Shopify sellers
Get your books handled by Shopify bookkeepers who will understand your business and the nuances of selling through Shopify.
6 Figure Brand
7 Figure Brand
8 Figure Brand
That’s why you need a Shopify bookkeeping service that understands how selling through Shopify works. Accounting for platform fees, sales tax, and revenue is critical to knowing your numbers and growing your Shopify sales. We handle it all for you.
Our Shopify bookkeeping services are top notch! All of our Shopify bookkeepers in-house have years of experience handling finances for eCommerce stores.
We're process people that like to keep things simple. We'll set your Shopify bookkeeping up so that they are powered by proven processes.
Work with a dedicated team of Shopify bookkeepers that provide fast communication and proactive insights into improving your financials.
We work hard to be proactive for you and your Shopify bookkeeping. We want to create a long term relationship where you know your books are in good hands.
Shopify bookkeeping boils down to tracking four key elements: sales, expenses, inventory, and taxes.
Sales
Expenses
Inventory
Taxes
Managing Shopify Payments and Fees
Shopify Payments is an all-in-one payment processing service. If you opt to use it, you can avoid third-party transaction fees, but Shopify Payments has its own fees:
Shopify charges a transaction fee for using third-party payment gateways on top of the fees charged by the gateway itself.
When you accept payments in a currency different from your payout currency, Shopify will charge a conversion fee in addition to the regular transaction fee.
Recording Fees
Use accounting software to record all your Shopify charges in a dedicated expense category. Separate entries by fee type and capture the transaction date and amount for each one.
Impact on Your Business
Choose the Shopify plan that fits your sales volume and minimizes transaction fees. Factor Shopify fees into your product pricing calculations. Weigh the pros and cons of offering various payment methods.
Handling Sales and Discounts
Track the details of every promotion you run. Include the name, active dates, the type and discount offered, and the products or collections included.
Track all associated costs, too, like marketing and advertising, and creating promotional materials. If you’re offering free shipping for promotional sales, track that cost compared to regular shipping rates.
Use your accounting software to track sales data throughout the promotional period. Use tags to distinguish discounted from regular sales. Make sure you record the discounted amounts as your sales revenue, not the regular product price.
Impact on Revenue Tracking and Profitability Analysis
Even for discounted items, you must record the full cost of goods sold (COGS). This gives you an accurate calculation of your profit margin. Then, when the promotion ends, you can generate campaign performance reports using your accounting software.
Compare your total sales revenue with the COGS and promotional costs. This is how you assess the campaign’s effectiveness.
Shopify and Sales Tax Compliance
You must, by law, collect sales tax in any state where you have “nexus.” This means you either have a physical presence, like a storefront or warehouse, or exceed a sales threshold within the state.
Sales tax rates are different depending on your location and each customer’s location. You can pay state, county, and city or district-specific taxes. The good news is that Shopify automatically calculates all these rates for you.
Your part is to choose to collect sales tax and choose which states you have nexus in. You can find these settings in your Shopify admin panel. Then, you remit the collected sales tax to the appropriate tax authorities.
Always check Shopify’s calculations to make sure you have the correct amounts. Pay attention to which states and when you need to pay, too.
Choose your accounting software based on the features it offers. Prioritize seamless integration with Shopify, automatic sales data import, easy expense tracking, inventory management, and customizable reporting.
Prepare your chart of accounts. You need a consistent way of categorizing all the details of your income and expense transactions. Set up an inventory management system to keep tracking and valuation consistent, too.
Connect your accounting software to your Shopify store and automate as much as you can. This includes automatic data imports, recurring transactions for predictable expenses, transaction import and categorization, and inventory data transfer.
Create a schedule for recording and reconciling transactions, ideally, every day. You can reconcile bank statements monthly if your sales volume isn’t too high.
Daily Bookkeeping Tasks for Shopify Sellers
Sales Recording
Expense Tracking
Inventory Management
Monthly Reconciliation and Reporting
Reconciliation
Reporting
Using Shopify Analytics for Better Financial Insight
Export sales data, customer data, and more from Shopify and import it into your accounting software. Use this to reconcile your bank statements and identify trends in sales, expenses, and profitability.
Customize your Shopify analytics dashboards to focus on selected metrics based on your business goals.
Forecasting and Financial Planning
Financial forecasts help you set achievable sales, revenue, and profit goals so you have a roadmap for business growth. This way, you can anticipate future needs and plan to secure resources in advance.
