Using Ledger-cli for business and joint finances

Posted on do 24 juli 2025 in blog

I have been using ledger-cli since 2015. At first only for my personal finances. To make it easier for myself, I use the CSV files I download from the bank and convert these into ledger-cli transaction files.

Later I incorporated my business records as well. I used a script to export the records from my main accounting software (Odoo) and write them out as ledger-cli transactions.

I was looking for a way to give me

  • a view of just my business
  • a view of just my personal finances
  • a combination of both business and personal finances

I realized that much of what I do to make this happen, can be also applied to joint finances.

Simplified setup

My own setup is quite involved with separate files for nearly every account and each split up again by year. I then combine them in separate ledger files that have a lot of include statements.

To explain the basic reasoning for joint personal and business accounts, I'll simplify to a single file for each member of a two head household with a husband and wife.

Proposed names for the data files for DH (husband), DW (wife), DH+DW (joint accounts) and DH-company (DH company accounts):

DH.ledger
DW.ledger
DH+DW.ledger
DH-company.ledger

We can combine these files in different ways using include.

Joint account view with origin

Let's make a joint account view where every set of accounts is prefixed with its origin. This ledger file could be named all.ledger. It could have the following contents:

# all.ledger

apply account Dear Husband
include DH.ledger
end apply account

apply account Dear Wife
include DW.ledger
end apply account

apply account Joint Accounts
include DH+DW.ledger
end apply account

apply account Dear Husband Company
include DH-company.ledger
end apply account

Consolidated joint view

A consolidated joint view. This ledger file could be called joint.ledger. It could have the following contents:

# joint.ledger

include DH.ledger
include DW.ledger
include DH+DW.ledger
include DH-company.ledger

The trick here is to use (partially) the same setup of accounts for all parties. This makes consolidating easy. The former ledger file is capable of showing individual contributions of DH, DW, joint accounts and company to income, expenses, assets and debts. The latter ledger file gives you the consolidated numbers for each unique account.

Example reports

Generating reports using either all.ledger or joint.ledger could look like this:

ledger -f joint.ledger bal Assets or Liabilities  # household balance
ledger -f joint.ledger bal Income or Expenses     # household profit and loss

ledger -f all.ledger bal Husband and \( Income or Expenses \)  # DH profit and loss
ledger -f all.ledger bal Wife and \( Assets or Liability \)    # DW balance

Working with transit or interim accounts

For correct reports, we need a special way to record the transfer funds of between partners or between a person and their company. In these cases we use a transit account to hold the money. One partner sends money to this transit account while the other moves the money from the transit account to the proper place.

First Example

DH gives € 50 cash to DW.

In husband's ledger DH.ledger this is recorded as:

2025/07/07 * Cash to DW
  Assets:Cash   € -50.00
  Assets:Transit

While in wife's ledger DW.ledger:

2025/07/07 * Cash from DH
  Assets:Cash   € 50.00
  Assets:Transit

When generating a report using the joint.ledger this transit account Assets:Transit will end up with a net zero balance.

Second example

When both husband and wife are putting in a contribution in the joint account at the bank, we record these transactions.

In husband's ledger DH.ledger:

2025/07/18 * Contribution to joint account
  Assets:DH Bank   € -50.00
  Assets:Household Contribution

And in wife's ledger DW.ledger:

2025/07/10 * Contribution to joint account
  Assets:DW Bank   € -50.00
  Assets:Household Contribution

In the joint ledger DH+DW.ledger:

2025/07/10 * Contribution from DW
  Assets:DH+DW Bank   € 50.00
  Assets:Household Contribution

2025/07/18 * Contribution from DH
  Assets:DH+DW Bank   € 50.00
  Assets:Household Contribution

Again, generating a report from joint.ledger will show a zero balance for Assets::Household Contribution. While the command:

ledger -f all.ledger bal Household Contribution

will show how much each partner has contributed into the household.

ledger-cli personal finance bookkeeping