How to Hire an Ecommerce Accountant for Your Business Success

In this guide, we will discuss:

1. Why ecommerce businesses require specialized accounting solutions
2. What are key signs it's time to hire an ecommerce accountant
3. Which roles different ecommerce professionals serve
4. How to pick an ecommerce accounting service
5. When selecting an ecommerce accountant, what you should consider
6. What are the top ecommerce accountants and ecommerce accounting firms you should check out

Everyone in the ecommerce industry knows (or should know) how critically D2C businesses need ecommerce-specific bookkeeping and accounting solutions to make it in this space. Because without solid financials and good visibility, it is really difficult to manage and grow your small business to scale.

As such, and without further ado, we have compiled this article, which includes the telltale signs it’s time to bring an accountant for your online business on board, sets out the importance and uniqueness of ecommerce accounting and bookkeeping, discusses which features brands should look for, and surveys the top ecommerce accounting services in the space today, to help you find the perfect accounting fit for your company.

When to Hire an eCommerce Accountant

Knowing when to hire an ecommerce accountant can be the difference between financial clarity and chaos.

As your business grows, so do the complexities of managing your finances, and there comes a point when handling your books on your own is no longer sustainable, due to:

Multiple sales channels

Expanding across multiple sales channels – such as Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon – is a great way to maximize potential, but also brings added financial complexity. Each platform processes transactions differently, with varying fee structures, payment timelines, and refund policies. Managing this variety requires detailed bookkeeping to ensure that every transaction is properly recorded and reconciled.

An accountant or bookkeeper specializing in ecommerce can streamline this process by consolidating data from your sales channels and ensuring accuracy in your financial reports. They’ll help you navigate platform-specific complexities while keeping your books balanced and up-to-date, giving you clear insights into the profitability of each channel and avoiding the risk of financial errors.

Selling in multiple tax jurisdictions

Selling in multiple tax jurisdictions introduces a new level of complexity to your ecommerce business. For example, if you’ve reached ecommerce sales tax thresholds in various states, you’re legally obligated to collect, remit, and report taxes in each location.

An experienced ecommerce accountant (generally a tax CPA) can take the guesswork out of tax compliance. They’ll analyze your sales data to determine where you have nexus, calculate the correct amounts to collect and remit, and ensure your filings are submitted on time.

Looking for funding

If you’re seeking ecommerce financing, your financials must be in top shape. Lenders and investors want to see clean, accurate financial records, including profit and loss statements and balance sheets. If you don’t have accurate financials, this can cause a deal to fall through, or, at the very least, lead to higher effective APR. Lenders may also expect your business to use accrual accounting, which provides a more accurate picture of performance than cash accounting.

An ecommerce accountant can ensure your financials meet these standards. They’ll prepare detailed reports showcasing the health of your business and provide insights into metrics like cash flow and profitability, and help you forecast future performance, often critical for securing loans or attracting investors.

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Having trouble with your accounting software

Accounting software can be a powerful tool, but set-up and use requires time and expertise. Many business owners struggle with initial configurations, understanding key features, and maintaining consistent entries, leading to frustration and inaccuracies.

An ecommerce accountant or bookkeeper can simplify this process by setting up your software correctly and tailoring it to your needs. They’ll train you on best practices ensuring the software integrates seamlessly with your sales channels and payment processors.

Struggling to get payouts to balance

One of the most common frustrations for brand owners is not being able to balance payouts. It’s easy to mistakenly record the total payout as revenue, even though it may include deductions for fees, refunds, and taxes. This can lead to discrepancies in your books, making it difficult to gauge true financial performance.

An accountant or bookkeeper can resolve these issues by reconciling payouts and categorizing them properly. By partnering with an ecommerce accountant, you’ll avoid the headaches of unbalanced payouts and gain precise understanding of your financial health.

Which finance professional am I looking for?‍

There are lots of misconceptions regarding which financial persona you need for your ecommerce business. We will provide insights here into what ecommerce accountants actually do.

CPA vs Accountant/Bookkeeper

The roles of an ecommerce CPA and an accountant for your online business might seem similar, but they possess distinct characteristics and levels of professional expertise.

A CPA (Certified Public Accountant) is a licensed professional who has passed the rigorous CPA Exams and meets state-specific licensing requirements. This certification allows them to provide a comprehensive range of high-level financial services, including:

• Audit
• Tax Planning
• Representation before tax authorities

In contrast, an ecommerce accountant or bookkeeper for your online business does not necessarily have the same certification or advisory capabilities as a CPA. Bookkeepers are financial data collectors. They are responsible for:

• Recording and categorizing financial transactions
• Reconciling accounts
• Ensuring that financial records are accurate and up-to-date

Traditional bookkeepers don’t necessarily have a degree in accounting/finance and aren’t necessarily full blown CPAs. On a daily basis, they focus on maintaining financial visibility like:

• Checking accounting inboxes
• Processing bills and invoices
• Categorizing transactions
• Updating cash flow.