Financial forecasts also highlight potential changes in market trends, customer behavior, or competitor activity. Then, you can adapt to stay ahead of the curve.
Accurate and well-presented financial forecasts increase inventors’ confidence in the viability and potential of your business. Financial institutions also look at financial forecasts before considering loan applications.
Benefits of Outsourcing Shopify Bookkeeping
Outsourcing can free up valuable time so you don’t have to give up core activities because you’re overwhelmed by bookkeeping tasks. It can also bring in needed specialized knowledge as your business grows and becomes increasingly more complex.
Dealing with tax filings and regulations can be a significant burden. Outsourcing to a bookkeeper with ecommerce experience removes this stress while ensuring timely and accurate tax submissions.
How to Choose the Right Bookkeeping Service
1. Services
Look for bookkeeping services that are experienced with Shopify store accounting specifically. They need to understand the nuances of ecommerce bookkeeping to do it right.
Ask potential partners about their comfort level in dealing with ecommerce tax regulations. This is crucial because of all the various jurisdictions, international trade requirements, and tax implications for digital products and subscriptions. An experienced service will know how to deal with complex sales tax laws.
If the service is familiar with the software you prefer, that’s a big advantage. If they can do tax filing for you too, that’s great. However, focus on core needs, like proper transaction recording, reconciling, and expense categorization.
If you want other services like financial reporting and analysis, ask them. Additional features like payroll processing, inventory management assistance, and budgeting consultation usually entail additional fees.
2. Availability
Make sure the service you choose offers convenient ways to reach them and evaluate their responsiveness during a trial run. You can look into having a dedicated account manager if you want greater access to the bookkeepers handling your account.
3. Pricing
Choose a pricing model that suits you, whether that’s a flat monthly fee, hourly rates, or tiered packages based on transaction volume. Make sure the provider gives you clear pricing with no hidden fees.
Starts at $399/month
We get all of your Shopify sales, fees, and other transactions integrated into Quickbooks Online or Xero using Link My Books so that it's plug and play, no matter where your current books are at.
By the 15th of every month, we'll send your Shopify Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement so you can make smart decisions while growing your Shopify store.
One time upfront cost
We can help you get your Shopify bookkeeping up to date for an amazing price. Get in touch with us and we'll provide you a custom quote for our Clean Up and Catch Up service. Once they're up to date, we'll take over from there and keep them perfect for you!
Want a Shopify bookkeeping service that fully understands your Shopify store? We’re here for you!
You wouldn’t have someone that doesn’t know about eCommerce create your product listings, would you? So, shouldn’t your bookkeeper know Shopify and eCommerce as well?
We provide you with a detailed Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statement by the 14th of every month.
We prepare all of your monthly reports so that they are 100% tax compliant and ready for year end taxes.
Planning to sell? Or just want strategic financial advice? Work directly with our Shopify bookkeepers for monthly advice.
Behind on your Shopify bookkeeping? No worries! We'll get you caught up in no time for a reasonable price.
We keep your inventory records up to date multiple times throughout the year so you can see how much you have in inventory.
We understand selling on Shopify -- and how to properly classify their fees so you know your numbers accurately.
We work with you to understand the sales tax obligations you have selling in different states and countries through Shopify.
Have other Shopify bookkeeping service needs? Sign up and set up a call to chat with us about your unique needs.
The sole idea of bookkeeping is to streamline your finances so you can make better decisions for your business.
Our experienced bookkeepers understand the nuances of Shopify bookkeeping and can drive results with a tailored approach. Here’s how:
We seamlessly sync your sales, payouts, refunds, and transaction fees into accounting software.
We categorize your revenue, discounts, taxes, shipping income, and cost information for detailed financial insights.
Our bookkeepers accurately track inventory levels, cost of goods sold (COGS), and stock adjustments for better profit tracking.
Our tailored financial reports highlight key metrics important for your business to give you that extra push to grow.
Regular and detailed reports like P&L statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for data-driven decision-making.
We treat your business as if it were our own.
Get in touch
Still have questions? Schedule a call with one of our founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, to learn more about EcomBalance and how it can help your Amazon business.
