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Accounting for eCommerce Companies - A Complete Guide

Profitjets is a reliable service partner of e-commerce accounting and bookkeeping, ensuring business assistance of the highest level.

Accounting for eCommerce Companies

E-commerce is the most trending and easy way of running a retail business. Today’s customers prefer buying products online rather than visiting a store in person for the convenience e-commerce stores offer. Also, e-commerce is not bound by geographical restrictions and can deliver its products to different locations of customers’ choice. 

However, as easy as it seems, e-commerce businesses also have a lot of market competition. If you want to stand out in the industry and grow your e-commerce, you must stay ahead in every aspect. And for that, you need the best accounting and bookkeeping support to manage the financials best.

What Is E-Commerce Accounting?

E-commerce accounting services refer to all those accounting services specifically concerned with the domain of e-commerce business ( the genre of the company that operates online). 

The domain of e-commerce accounting services comes onboard with many problems, and sometimes, these issues are beyond the grasp of those who do not have technical knowledge. At this juncture, you must ensure that you are under guidance. You can help with professional e-commerce accounting services, so we are at Profitjets to guide you throughout.

Types of Accounting Services in E-commerce

Taxation is crucial for any business, and professional accounting services like ours help you manage through the same. However, at the same time, when we talk about accounting services in e-commerce companies, there are a lot of different segments, and hence, each of these tends to have another job as well. This is because the requirements tend to deter, and therefore, there can be a change in the accounting services domain. When we talk about accounting services, the most important different types include:

Taxation is crucial for any business, and professional accounting services like ours help you manage through the same. However, at the same time, when we talk about accounting services in the e-commerce industry, there are a lot of different segments, and hence, each of these tends to have another job as well. This is because the requirements tend to deter, and therefore, there can be a change in the accounting services domain. When we talk about accounting services, the most important different types include:

E-commerce Financial Accounting

For the simplest understanding, it is the most common type of financial accounting that most companies are concerned with. Here, you must ensure that you keep account of all the business-related transactions you make, whether it is expense-related or even your business earnings. In very simple terms, we can say that the domain of e-commerce financial accounting is very similar to that of bookkeeping. The only difference is that this is completely compliant with the e-commerce business; hence, the transactions are only in this domain.

Tax Preparation Services

E-commerce Cost Accounting

As you can make out from the name itself, this accounting domain’s major concern is ensuring that they are vested with all the cost-related factors of your e-commerce business. What does it mean? The money you spend on your business and the expenses you must regularly make. You must maintain your business, encompassing production costs, raw materials, inventory costs, and workforce strengthening.

E-commerce Tax Accounting

The major focus of this type of accounting is to make sure that one can focus on the domain of tax-related accounting with specificity. The obligation is to look forward to arranging the taxes and the different variations in this respect. The e-commerce tax accounting is vested with the taxation task for businesses concerned only with online business and, hence, a bit more specialized.

Tax

E-commerce Management Accounting

The resemblance between this type of accounting and financial accounting is quite far-fetched. The major need for this kind of accounting service is to ensure it is used more widely for statistic-driven reports. E-commerce management accounting services are usually important for any particular business. Hence, it would help if you focused on the same for more sustainable development of the management procedures.

E-commerce Forensic Accounting

And finally, the last option we have is none other than e-commerce forensic accounting. What is so unique about this? The forensic accounting variant is completely different in its approach, and the major aim is to determine if there have been any major faults. The objective is to look for discrepancies, if any and if there have been any fraudulent activities, what are the major reasons behind the same. The e-commerce forensic accounting service is like an investigative type of accounting and, hence, is much more data-driven and specific.

Types of Transactions In An E-commerce Business

Now that we have been able to learn about the different kinds of e-commerce accounting services, it is also crucial that we draw your attention to the various types of e-commerce transactions. As per our knowledge, the different types of e-commerce transactions encompass six major types, which include:

Business to Business

As you can understand, for this kind of service, we tend to help you with those transactions which a business makes for any other business. Here two companies are concerned, and the transaction between them is referred to as business-to-business.

