How to prepare a Statement of Income & Expenses in Python

Close to twenty years ago I studied accounting in an attempt to improve my employment prospects. Although I have never worked as an accountant, I have held roles that required a basic understanding of accounting and finance principles. In addition, I help my boyfriend, who is self employed, to prepare his accounts to submit to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom, or HMRC, and also the local council. Because my boyfriend is in receipt of tax credits, he is required to submit his accounts to both the HMRC and his local council every year.

While I have prepared a spreadsheet that I have been maintaining my boyfriend’s accounts on each year, my boyfriend, as a lot of other people, have difficulty using a spreadsheet. If ever I was not available to do it for him, I doubt he would be able to prepare his accounts in an accurate and timely fashion. It is for that reason that a good alternative needs to be devised to help those individuals who are not very good with IT to prepare their documents on their own, which can be submitted to the taxation authorities.

I have read that Python is better than Excel, so I would like to put this theory to the test. I have therefore devised a small program to keep track of financial transactions, prepare an Income and Expense account, and also save the csv file that is created to the drive that…