On a weekly basis, they might take care of the following activity:

• Schedule and verify payments
• Update cash flow
• Track AP/AR
• Validate purchase orders, credit memos and attachments
• Review indirect costs
• Organize vendor expenses

Monthly tasks of ecommerce bookkeepers involve:

• Reconciliations for bank accounts, credit cards, clearing accounts, and payment processors.
• Posting income, COGS adjustments, pre-paid expenses and payroll
• Reviewing AP/AR and inventory valuations
• Saving month-end documents, including statements and reports, for client access

No Free Lunch

You, as a business owner, will need to be involved in the process.

You will need to review your bookkeeper’s work, as nobody knows your business as well as you do, and fractional bookkeepers, working with lots of companies, can (and will) make mistakes. 

As such, on a daily basis, you’ll:

• Send over bills, invoices, and credit memos
• Respond to questions from the bookkeeping staff
• Good practice is to flag anything unusual—big purchases, new banks, credit cards, or payment methods

On a weekly basis, you’ll need to:

• Review and update POs
• Review cash flow management
• Approve bills for payment

On a monthly basis, you’ll:

• Update POs, inventory counts
• Note lost, damaged, or returned inventory
• Provide the team with data, such as: SKUs/costs, inventory quantities, and inbound inventory data

Before meeting the team, it is worthwhile to review reports, come with questions, and follow up afterwards if anything looks off.

Why Hire an Ecommerce Accountant 

‍So, you need an accountant for your online business, but should you hire a generalist bookkeeping/accounting firm, or an ecommerce specific one?

Ecommerce businesses operate in a fast-paced and complex environment that presents unique financial challenges. General accounting expertise doesn’t address these challenges.

The distinctions between ecommerce accounting and traditional accounting systems lie in their core functionalities and adaptability to online business models. Traditional systems work well for brick-and-mortar businesses with straightforward revenue streams and predictable transactions. On the other hand, ecommerce accounting services are designed to seamlessly integrate with multiple sales channels like Shopify, Amazon, and eBay. They are also meant to help manage robust inventory, being on top of your cash flow constantly, understanding the seasonality of ecommerce (BFCM sales are obviously different from sales in April) and staying compliant with tax regulations across several jurisdictions. A set of challenges unfamiliar to bookkeepers and accountants who traditionally work with mostly non-ecommerce businesses.

By bridging the gap between ecommerce operations and financial management, ecommerce accounting services empower businesses to streamline workflows, gain actionable insights, and focus on scaling their operations without being bogged down by bookkeeping, making it an invaluable part of the stack for online businesses looking to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

Ecommerce accountants will be able to help with the following:

Navigate the ecommerce landscape

The ecommerce industry is complex, with high-volume transactions, diverse product lines and dynamic sales strategies. Managing fluctuating inventory across multiple SKUs, multi-channel sales and reconciling payments from various sales channels, managing your cash flow, understanding seasonality and staying compliant with tax regulations are just a few of the challenges ecommerce companies face. It really is tough. No kidding.

An accountant specializing in ecommerce understands the nuances of online sales, from platform fees to refund policies, and can implement systems that streamline your operations, giving you valuable insights into your business performance and how to avoid costly errors.

Embrace technology for financial efficiency

The digital-first nature of ecommerce requires a tech-savvy approach to financial management. From cloud-based accounting tools to integrations with sales platforms and payment processors, leveraging technology is key.

Ecommerce accountants are well-versed in the latest financial technologies and understand how to tailor them to the needs of online businesses. They can pull data from multiple sources, automate repetitive tasks, and create dashboards that provide valuable insights, empowering you to make informed decisions based on up-to-date financial information.

This ensures that sales data is automatically synced, reducing the risk of manual entry errors and saving significant time. Additionally, ecommerce accounting services often include capabilities such as real-time inventory updates, precise cost of goods sold (COGS) tracking, and customizable financial reporting.

‍The Right Process for Hiring an Ecommerce Accountant‍

Now we’ve established that you need an ecommerce bookkeeper, but finding the right one requires a structured approach to ensure they meet your business's unique needs.