You will generally notice that businesses based on a more wholesale domain tend to operate in the industry-to-business method. The company-to-business mode of transaction is quite popular, and hence there is no involvement of any third-party customer.

Business to Customer

The very popular short form for this type of business transaction is none other than B2C transaction. As you can make out from the name itself here, the major concern is the relationship between a business and the client that it is serving. The major focus year is for all those retail e-commerce websites that directly contact the clients and deal with them one-on-one. The business-to-customer transaction model is one of the most common ones suitable to come across.

Consumer to Consumer

The next type of transactional model is known other than the consumer-to-consumer or the C2C transaction model. It talks about the transaction which usually happens between two consumers. You will notice that for a consumer-to-consumer transaction, having a third-party platform that serves as the middle ground through all the major trades is very important. The consumer-to-consumer trade has gained much popularity in the past few years.

Consumer to Business

Yes, you read it right! Even the consumer-to-business transaction chain is quite popular and majorly interesting with the transaction between a consumer and the business. Here, the most common domain that engages in the C2B model is the source-based projects, which are quite popular. Many individuals serve businesses with their products, which is the C2B model.

Business To Administration

And finally, the last model we will discuss is none other than the business-to-administration transaction model. It concerns all the major transactions that tend to take place between a business and the administration platforms. You will notice that the major department concerned with this transaction model is e-governance, which has gained immense popularity in the past few years. The business-to-administration model is quite a popular transaction model.

Challenges Faced by an E-Commerce Companies in Accounting:

Going through the popularity and the different types of e-commerce accounting services or transactions in an e-commerce business, you might wonder what possible challenges this business might face. However, contrary to the popular view, there are a lot of different challenges that are usually faced by an e-commerce business, some of which include:

Cybersecurity

The major concern of cybersecurity is somewhat of a given for any e-commerce business. When you are operating on a digital platform getting scared about your data, specifically as a business, is a real concern. Hence you always have to ensure that you have reached the best cyber security aid which can help you protect your sanctity and your data simultaneously.

Most people will agree that for any e-commerce business, you tend to deal with a lot of public data; hence, the slightest technical difficulty can be detrimental to you in the long run. Not only that, it tends to run the company image as well.

Client Experience

When you are in an online e-commerce business, you would know that the client experience is also a very important thing that you need to pay special attention to. Why so? The major reason client experience is so important for any online business is that you have a digital presence; hence, this client experience can reach out to many in one go.

You need to understand that in any online business, clients look for a certain standard of experience, and you cannot choose to compromise with the same. You need to segregate and select the service regimen depending on the knowledge that your clients are looking for.

Competition With Others

There is no doubt that for any online business, a very common concern they face is none other than the competition with other similar businesses. You need to ensure that you are offering something else to your clients in this face of rising competition, specifically when so many other people do the same job in the market.

Your client is always much smarter than you are, so you need to make sure that the experience is unique yet coveted simultaneously! Competition with other competitors is important but at the same time healthy.

Return Policy

Always try to think from the point of view of a customer. Suppose the return of the refund policy for any product involves too much hassle. Will you ever choose that e-commerce platform, no matter how many discounts or experiences they provide you? Hence you always need to make sure that you are formulating the best return and refund policy for your products without incurring any damage to your business and your clients.

As you understand, the most important thing you need to do is type the right balance between what your company policy should be and what the clients want from you. Only then will you be able to cater to the needs and still not crumble your business ideals.

Appropriate Technology

And finally, another very common hassle that a lot of businesses face, particularly when they are in the e-commerce domain, is none other than using the right technology. Undoubtedly, the growth of your e-commerce business depends on using the right technology, and there is constant competition for you to use the most professional and sophisticated technology option.

Consequently, as a business, you must ensure that you have incorporated enough research and found the right business technology to help you enhance productivity.

