rollup shows your profit and loss per room, sorted with your best earners first, so you can tell which bar is worth the drive. The category rollup breaks your spending down by type so you see where the money actually goes.

Each rollup takes an optional start and end date, so you can look at just this quarter or just last year.

Export for QuickBooks or Wave

The CSV export ships your income or your expenses in one of three shapes: a native Brainflood layout, a QuickBooks Self-Employed layout, and a Wave layout. Pick the preset that matches your accounting tool and the columns line up so the import just works. Add a date range to export only the window you need.

1. Open the export and choose income or expenses.
2. Pick the preset: Brainflood, QuickBooks, or Wave.
3. Optionally set a start and end date.
4. Download the CSV and import it into your accounting tool.

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