Business Banking Setup Template
Two documents and three sheets that find every transaction crossing the personal and business line in your own account history.
Free download · No account needed
Account Structure
Marchetti's Detailing LLC. What each account is actually for.
| Account | Purpose |
|---|---|
| LLC Checking | All customer payments in, all business expenses out |
| LLC Reserve | Quarterly tax set-aside, transferred monthly |
| Personal Checking | Personal spending only, receives draws from the business |
| Business Venmo | Customer payments only, swept to checking weekly |
Mixed Transaction Register
| Description | Amount | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Bellwood Realty fleet job | $940.00 | Income received personally |
| State Farm, commercial auto insurance | $340.00 | Expense paid personally |
| Costco, microfiber towels and pads | $128.75 | Expense paid personally |
| Kroger, groceries | $94.32 | Personal spend from business account |
| Verizon, personal phone bill | $85.00 | Personal spend from business account |
| 12 transactions, 10 weeks | $2,557.82 | Three patterns, three fixes |
Income received personally gets swept in as a contribution. Personal spending from the business account gets pulled back out as a draw. Neither is left where it landed.
Business banking advice found online is almost always the same one sentence: open a separate account. It is correct, and it is not really the problem. The problem is the ten weeks that already happened before the account opened, or the one grocery run that hit the business card out of habit after it did. A reminder to separate the accounts does not find either one in an owner's own actual history.
Marchetti's Detailing, invented for this pack, is a one-person mobile car detailing LLC that ran on a personal Venmo and a personal debit card for weeks before a business checking account finally opened in May. Reading ten full weeks of real statements found twelve separate transactions, $2,557.82 total, sorted into three distinct patterns. $1,690.00 of customer payments landed in the personal account, $626.35 of business expenses were paid from the personal card, and $241.47 of personal purchases were paid from the new business account once it existed.
The SBA states plainly that separating personal and business finances prevents the co-mingling that protects the integrity of the corporate veil. Separately, the IRS's own guide to starting a new business tells an owner to keep the business account separate from personal checking right from day one, not once the business feels established enough to bother. Pair this with the expense and receipt organization pack for the same kind of transaction-level find, run on missing documentation instead of account separation.
What's in the pack
Separation Plan
Why the fix differs by pattern, and the specific reclassification for the twelve transactions this worked example actually found.
Policy Note
The rule going forward, including exactly what to do the week a wrong-card mistake happens instead of waiting for a quarterly cleanup.
Account Structure sheet
The accounts a business like this actually needs, business checking, a tax reserve, and a payment handle, each with a stated purpose.
Mixed Transaction Register sheet
Every transaction that crossed the line, in either direction, sorted into one of three patterns with the specific fix for each.
Setup Checklist sheet
The one-time setup work tracked separately from the cleanup still in progress, so neither gets lost inside the other.
How it works
- 1
Open in River, or download it
Take the blank Word and CSV files with no account, or install the pack in River and hand it statements from both accounts.
- 2
Read the actual history, not just the current balance
Every transaction gets checked against the three patterns, income received personally, an expense paid personally, or a draw dressed up as a cost.
- 3
Fix each pattern by what it actually is
A contribution in for income and expenses that moved the wrong way, a draw out for personal spending that hit the business account.
- 4
Set the policy that stops a second page
Once the register is clean, the Policy Note is the standing rule, and any new slip gets logged and fixed the same week it happens.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. Two documents and three sheets download as Word and CSV files with no signup and no credit card. Edit with AI is the optional path where the agent reads your own account history and builds the register from it. The rest of the library is at the template index.
What format are the downloaded files?
Word documents (.docx) for the Separation Plan and Policy Note, and CSV (.csv) for the Account Structure, Mixed Transaction Register and Setup Checklist. They open natively in Word, Pages, Google Docs, Excel, Numbers and Sheets.
I already have a business account. Do I still need this?
A business account existing does not mean it stayed clean. Marchetti's own business account picked up three personal purchases after it opened. The register catches drift after setup just as well as it catches the mess from before setup existed.
What actually happens if I don't fix this?
A pattern of commingled funds is evidence courts use to disregard the separation between an LLC and its owner, on top of the bookkeeping mess it creates at tax time. This pack does not predict a specific legal outcome for your situation; that is a question for an attorney.
How do I record moving money between the two accounts correctly?
A transfer from the business account to personal is an owner's draw. A transfer from personal into the business is a capital contribution. Both get a dated line the same week they happen, which is what keeps them from being mistaken for a business expense later.
Does this replace my bookkeeper?
No. It finds and sorts the specific transactions that need reclassifying; entering the actual journal entries and filing the return are separate jobs. If your books are behind more broadly, the bookkeeping catch-up pack covers that.
Find every transaction that crossed the line
Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open it in River and have it read your own account history for you.
Edit with AI