Top E-Commerce Accounting Softwares

E-commerce businesses have unique accounting needs to meet the requirements of a smooth business operation, and finding the right software to manage finances can be challenging. Because e-commerce accounting has become so popular in the last few years with the increase in e-commerce platforms, we must also talk about the various e-commerce accounting software, which is equally popular. Let us discuss the top 5 e-commerce accounting software options to help streamline your financial operations and keep your e-commerce business running smoothly. Some of the most promising options in this case are:

QuickBooks

Anyone who has even one idea about e-commerce accounting software has come across the name QuickBooks. It is your ultimate tool for many commercial businesses so that you can get complete assistance for all your accounting-related needs. QuickBooks is a popular accounting software option for small e-commerce businesses. QuickBooks has features such as expense tracking, invoicing, and inventory management. It also integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.

QuickBooks software is user-friendly and it’s easy to set up and navigate. Additionally, QuickBooks offers a mobile app that allows you to manage your finances on the go. Be assured that your data is entirely safe with this accounting software, and you get many optimization options, depending on what you are looking at.

Xero

The next very popular e-commerce accounting software we will discuss is none other than Xero. It offers many of the same features as QuickBooks Online, including invoicing, expense tracking, and inventory management. However, Xero also includes a feature called “Xero Projects,” which allows you to track time and expenses for specific projects. 

The major outlook of this particular application is that it helps you control your expenses and even gives you quite a few convenient tips for management. Undoubtedly, Xero allows you to streamline your costs very efficiently and easily. Additionally, Xero offers a mobile app that allows you to manage your finances.

Fresh Books

FreshBooks is one of the most widely used cloud accounting software and is extremely popular among this generation of e-commerce business owners. It offers a range of features for small businesses, including invoicing, expense tracking, and inventory management. It also integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. The major uniqueness of this particular software is that it is known for privacy and security data, which can be a major concern for any other accounting software you come across.

FreshBooks also includes a “Time Tracking” feature, which allows you to track time spent on specific projects. Additionally, FreshBooks offers a mobile app that allows you to manage your finances. You can use this software to send professional invoices and track your expenses based on the payments you receive and make.

Zoho Books

The other option we have in this case is none other than the very popular Zoho Books. Zoho Books is a cloud-based accounting software that offers a range of features for e-commerce businesses, including invoicing, expense tracking, and inventory management. It also integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. It is a very popular accounting servicing brand and is convenient and easy to use. 

Zoho Books also includes a feature called “Zoho Expense,” which allows you to track and manage expenses from a mobile app. You will be able to solve all your basic accounting-related requirements with this particular software. You will also be able to manage your stock-related requirements, which is one of the most exciting things about Zoho Books!

Wave

Wave is a free, cloud-based accounting software that offers a range of features for small e-commerce businesses, including invoicing, expense tracking, and inventory management. It offers a range of features that are typically found in paid accounting software, such as invoicing, expense tracking, and inventory management. It also integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce for sellers’ convenience. Business owners can easily track their sales and expenses, making it easier to manage their finances.

Wave accounting software is extremely user-friendly and easy to set up and navigate. Wave also offers a mobile app that allows you to manage your finances on the go, and it also includes a feature called “Receipt scanning,” which allows you to scan and track receipts from your mobile device.

Top E-Commerce Platforms We Work With

At Profitjets, all our accountants are comfortable working with all the top e-commerce platforms. Hence, we can assist you with all your requirements conveniently.

 

Process of E-Commerce Accounting

When you are contacting us for e-commerce accounting services, we believe it is very important to have a good idea about the process. Some of the most important domains that we tend to cover when it comes to the operation of e-commerce accounting services include the following:

Records

We will make it a point to ensure that we go through all the documents related to your business and understand the history and current scenario of what your e-commerce business requires. Based on that, we will formulate the next steps.

