Key takeaways
What this article covers, in order:
- The chart of accounts for a personal trainer
- The 3 entries a personal trainer gets wrong
- What a personal trainer can claim
- The reports to run every month
- Frequently asked questions
- Where to go next
Clients buy blocks of sessions, you rent space from a gym or pay a percentage of what you take, and some months are twice the others. The money for ten sessions arrives today; nine of them are work you still owe.
This is the bookkeeping side of that problem: the accounts to set up, the entries that go wrong, and what you can claim. If you are still choosing software, the round-up linked at the end compares the options.
The chart of accounts for a personal trainer
Start from these rather than the default template. The codes are illustrative; the separations are what matter, because each one answers a question you will be asked later.
2310 Unused session packs held
4000 One-to-one session income
4100 Group and class income
4200 Online coaching income
5100 Gym rent and revenue share
6300 Mileage and travel
2400 Tax provisionThe 3 entries a personal trainer gets wrong
A 10-session pack paid up front
A liability released per session. On receipt, the sale month is inflated and the nine delivery months look empty.
A percentage paid to the gym
A cost of sale per location, not general rent, so you can see which venue actually pays.
Sessions that expired unused
Recognise them at expiry under a written policy. Carried forever, the liability is wrong and so is your profit.
What a personal trainer can claim
Deductibility follows the rule in your own jurisdiction, so this is a checklist to take to your accountant rather than an answer. For a personal trainer the cost lines to review first, and the record each one needs, are:
| Cost line | The record to keep |
|---|---|
| Gym rent and revenue share | The invoice, and the business-use split where the cost is shared |
| Mileage and travel | The invoice, and the business-use split where the cost is shared |
Whether each of those is deductible, and how much of it, is a rule your tax authority sets and changes. Keep the record either way; take the question to your accountant with the figures in front of you.
The reports to run every month
- Session packs held as a liability and drawn down per session delivered — review it monthly, not at year end.
- Expiry policy applied to unused sessions, so the liability does not grow forever — review it monthly, not at year end.
- Gym rent or revenue-share handled as a cost per location — review it monthly, not at year end.
- Online and in-person income separated, because the margins differ — review it monthly, not at year end.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best accounting software for personal trainers?
There is no single best one; there is a best one for a shape of business. For a personal trainer, work down the criteria in the section above and stop at the first option that clears all of them — that list is short, usually two or three.
The criteria that eliminate most options fastest are: Session packs held as a liability and drawn down per session delivered; Expiry policy applied to unused sessions, so the liability does not grow forever; Gym rent or revenue-share handled as a cost per location.
Give me a list of accounting software for personal trainers that offer the best security?
Ask for evidence rather than adjectives. The things worth checking, in order: an independent audit you can see (SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001, with the report date), encryption in transit and at rest, enforced multi-factor authentication, role-based permissions fine enough that a bookkeeper cannot export your whole ledger, an immutable audit trail of who changed what, where your data is hosted and under which country's law, and a stated backup and recovery position.
Then ask the question the brochure will not answer: can you see, after the fact, who changed a figure and what it was before? For a personal trainer that audit trail is worth more than any single feature on the security page. A vendor who will send the audit report under NDA is telling you something; one who answers with the words "bank-grade security" is telling you something too.
Is there free accounting software for personal trainers?
There are free tiers, and they are real — but the limit is what matters, not the price. Find the cap before you move your books: how many documents or transactions a month, how many bank accounts, how many users, and whether the free tier includes the one thing you came for. HelloBooks has a free plan; /pricing lists what it covers today.
How much does accounting software for personal trainers cost?
Published prices move, and the figure that matters is the one including the module you actually need — inventory, payroll or multi-currency are often a tier up, so the headline price is rarely the price you pay. Price each shortlisted option at the tier that carries what you actually need, on the vendor's own page, on the day you decide.
How do I switch accounting software without losing my history?
Migrate on a period boundary and bring three things: opening trial balance, open customer and supplier balances, and your chart of accounts. Transaction history can usually stay in the old system as a read-only archive — attempting to re-import years of detail is where most migrations lose a week and a reconciliation.
Where to go next
- HelloBooks for personal training
- HelloBooks in New Zealand
- HelloBooks in Singapore
- HelloBooks pricing and what each plan includes
This guide is written for businesses in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Tax treatment differs by country — check the rule for yours before you act on it.
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