Here’s what you should do:

1. Define your needs - Start by assessing your business’s size, financial complexity, and specific requirements. Use this to create a job description for potential accountants.
2. Set your budget - Determine how much you’re willing to invest in an accountant based on your business revenue and priorities.
3. Prepare questions - Ask candidates about their experience with ecommerce businesses like yours and the outcomes they achieved. Explore their familiarity with cloud-based tools, their communication methods, and how they track and report progress (check out key features you should look out for below).
4. Find an accountant - Search for accountants on platforms like LinkedIn, accounting directories, or through industry referrals (or take a look at our top five below). This ecommerce accountants guide is a good place to start. Moreover, freelancers may offer flexibility and affordability, while firms provide a team approach with specialized knowledge. Weigh the pros and cons to decide what fits best.

Key Features to Look for in Ecommerce Accounting Services

The best accounting services for ecommerce rely on advanced features that are vital for online businesses but often absent when it comes to traditional bookkeeping:

Inventory Accounting

Integrated inventory management streamlines financial reporting by connecting stock data with accounting records. This integration allows for accurate calculation of COGS, which is essential for understanding profitability.
It means you are getting detailed reports on inventory turnover, to identify best-performing products and optimizing your offering accordingly.

Another advantage of advanced inventory management is its ability to handle complex structures. For example, when inventory is composed of recipes, which may be procured from different suppliers. Proper ecommerce inventory accounting knows how to account for the entire recipe and assembly and build landed costs per SKU.

Additionally, Inventory management is a critical feature of an ecommerce accounting service. It ensures that stock levels are always accurate and up to date. This reduces the risk of overselling or stockouts, which can lead to dissatisfied customers and lost revenue.

Multi-channel sales integration

Ecommerce businesses often operate across multiple channels such as Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, and eBay. Other channel mixes combine wholesale and retail as well, resulting in what is called an “omnichannel” business. Multi-channel sales integration allows ecommerce accounting services to sync data into a centralized system, allowing brands to view all their transactions, refunds, and fees from various platforms in one dashboard.

Integration with multiple sales channels ensures consistent and accurate financial records.

For example, it can consolidate sales data across platforms while accounting for different payment gateways and their associated fees. Additionally, multi-channel integration supports inventory updates across platforms.

Real-time financial reporting

A powerful feature of ecommerce accounting using cutting-edge software is real-time financial reporting, providing brands instant access to their financial health. Unlike traditional methods that rely on periodic updates and manual reconciliation, real-time reporting ensures that all financial data is always up to date. This enables business owners to make informed decisions, whether planning a new marketing campaign, adjusting pricing, or investing in inventory.

The ability to generate detailed and customizable reports is another advantage of real-time financial reporting. Businesses can analyze KPIs such as revenue, profit margins, and inventory turnover. These insights identify trends, including seasonal spikes in demand, underperforming products, and money-losing promotions, allowing brands to adjust strategies accordingly.

Moreover, real-time cash flow tracking ensures that businesses can address liquidity issues before they become critical. Because nobody wants to get stuck taking that MCA.

Real-time reporting is particularly valuable in ecommerce, an environment where rapid decision-making can significantly impact success. For instance, businesses can monitor the performance of a flash sale or holiday promotion and adjust quickly to maximize profitability.

User-friendly interface

User-friendly interfaces ensure accounting software and services are accessible to those without financial backgrounds. With intuitive navigation, clean layouts, and helpful visualizations, user-friendly reports and dashboards make it easy for business owners to manage, read, analyze, and use their finances without feeling overwhelmed.

User-friendly services and tools also reduce errors. By guiding users through tasks, the UX ensures compliance and accuracy. Additionally, mobile-friendly reports allow brand operators to manage their finances on the go.

One of the hallmarks of a user-friendly interface is automation, as it minimizes manual inputs by automatically importing sales data, categorizing transactions, and generating reports.

For example, dashboards that display real-time data in a visually appealing format make it easier to understand financial performance at a glance. Step-by-step guides, tooltips, and tutorials further simplify the learning curve, enabling users to become proficient quickly.

Ultimately, a user-friendly design empowers ecommerce entrepreneurs to take control of their financial management without needing an accounting degree.

The Best Accounting Services for Ecommerce Sellers

In order to allow businesses in the ecommerce space to choose between the best possible alternatives, we compiled this list, which surveys some of the top ecommerce service providers in the space today, to help you find the perfect fit for your company.

1. Finaloop

Features:

• An ecommerce-dedicated inventory management solution built into accounting software
• A prebuilt, ecommerce-focused chart of accounts
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable management
• Automated transactions categorization
• Automated reconciliation
• Tax support

Pros:

• Seamless integrations with online store platforms like Shopify or Woocommerce and marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, etc
• Syncs real-time COGS to your P&L along with top notch inventory capabilities
• Connects sales channels and payment gateways to pull your data directly from the sources of truth
• Integrates with your apps, bank accounts, and credit cards for three-way reconciliation – orders to payouts to business bank accounts
• Accrual versus cash-basis flexibility
• A team of in-house bookkeepers
• Customer support 24/7

Cons:

• Not ideal for businesses outside the ecommerce space.