First and foremost, we’re eCommerce bookkeeping experts. We cater to eCommerce businesses specifically selling on Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, Etsy, Walmart, etc. Second, we truly care about the success of our customers and we go above and beyond to develop strong relationships with all of our customers. No customer is just a number with us. From the start, we invest the time to get to know your eCommerce business so we can handle your books properly. Then we ensure you have a strong relationship with your eCommerce Bookkeeping team and can reach them at any time with questions and concerns. Finally, we look to be proactive finding opportunities for our customers to save on expenses, capitalize on market opportunities, and grow as smart as possible. We’re all about the customer experience and work tirelessly to make sure our customers are happy with us as their bookkeeping partner.
We offer one service. On-time, accurate monthly bookkeeping with great customer service. We charge you on the 1st and books on the 15th of each month. We do not offer additional services such as tax, sales tax, CFO services, AR/AP, etc.
You can grab a sample of what you get each month here.
For eCommerce businesses, sales and COGS are reported on an accrual basis. Link My Books (the tool we use to connect with eCommerce marketplaces and processors) imports all sales and COGS data under accrual basis accounting.
We don’t offer a service to accrue expenses and other accounts since that would cost significantly more time and money (and is unnecessary for most businesses).
If you are not an eCommerce business, our sister company AccountsBalance does bookkeeping on a cash basis.
We require the following for getting started:
We give all new clients a free month of bookkeeping. We will do your first month free, but if your business requires Catch Up or Clean Up work, we will include that in the upfront cost. We’ll make this clear upfront when we provide you with your custom pricing quote.
The best bookkeeping format for any Shopify seller depends on the size of the operation, as accounting complexity and tools differ.
Cash accounting works well for small stores. It’s simpler and records transactions only when money is received or paid.
Accrual accounting is better for medium or large stores as it tracks income and expenses as they are incurred, providing a clear picture of profit and cash flow.
You can also import all your datasets into an accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero and let the software take care of your record keeping.
The answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no.
For a small business, a person with expertise in both can handle daily transaction recording and help with tax season.
However, Shopify sellers often have to deal with high transaction volumes, multi-currency sales, platform fees, and compliance with taxes from various countries. This can make recording and accounting more complex than in traditional business.
Keep in mind that as your business grows or becomes more complex, separating these roles can provide better focus and accuracy.
To choose the best bookkeeping service for your Shopify store:
The decision entirely depends on the size and complexity of your store.
Hiring a full-time bookkeeper is ideal for large stores with high transaction volumes, multiple sales channels, or complex financial needs requiring daily management.
Opting for part-time service is best for small to medium-sized stores or those with streamlined operations.
Outsourcing to a part-time bookkeeper can save costs while ensuring professional management of your finances.
Free resource
Get a look at what you'll get working with EcomBalance. A sample monthly financial report for an eCommerce business -- income statement, balance sheet, & cash flow statement.
Shopify is one of the best eCommerce platforms to create your own brand and sell products, but it also comes with some challenges. Here's how we help solve them:
Dealing with numerous transactions daily, such as sales, refunds, fees, and taxes, can be a bit overwhelming. Bookkeeping integrates with Shopify and payment gateways to automate these transactions while categorizing them accordingly.
As Shopify gives you an international customer base, you might face issues with currency conversions due to fluctuating exchange rates and fees. With bookkeeping, you can track sales based on different currencies and accounts, which will help you evaluate exchange rate profits and losses.
You might experience delayed payouts from Shopify or seasonal fluctuations in sales, which can affect your cash flow. Hiring a bookkeeper can prevent this, as they can provide cash flow forecasts based on historical data and seasonal trends so you can strategize accordingly.
Shopify imposes fees for its services, and when refunds or chargebacks occur, recording them might become difficult. Bookkeepers ensure that these are accurately recorded, including their associated fees.
While Shopify has an in-house payment gateway, there are other third-party processors, like PayPal or Stripe. You might also need to make manual bank deposits for POS sales. All these can create challenges in reconciliation. Bookkeeping uses reconciliation software or conducts manual checks to align these payment gateways.
As an entrepreneur, you might oversee profitability by product, customer acquisition cost, or operational efficiency. Hiring a bookkeeper provides detailed financial reports such as P&L statements or balance sheets and advanced metrics like revenue per product, customer lifetime value, and advertising ROI.
You’ll get our Ecommerce Bookkeeping Guide, The 10 Ecommerce Bookkeeping Mistakes Ebook, our Monthly Finance Meeting Agenda, & a few surprises!