Updating the Account Books

The next thing that we will do is make sure that we update your account books and fix any mistakes you have made. Our experts are usually very well shade and will make the slightest of changes if there are mistakes.

Booking

Maintain Records

For any accounting-related service, the most important thing you need to do is maintain records. Hence we will make sure that we can tap you late all your daily expenses in a more segregated manner.

Delivery

Finally, we will ensure we can formulate all the important information we need to deliver the report to our clients. We can say with conviction that with our data, it will not be very difficult for you to make sense of the current accounting status of your business and what needs to be done in the future. Not only that, but it is also quite brief and aided with the required data.

The process that we have adopted for serving our clients is very holistic and, at the same time, service-oriented in nature. Although a similar pattern is involved, we make it a point to understand the current scenario of any business and then formulate the financial plan based on the same agenda.

Benefits of E-Commerce Accounting

And finally, it is common for people to ask about the benefits of e-commerce accounting and why you need to invest in one. In our opinion, some of the most important benefits include: 

Product Costing

Suppose you have a good idea about your company's accounting needs and the different kinds of costs you incur automatically. In that case, you will be able to make a more comprehensive product costing as well. Hence, it will aid your business more prominently.

Inventory Management

The first difficulty that a lot of businesses face, particularly when they are venturing into the e-commerce business, is other than inventory management. When you get in touch with a professional accounting service like ours that specializes in e-commerce services, we make it a point to help you with inventory management. As experts in the field, we will try to make sure that we can help you formulate the best plan which will aid your inventory growth more positively.

Aid In Projection of Sales

Yes, you read it right! When you get in touch with a professional accounts-related service, you can get complete guidance for sales projection. What does it mean? By this, an expert can help you estimate the sales and how much you can anticipate selling in a given period. This idea is very important for any business and somewhat more crucial for the e-commerce business.

Prepares Taxes

Not many people know this; it is very important to have intricate knowledge about the field to formulate the taxation file for your business, particularly for an e-commerce business. As professionals, we make sure that we study the entire tax-related requirements and then understand the current scenario of your business so that we can formulate the best plan that saves you money.

At the same time, we also understand that preparing the taxes requires a lot of effort; hence, we are here to help you with the same. You would only need to get in touch with Profitjets and us and explain to us what you are looking for, and we will make it a point to aid you with the best.

Cash Flow Handling

And finally, another very important reason you should get in touch with professionals regarding accounting-related services is the handling of the cash flow. It would help if you made sure that your business's cash flow is promising enough to operate in a more favorable manner. There is no doubt about the fact that if, as an online business, you run short on cash, there will be a lot of curtails that you have to make. Whether it is for the less stock or not being able to pay your employees, there are usually a lot of different aspects that one entails in this respect.

For your business to work in the right method, it is very important to make sure that you handle the cash flow efficiently and make good use of it simultaneously. Managing an online business without effective cash flow management won't be easy. If you think you are ready to get the best services from professionals who have been in this area and can guide you, don't forget to get in touch with us at Profitjets today.

E-Commerce Services Offered by Profitjets

Finally, we can now help you understand the e-commerce accounting domain. Each e-commerce business will have different needs, and the specific accounting services they require will depend on the business’s size, complexity, and stage. However, these are the main accounting services that are commonly used in e-commerce businesses.

E-commerce companies commonly use several types of accounting services. Consequently, it is also very important for us to talk about the different services we offer regarding e-commerce-related accounting services at Profitjets. These include:

E-commerce Bookkeeping

As you can understand, this is the most basic service we offer, and it concerns all the major aspects of bookkeeping you need for the smooth running of any business. This service involves maintaining accurate financial records of a business’s transactions, such as sales, expenses, and payments. This includes recording transactions in a general ledger, reconciling bank statements, and preparing financial statements.

