How do I get my first-quarter expense total for each currency?
Give the tool only January, February and March, and 'Total per currency' becomes your first-quarter figure directly, with a line per month underneath. There is no date filter in the tool; it totals whatever you give it, so the filtering happens before you import, not after.
Example: a quarter in two currencies
A Dubai seller paid running costs in SAR to a Saudi supplier each month, and ads in AED in February and March. We entered the five expenses in the Expense summary generator tool:
- 2026-01-10: 900 SAR. 2026-02-14: 1200 SAR. 2026-03-03: 650.75 SAR.
- 2026-02-20: 150 AED. 2026-03-22: 90.50 AED.
Under 'Total per currency': 2,750.75 SAR from 3 entries and 240.50 AED from 2 entries. Those are the two first-quarter figures. Under 'By month': January 900.00 SAR, February 1,200.00 SAR and 150.00 AED, March 650.75 SAR and 90.50 AED, each currency on its own line.
The common mistake: importing the whole year
Import the full year's file with just one more entry in April, say 900 SAR on 2026-04-02, and the SAR total becomes 3,650.75 SAR, no longer the quarter. The first three monthly lines are still right, but now you have to add them yourself. It is simpler to give the tool only what you want totalled.
Two ways to isolate the quarter
- In Excel: turn on the filter for the date column, pick January, February and March, copy the visible rows with the header row into a new sheet, save it as CSV UTF-8 and import it.
- By hand: if there are only a few expenses, type them straight into the tool's entries table. The date field has a date picker and the currency is a list starting with SAR.
- Either way: the page opens with four example entries, so press 'Reset' before you start, or the example figures end up in your quarter total.
Remember the tool takes one file at a time, plus any entries you add by hand. If you keep a file per month, merge the three into one file before importing, or type one month's entries manually.
What to do with the quarter figure
If the quarter's costs are mostly fixed, such as rent and subscriptions, the monthly average makes a sensible fixed-cost input for the Break-even calculator, to see how many units you must sell each month to cover them. If you need the two currencies as one number, pick a reporting currency and type a rate for the other; the converted total is labelled as using your rates. These are figures for tracking and planning; official filings are for your accountant to settle.
Common questions
Can the tool show a total per quarter from a full-year file?
No, it groups by month and category only. For each quarter's figures, import each quarter on its own.
Does it show how many entries each month has?
Yes, every line in the month and category tables shows the entry count beside the total.