2. Pilot

Features:

• Bookkeeping service
• Additional add ons such as tax and CFO services (for additional charge)
• Uses third party integrations to automate some of the data collection process
• Third party (quickbooks online) chart of accounts

Pros:

• Pricing for starter plans (generally between $349 to $849)
• Offer additional tax services
• Offer CFO services
• Syncs sales using third-party (A2X) software
• Uses inventory/COGs based on user updates

Cons:

• Horizontal provider working with many industries, impairing its ability to focus specifically on ecommerce
• Don’t have an ecommerce specific chart of accounts (they generally use quickbooks)- which means it is not tailored towards ecommerce
• Financials are not timely, as they are based on third party integrations which generally have delays of several weeks
• Delays in COGS reporting—Pilot updates inventory in your financial statements every month based on data provided by the customer or from an IMS and updates COGS based on information shared by the customer. This does not allow customers to make real-time business decisions relating to COGS or inventory

3. LedgerGurus

Features:

• Recording transactions, reconciling sales transactions, calculating COGS, and reconciling bank accounts
• Offers additional services such as sales tax (either DIY, $250 per hour, or they fully handle your compliance with custom pricing- although they do not file or prepare income tax returns), inventory consulting, including integrating IMS tools, payroll support, AP/AR support, clean up of old records and one-time consultation setting up QBO or Xero + A2X
• Use third-party (A2X integration) to pull sales data

Pros:

• Specialize in ecommerce
• Have additional add-on services, such as tax and inventory consulting
• Have access to your sales data through third-party integrations

Cons:

• Financials are not timely, as they are based on third-party integrations, which generally have delays of several weeks, and they commit to providing financials by the 20th of the month
• Don’t have a proprietary inventory tool to calculate landed costs
• Don’t have a chart of accounts specialized for ecommerce

4. Acuity

Features:

• Acuity’s services range from bookkeeping, controllership, CFO services and tax services
• Acuity’s bookkeeping services include bookkeeping cleanup, payroll (including outsourcing to one of their partners), expense reporting, invoicing, collections and billpay
• Use third party (A2X integration) to pull sales data

Pros:

• Specialize in ecommerce (also provides services to SAAS, crypto and creative)
• Have additional add-on services, such as tax and inventory consulting
• Have access to your sales data through third-party integrations

Cons:

• Not cheap (controllership- $142 per hour, CFO- $275 per hour or $4000 per month for weekly insights. Bookkeeping pricing ranges based on each package)
• Financials are not timely, as they are based on third-party integrations, which generally have delays of several weeks
• Don’t have a proprietary inventory tool to calculate landed costs
• Don’t have a chart of accounts specialized for ecommerce

5. eComBalance

Features:

• EcomBalance focuses on ecommerce and caters to ecom brands with sales of between $200K and $30M
• Additional services that they provide are ecommerce (Amazon, Shopify, Ebay, etc.) specific product sales reports, employee payroll reports, AP & AR management, paying invoices and running payroll
• Use a third party (LinkMyBooks integration) to pull sales data
• Pricing - monthly fixed price (starting at $509 per month), with additional “catch up” fee

Pros:

• Specialize in ecommerce
• Have additional add-on services, like employee payroll reports and AP/AR management
• Have access to your sales data through third party integrations

Cons:

• They do not handle inventory or provide an inventory management service, rather, they will make inventory updates in your financial statements every month, quarter, or biyearly as the information is provided to them
• Do not have proprietary sales integration (they use LinkMyBooks)
• No accrual of expenses on other accounts
• Not timely- they provide your books by the 15th each month, so you won’t have access to real-time books

Finding the Best Accounting Services for Ecommerce

Choosing the right accounting service is a critical decision for ecommerce brands. With the unique complexities of managing multi-channel sales, fluctuating inventory, and managing cash flow, a one-size-fits-all solution often falls short. By using a service provider tailored to their specific needs, ecommerce businesses can streamline operations, gain accurate financial insights, and stay compliant. And ultimately, save money and grow smarter.

Among the options available, Finaloop stands out as a game-changer. Purpose-built for ecommerce brands, Finaloop's advantage lies in its seamless integrations with all relevant platforms, automated bookkeeping processes, and ecommerce-specific features like real-time reconciliation, and a 6-star service from a team of ecommerce financial experts - backed by cutting-edge technology. Finaloop serves as your accounting software, integration software and your ecommerce bookkeeper and accountant, providing you with a one-stop-shop which boosts efficiency and cost effectiveness.

For ecommerce entrepreneurs seeking a seamless and efficient way to manage their finances, Finaloop provides a uniquely tailored approach that prioritizes growth and operational excellence.