Important and Guide About How to Start Bookkeeping for Amazon Seller
If you run an Amazon store, you鈥檙e in good company鈥攅very year, more than a million new ecommerce sellers join the Amazon marketplace. As the world鈥檚 largest online retailer, many people start new businesses on Amazon because of how simple the process can be.
But while Amazon does most of the work for order fulfillment, you still need to manage operations, and that includes your financials. After all, when you鈥檙e disconnected from your finances, you鈥檙e less likely to know if your business is healthy and sustainable鈥攁nd poor cash flow is one of the top reasons small businesses fail.
聽Why does bookkeeping matter for Amazon sellers?
As a business owner and amazon seller you know how much important to keep up with number.If you let your inventory get too low or price of your products high you will defintely loose the valuable sales.
Bookkeeping is just the best way to keep track of the numbers that matter most for your business鈥檚 financial health. How much did you spend on new inventory? How much money did you make from customers? How much money are you paying to Amazon? Bookkeeping can help you get a handle on some of your most important business questions.
Bookkeeping and accounting help you record, organize, and understand what鈥檚 going on in your business. While there are many ways to keep track of this information, jotting it down in a spreadsheet doesn鈥檛 cut it for long. Instead, you need a uniform method of tracking financial transactions so that you can monitor how your business is doing over time.
There are many reasons you need good bookkeeping, but here are a few:
路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You need to know your net profit. You find the net profit by taking your total sales income and subtracting the money you spent to make those sales like shipping, storage, and purchase fees
路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You need it at tax time. You can鈥檛 file your taxes without knowing how much you鈥檝e made, how much you鈥檝e spent, and your net profit.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You can monitor the financial health of your business. How much money have you made this month? How much did you spend last month? How much is shipping costing you? Is your business healthy? Bookkeeping is the best way to know.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You can find tax deductions. Want to pay less in taxes? Find deductions. Tax deductions are business-related expenses you鈥檝e made over the year that you can subtract from your tax bill. There are many tax deductions specific to ecommerce, but you can鈥檛 use them if you don鈥檛 organize your expenses.
聽路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You can borrow money. If you want to borrow money, you鈥檒l need to prove you鈥檙e a good risk. The financial statements created through bookkeeping can help you show potential investors that their money is in good hands.
路聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You can avoid expensive mistakes. You鈥檒l never know how much money you鈥檝e lost making accidental mistakes if you never update your books. Updated books can help you keep costly mistakes under control.
Nobody cares more about how much money is going in and out of your business than you鈥攚ell, you and the IRS.
Bookkeeping is a simple way to keep tabs on your money in a way that keeps both parties happy.
Make sure your accounting method works for your business
For Amazon sellers, cash basis accounting can be particularly misleading. Since Amazon pays every two weeks, some months will look hugely profitable, but those profits aren鈥檛 always a true reflection of that month鈥檚 sales. On the other hand, when you spend a lot of cash in one month to restock your merchandise, that month will look like a disaster.
Perhaps most importantly, if you decide to sell your Amazon business someday, you鈥檒l need to be able to show a complete picture of the business鈥檚 financial health. It鈥檚 harder to prove your ongoing profitability when you use cash accounting since the monthly numbers can vary so widely.
Accrual basis accounting:
Unlike the cash method, accrual accounting records revenue and expenses when they鈥檙e earned, not when they鈥檙e paid. This offers a more realistic idea of income and expenses over time, leveling out the sometimes unpredictable swings of cash accounting.
Businesses with inventory are almost always required to use accrual accounting (though there are exceptions). If you make a sale at the end of one month but your customer鈥檚 payment doesn鈥檛 clear until the beginning of the next, accrual accounting will pair those transactions to offer a more accurate and reliable picture of your monthly sales.
Make sure you comply with sales tax requirements:
When you sell in multiple states, you need to account for different sales tax requirements as well. While accounting software can help you keep sales tax up to date in your books, knowing which documents each state will require at tax time is beyond the scope of a spreadsheet. You鈥檒l need to know the basics of sales tax liability in every state where you do business.
You may reside in one state but have sales tax nexus in another, which means you鈥檒l need to register for a sales tax permit in that state and collect sales tax from buyers in that state.
Getting started with bookkeeping for Amazon sellers
If you鈥檙e just getting started with bookkeeping for your Amazon business, here are the steps you鈥檒l need to take.
Step 1: Purchase the right accounting software
Step 2: Find the best add-ons
Add-ons like A2X, for example, simplify the bookkeeping process by connecting to your Amazon Seller Central account. It automatically tracks your Amazon settlements and imports a data summary into your bookkeeping software on your behalf. A2X even works if you sell on another platform, like Shopify.
Step 3: Create your chart of accounts
Step 4: Prepare to track Cost of Goods Sold
Step 5: Start recording entries
Step 6: Figure out your storage
At tax time, you鈥檒l need to prove your expenses are valid, so figuring out the proper storage for all of your financial records will be crucial.
Step 7: Outsource when you鈥檙e ready
As time goes on, your business will hopefully continue to grow, and while profits may expand, your time won鈥檛. If it starts to feel like your time and effort could be better spent on business activities more profitable than your weekly bookkeeping tasks, it鈥檚 time to outsource.
If and when you choose to outsource, you can hire a bookkeeper, an accountant, or a CPA to keep track of the numbers on your behalf. While bookkeepers and accountants sometimes do the same work, they have different skillsets and levels of expertise. A CPA, or certified professional accountant, will charge considerably more than a bookkeeper to do your books. Be sure to find the level of help you need for the current state of your business.
As a successful small business owner, you can鈥檛 do everything. If bookkeeping isn鈥檛 the best use of your time, let someone handle it for you. Bookkeeping services are even tax-deductible, making them an excellent business decision.
How Bookkeeping4Amazonseller can help with Amazon seller bookkeeping
While it鈥檚 fun to watch Amazon sales increase as your ecommerce business grows, managing your books takes time鈥攖ime that you may not have.
At Bookkeeping4Amazonseller, our bookkeeping team keeps track of the numbers for you, saving you time and a whole lot of uncertainty.
If you need a bit more support, our extended financial services include unlimited tax advisory services and tax strategy planning. We鈥檒l even file your taxes for you!
Building your business has its challenges, but you don鈥檛 have to give up valuable time and energy to focus on QuickBooks or Excel sheets. Instead, you can worry about the parts of your business that need you the most. We鈥檙e here to help with the rest. Bench: we鈥檙e ecommerce accounting made super simple.
What's Bookkeeping4Amazonseller?
We're an online bookkeeping service powered by real humans. Bookkeeping4Amazonseller gives you a dedicated bookkeeper supported by a team of knowledgeable small business experts. We鈥檙e here to take the guesswork out of running your own business鈥攆or good. Your bookkeeping team imports bank statements, categorizes transactions, and prepares financial statements every month. Get started with a free month of bookkeeping.