Payroll Services

The payroll requirements for an e-commerce business are quite segregated; hence, it might be difficult for many people to understand. This service involves managing the payments and taxes for a business’s employees. This includes calculating and issuing paychecks and filing and paying payroll taxes. We will try to ensure we can help you achieve all the business goals you are looking for and even pay special attention to the payroll services. Not only that, but we will also help you fix the payroll-related rules, which are elementary for a business.

Tax Compliance

This service involves preparing and filing a business’s tax returns. This includes gathering necessary information, calculating tax liability, and filing returns with the appropriate government agency. It is the process of ensuring that the business complies with all applicable tax laws and regulations. This includes filing accurate and timely tax returns, paying taxes owed, and maintaining proper records and documentation. We will ensure that we can take responsibility for all your business’s daily tax-related requirements.

Accounts Receivable

You need professional support for accounts receivable for e-commerce businesses. Accounts receivable is the amount of money a business owes its customers for goods or services that have been delivered but not yet paid for. In an e-commerce business, accounts receivable comprise Invoicing, Credit Management, Collections, Reconciliation, Reporting, Bad debt, and Sales Tax. We at Profitjets can help you effectively manage your finances and increase your cash flow by ensuring that they are paid on time and minimizing the risk of bad debt for the business’s overall financial health.

Invoice Processing

Managing invoice records can be difficult and lead to further confusion. This service involves creating and sending invoices to customers for the goods or services they have purchased. This includes generating invoices, tracking payments, and following up on overdue invoices. We ensure that with our professional approach, you do not have to go through this particular problem.

Financial Reporting

This service involves analyzing a business’s financial data to make informed decisions. This includes creating budgets, forecasting future financial performance, and identifying areas for cost savings. We will ensure that we get you a financial report that is extremely easy to understand and does not encompass a lot of complications.

Inventory Management

For any business, the inventory is usually the company’s heart, which aids you in functioning properly. This service involves maintaining accurate records of a business’s inventory, including tracking stock levels, managing purchase orders, and monitoring inventory turnover. However, managing the e-commerce business inventory can be difficult, so we are here to assist you.

Budgeting

Budgeting in an e-commerce business refers to creating a financial plan for a specific period, such as a month or a year. This plan includes projected income and expenses and is used to guide the financial decisions of the business. This service involves reviewing a business’s financial records to ensure they are accurate and compliant with accounting standards and regulations. At Profitjets, we ensure that we can aid you with the complete budgeting-related needs of your business and that too conveniently.

Accounts Payable

Accounts payable in an e-commerce business refers to the money a business owes to its suppliers for goods or services received but not yet paid. At Profitjets, we will make it a point to ensure we can provide you with all the information you need to make the payments and stay updated. We also offer guidance to business owners on financial matters, such as business strategy, financial management, and risk management.

Cash Flow Projection

Finally, we will also aid you with the best cash flow projection. Cash flow projection is a financial forecasting tool that helps e-commerce businesses predict their future cash flow. It involves analyzing historical financial data and making assumptions about future events to estimate how much cash a business will have at a given point in time. It helps in identifying potential cash flow shortages and surpluses and planning accordingly. This can include estimating future revenue, expenses, and cash flow from investments and financing activities.

How Profitjets Bookkeeping Works

Step 1: We Give A Rate Quote

We discuss your e-commerce accounting requirements, and after sharing information about your business, our accounting professionals check your current books and accordingly give you a custom rate quote.

Step 2: We Offer Comprehensive Services

Once we start working on the company books of your e-commerce business, we connect all of your sales channels and accounts and bring them all on one platform. We ensure you do not have to worry about your business accounting going forward.

Step 3: We Handle Your Company’s Books

We keep your company books up to date all month long. We keep you updated on all your company financials that seem out of place and manage everything properly so that you can run your business operations smoothly.

Step 4: We Deliver Monthly Financial Reports

We deliver you monthly financial reports that include Profit & Loss statement, Balance Sheet, along with a Cash Flow statement so that you stay updated with the company financials accordingly.

