Short, practical how-tos for everything in Lulu Ledger — organized the way the product is.
Lulu Ledger is simple bookkeeping and business-management software built for real estate agents. It brings your deals, commissions, income, expenses, mileage, receipts, and business performance together without the complexity of traditional accounting software.
Track what matters. Delete what doesn't.
Lulu Ledger is built primarily for solo real estate agents who want a simple way to organize business finances, track deals and commissions, and understand how the business is performing.
Lulu Ledger is designed around cash-basis bookkeeping, where income and expenses are generally recorded when money is received or paid.
If you are unsure how your business should be reported for tax purposes, ask your tax professional.
No. Lulu Ledger is intentionally simple. You do not need to understand journal entries, debits and credits, or accounting terminology to use it.
A simple starting workflow is:
You do not need to complete everything at once.
If you do not see + New Deal, Deal Tracking may be turned off in Settings.
Deal Tracking keeps your real estate pipeline and the economics of each transaction together. It allows you to track the deal itself along with commission information, splits, fees, and other deal-related amounts.
The two records serve different purposes.
The deal record explains the transaction and its commission economics. The income transaction records the money actually received.
Keeping both lets Lulu Ledger show both production performance and cash-basis financial reporting.
A deal can contain gross commission, bonuses, splits, referral fees, transaction fees, or other adjustments. The amount that ultimately reaches your bank may therefore differ from the gross commission amount associated with the deal.
They measure different things.
The Profit & Loss is based on income transactions recorded in Lulu Ledger. Deal and commission reporting is based on closed-deal data. Because they come from different records and dates, the totals may differ.
Go to Settings → Bank Linking.
Select Connect a Bank Account for your first connection or + Add Another Bank for another account. Then follow the Plaid prompts to choose your institution and sign in.
Yes. Lulu Ledger uses Plaid for secure, read-only financial connections. Lulu Ledger can receive transaction information but cannot move, withdraw, or transfer money. How security works →
No. Your financial-institution connection is handled through Plaid. Lulu Ledger does not store your online-banking password.
New posted transactions from connected accounts flow into Lulu Ledger for review. Pending transactions are excluded until they post.
Delete them.
If a purely personal purchase appears because you accidentally used a business account or credit card, it does not belong in your business records.
Delete transfers between your own accounts.
Moving money from business checking to business savings, for example, is not new income or a business expense.
Yes. Owner Contribution and Owner Draw / Distribution transactions may be kept and categorized separately because they represent money moving between you and the business.
They remain separate from normal business income and expenses.
Delete the credit-card payment itself.
The individual purchases on the credit card are the expense transactions you want to keep. Keeping both the purchases and the card payment could count the same spending twice.
Categorize the refund or credit using the same category as the original purchase. That allows it to offset the original expense in your reports.
Delete the duplicate so the same activity is not counted twice.
Business income is money your business earns, such as:
A deposit is not automatically income. Transfers, owner contributions, refunds, and similar transactions should be handled according to what they actually represent.
Transfers between your own accounts, owner contributions, credit-card payments, and refunds are generally not business income.
A business expense is money spent for your business. Lulu Ledger's categories help organize those expenses so reports show where your money went.
Delete transactions that do not belong in your business records, including:
An Owner Draw / Distribution is money taken out of the business by the owner.
Lulu Ledger keeps it separate from normal business expenses so it does not reduce business profit.
Tax treatment can vary, so ask your accountant or tax professional if you are unsure.
Estimated Tax Payments are payments made toward federal or state taxes.
Lulu Ledger keeps them separate from normal business expenses so they do not reduce business profit.
Tax treatment can vary, so ask your accountant or tax professional if you are unsure.
Open Receipts and use the Upload Receipt area to take a photo or upload a file.
The receipt remains in Receipts Waiting to Match until it is linked to a transaction.
Lulu Ledger can identify possible transaction matches for a receipt. Review the suggested match and confirm the correct transaction before linking it.
Leave the receipt in Receipts Waiting to Match. You can match it later after the corresponding transaction appears.
Lulu Ledger gives you a place to store receipts with the related expense so they are easier to find later.
For questions about which documents you are required to retain and for how long, ask your tax professional.
Tip: the + New Mileage button at the top of the app also opens Mileage.
Lulu Ledger records your business miles and calculates the applicable mileage amount based on the trip date.
The applicable rate is saved with the mileage record so historical trips retain the correct rate.
Use Mileage for business travel you want included in your business records.
Whether a particular trip is deductible depends on your circumstances, so ask your tax professional if you are unsure.
Categories organize your income and expenses so reports show where your money came from and where it went.
Keep categories as simple as possible.
Lulu Ledger already includes categories designed around the needs of real estate agents. Add or customize categories only when the extra detail is useful to you.
Category Rules help Lulu Ledger categorize recurring transactions.
For example, if transactions from Canva should always use Software & Technology, you can create a rule so future Canva transactions are categorized the same way.
Change the transaction to the correct category.
If it is something you expect to see again, review or create a Category Rule so similar transactions can be handled correctly in the future.
Transactions categorized as owner or other non-business activity are kept separate from normal business income and expenses so they do not distort Profit & Loss and business-performance reporting.
A Profit & Loss report summarizes your business income, expenses, and profit for the period you select.
It can be reviewed on screen and shared with your accountant or tax professional.
For a PDF file, the print view also includes a Download PDF option.
Performance brings together key business results from your Lulu Ledger data so you can review how the business is doing beyond a basic transaction list.
Insights help you interpret patterns in your business data, including production and commission performance, so you can understand how the business is performing over time.
Insights are informational and are not tax, legal, or investment advice.
Different reports can use different underlying records.
For example, Profit & Loss income comes from recorded income transactions, while deal production and commission reporting comes from deal records. Those totals do not have to match.
Lulu Ledger includes the applicable mileage deduction in Profit & Loss reporting as a separate mileage deduction line.
Go to Settings → Data → Import.
Use:
Downloadable CSV templates show the expected format.
Lulu Ledger displays a preview before anything is saved. Possible duplicates and problem rows are flagged so you can review or fix them first.
The simplest path is:
Reports → P&L Report → choose the period → Print / PDF or CSV
For detailed records, go to Settings → Data → Export. You can download CSV files for:
Lulu Ledger previews imported records before saving them and flags possible duplicates or problem rows for review. Review the preview carefully before completing an import.
Keep it simple.
Business income belongs in Income. Business expenses belong in Expenses. If something purely personal appears because you accidentally used a business account or card, delete it.
Lulu Ledger is designed to keep your business records clean without forcing you to account for transactions that do not belong there.
If a transaction has nothing to do with your business, it does not belong in Lulu Ledger.
You accidentally use your business credit card to buy groceries.
When the transaction appears in Lulu Ledger, delete it. It has nothing to do with your business and does not need to remain in your business records.
A good monthly routine is:
At least monthly is a good habit.
Using Lulu Ledger more often keeps your transactions, receipts, mileage, deals, and reports current and makes each review session faster.
Yes. Lulu Ledger supports multi-factor authentication to add another layer of protection to your account.
No. Connected financial accounts are read-only. Lulu Ledger cannot initiate payments, transfers, or withdrawals. How security works →
No. Lulu Ledger does not sell your personal or financial data.
Use the Feedback page in the left menu to send a message, or email support@lululedger.com.
Check the FAQ, use the Feedback page inside the app, or email support@lululedger.com.
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