A Question of Balance An important function of any business is bookkeeping. Somebody has to write down the checks and the deposits that were made. The man in the corner store next to Mama’s computer lab never writes anything down: he keeps it all in his head and does an excellent job. Mama tried that, but whatever she put in her head had a tendency to leak. So, for the Computer Mama (and most businesses) a spreadsheet is a good way to document the business transactions. Let's start with a check book. Go ahead—Start Microsoft Excel. When the Welcome screen appears, open a new, blank workbook, please. What do you see from the top of the screen? Is there a Home Ribbon? And the Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data. Review and View Ribbons as well? Yes. If your screen looks similar to the example on this page, then you are ready to get started.