Bookkeeping
The ultimate guide to bookkeeping for e-commerce
A practical guide to e-commerce bookkeeping in Australia: choosing a system, cash vs accruals, expense categories, COGS and the KPIs worth tracking.
E-commerce bookkeeping
E-commerce bookkeeping, from payout to ledger.
Selling online changes what the books have to capture. Here is what makes e-commerce bookkeeping different, and the guides on the Visory blog that take each part further.
What makes it different
Six things an online store’s books have to get right.
The principles are the same as for any business. The volume, the number of channels and the gap between a sale and the cash arriving are not.
Sales from several channels
Your own store, a marketplace or two and perhaps a shop counter each report sales their own way and pay out on their own schedule. The books record each channel’s sales in full, then match every payout in the bank back to the orders it covers.
Platform and payment fees
Marketplaces and payment processors usually take their fees before they pay you, so a deposit is smaller than the sales behind it. Recording the full sale and the fee separately, rather than the net deposit as income, keeps your revenue and your margins visible.
Refunds, returns and chargebacks
A refund on returned goods cancels a sale. For a GST-registered business it is an adjustment event, which generally means a decreasing GST adjustment on the activity statement (ATO: when to make adjustments). Chargebacks need the same tracking, along with any dispute fee the processor charges.
More than one currency
Sales in other currencies, overseas suppliers and marketplace balances held offshore all have to be translated into Australian dollars for tax purposes (ATO: translation rules). The movement in the rate between the sale and the payout is recorded as a foreign exchange gain or loss.
Stock and the cost of goods sold
Profit is sales less what the goods sold cost you, so stock is tracked as it is bought, sold, returned and written off. For tax, if the value of your trading stock changes by more than $5,000 over the income year, you do a stocktake and account for the change (ATO: general trading stock rules).
GST on sales and on imports
You must register for GST once your GST turnover reaches $75,000 (ATO: registering for GST). GST is also payable on most goods imported into Australia; a registered business may be able to claim it as a GST credit, and eligible importers can defer it to their activity statement (ATO: GST and imported goods).
General information for Australian businesses, not financial advice.
Guides and articles
E-commerce bookkeeping on the Visory blog.
Longer reads on the books, the numbers and the tax side of selling online.
-
-
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping guide for ecommerce: what you need to know
How to set up and run the books for an online store in Australia: GST, bank accounts, merchant fees, payment gateways, inventory and COGS.
-
Bookkeeping
How to manage your accounting as an e-commerce business
E-commerce accounting basics for Australian online sellers: cost of goods sold, cash flow versus profit, GST and planning for tax.
-
Reporting and insights
10 key financial metrics and KPIs for ecommerce business owners
Ten financial and website metrics every ecommerce owner should track, with simple formulas and worked examples for each.
-
Bookkeeping
How a bookkeeping service can help your retail business
Bookkeeping for retail business involves keeping a record of all your daily financial transactions within an organised accounting system.
Get started
The best is ahead for your business.
Start with a discovery call. We will listen first, then show you what your own numbers have been trying to tell you.