A Guide to Ecommerce Bookkeeping for Business Owners

The clarity provided by accurate bookkeeping is instrumental in devising strategies that enhance overall operational efficiency and profitability. When you first start handling the accounting and bookkeeping tasks for your ecommerce business, you’ll likely be overwhelmed. After all, there are a lot of figures you have to deal with in this job role.

• In addition to tuition, students pay $500 for books and supplies, bringing the total estimated cost of the degree to $4,740.
• For the information to be reported as a financial statement, it needs to be identified, accepted, classified, and recorded.
• If you want to begin your career as an e-commerce specialist, learning more about the necessary education and training can be a valuable step forward.
• Liz Simmons has been writing for various online publications about career development, higher education and college affordability for nearly a decade.
• This is why many ecommerce sellers outsource these tasks for others to do for them.

The one-stop data shop for your store

• Diligent bookkeeping ensures that every transaction is accurately recorded, providing a clear financial snapshot.
• When calculating the cost of goods sold, the costs of the oldest inventory is used to determine profitability.
• Others will help you to migrate to an accounting system that they’re efficient with.
• In addition, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the employment in this industry will have 450,000 new jobs by 2026 [2].
• They’re experienced and understand all the ins and outs of bookkeeping for e-commerce.

If something listed above is way out of your comfort zone or you don’t have the time to do these accounting tasks well, ask for help. You should focus on the tasks you do best and outsource the jobs you really can’t do or don’t want to do. An accrual basis accounting system is in place when the figures are entered into your chart of accounts at the time the transaction has occurred. It’s not when the money is received in hand or sent out for payment. No matter how you organize your chart of accounts, you want to make sure it’s a real-time updated chart. In other words, every time you sell a product and get paid, you want these numbers to immediately appear.

What skills do you need to become a bookkeeper?

Your Xendoo team is always available by live chat, email, or phone call. Whether you are selling on one platform or multiple marketplaces, owning an e-commerce store is not always easy. With that information, we’ll dive in to truly understand your business and provide you with a custom pricing quote for working together. All of your books will be vetted multiple times each month before being delivered to you.

Bookkeeping vs. accounting

Each time you recount, you can update your inventory cash flow sheet to reflect how much money your company spent and gained on inventory in that period. Maintaining an organized, cost-effective inventory is perhaps the most important aspect of any retail e-commerce business model. Maintaining inventory is more than just stockpiling items you intend to sell; it also means keeping track of your inventory cash flow. A cash flow statement is probably the most important document you can have as an e-commerce entrepreneur.

To use the above example of a clothing retail store, your non-operating income might include property sales, equipment sales, or investment returns. In the other column, you must list your liabilities, which include such things as debts and money you owe for business-related reasons. Sales tax is a specialty all by itself and your dedicated xendoo CPA team is here to assist. For companies with more complex sales tax filings, we recommend a 3rd party software such as TaxJar or Taxify, which directly integrates into Xero software.

Bookkeeping certificates vary from year-long programs at four-year colleges to self-paced, completely online courses that take as little as three months to complete. A typical program covers topics like the basic principles of accounting, payroll, accounting software and becoming a certified bookkeeper. You can earn an online bookkeeping certificate to qualify for entry-level and more advanced bookkeeping and accounting roles. Potential jobs include bookkeeping assistant, bookkeeper, accounting clerk and payroll assistant.

• For more robust solutions, Xero integrates with many best-in-class inventory management applications.
• The median salary for these roles is also higher than for bookkeepers at $77,250 per year [4].
• The last in, first out accounting method assumes the inventory acquired most recently was sold first.
• It enables businesses to identify high-performing channels, allocate resources effectively, and uncover areas for improvement.

During your first month, you won’t be charged and we’ll complete the bookkeeping of your previous completed month in business. We’ll show you why working with us is high level and you’ll be able to meet your dedicated Bookkeeping team. We make sure your reports are ecommerce bookkeeping easy to read and include key takeaways from the month specifically for your business. Sales tax can be very confusing, depending on where you’re selling your products online. The Pinit team are talented, creative, and very helpful in running our bookkeeping.

Managing the general ledger is part of your daily responsibilities as a bookkeeper. You may determine if any payments are due, submit them, and record them in the financial ledger. As a bookkeeper, you may also receive client payments and deposit them at your company’s financial institution.