Why Should You Hire Profitjets For Your E-commerce Accounting

Profitjets is a reputed ecommerce accounting service provider in the industry. Our expert accounting professionals manage the company’s financials with the right accounting and bookkeeping services. Hiring us to manage the e-commerce accounting of your business will help you manifold and allow you to stay up-to-date with respect to all financial transactions, accounts payable, accounts receivable, etc. Here are some of the most important reasons you should hire us for e-commerce accounting.

eCommerce Expertise

We have a team of expert qualified bookkeepers and accountants who specialize in managing the integrated needs of an e-commerce business. Our professionals are comfortable managing Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Walmart, Etsy, etc., and we offer the best assistance to help you run your operations smoothly.

Reliable, Process-Driven Accounting Services

We are known to be a team of professionally qualified accounting experts. We keep our job extremely simple so that you can also keep track of our way of accounting services. We set your company's books up by using proven processes so that we can offer the best solution to help you operate smoothly in the e-commerce industry and beat the market competition.

Proactive and Fast Response

Another good part about collaborating with the expert accountants of Profitjets is that we offer fast responses to all your business accounting needs. We provide you with accurate information so that you can also stay updated with everything. We have a dedicated team working for the business that provides you with a monthly report with updated books and financial forecasting.

Monthly Financial Analysis and Reporting

The best part about partnering with us is that you get a monthly analysis of your reports along with updated company books. You can stay updated with your business’s financial data better and make smarter business decisions to achieve your business goals.

Get in touch with Profitjets and discuss your e-commerce accounting requirements and we will offer you the most accurate and most advanced solutions. We will offer you every assistance so that you can run your e-commerce business in the most efficient way and reach all your business goals within the timeline. Contact us today to learn more about our e-commerce accounting and bookkeeping services.

FAQs on Accounting for Ecommerce companies

We try to remove the element of guesswork from eCommerce accounting. Our bookkeepers and accountants will reconcile your eCommerce settlements in the correct categories as industry specialists, giving you a clearer picture of your eCommerce sales and revenue.

We use some of the top e-commerce accounting software to meet your specific business needs and a better inventory management solution. 

Profitjets is a team of expert accounting and bookkeeping professionals. We offer comprehensive accounting services to e-commerce sellers on platforms like Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, etc. We provide you with accurate and updated books every month. We also provide you with expert analysis of your monthly statements for better visibility of your company’s financials.

We check your sales transactions, balance the company books and provide you with a monthly report where we showcase Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss Statements, and Cash Flow Statements. We also provide you with employee payroll reports, AP & AR management, running payroll, and paying invoices, along with specific product sales reports on Amazon, Shopify, eBay, etc.

Sales tax is a specialty service offered by expert accountants of Profitjets. If your company requires more complex sales tax filings, we use 3rd party software for efficient solutions.

The frequency of filing sales tax returns depends on various factors, such as sales volume, sales tax due, state, city, county, etc. You may consult the accountants at Profitjets to learn more.

We have expert accountants who are proficient in both accrual and cash basis accounting. Though, the majority of e-commerce businesses use the accrual-based bookkeeping system. However, we can use either cash or accrual accounting based on what you prefer.
We can work with your PayPal account and add all the transactions on PayPal by importing them into the accounting software. Here, the accounts reconciliation is done just like a regular bank account or a credit card account.
We work with Amazon sellers, and we have many clients who sell their products via Amazon. We can provide you with professional accounting and bookkeeping services for your e-commerce business.
We can integrate your financial transactions on eBay by integrating your PayPal account and reconciling all the incoming sales from that.
We integrate Shopify directly with the accounting software. We may use A2X to get more visibility into the sales data and the commission structure.
We integrate your sales transactions via A2X and make convenient and efficient bookkeeping for e-commerce businesses with better financial visibility.
A2X easily posts the e-commerce sales data and fees into Xero and offers clear summaries with reconciliation to the payments in your bank account. A2X offers better visibility into the performance of your e-commerce business.
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