What Do You Need From Your Ecommerce Accountant?

Updated 11 October 2026

By Richie Lennon

An ecommerce accountant should understand how sales reach the bank, where your stock sits, which VAT obligations apply and what you keep after delivery and selling costs. Agree the bookkeeping, reporting and specialist work in writing. Connected apps are useful, but the test is whether the figures reconcile and help you make decisions about price, stock and cash.

If your accountant can confirm that Shopify and Xero are connected but cannot explain the difference between sales and the payout, the reporting job is unfinished.

The same applies when you move stock abroad. The warehouse quote shows pick rates and shipping times. It may not show the extra tax registrations and work the decision creates. Ask before signing, not after the goods have moved.

Those are practical tests for ecommerce accounting. Start with how the business operates, then agree the work needed to account for it.

Why Ecommerce Businesses Need Specialised Accounting Support

Shopify, Amazon and other channels can each produce sales, refunds, taxes, fees and settlement records. Payment processors add another layer. The bank receipt is the result of that activity, not a substitute for the detail.

Your accountant needs to understand the actual channels and payment routes you use. A single sale does not necessarily incur every fee charged by every platform. Build the process around your transactions rather than a generic ecommerce diagram.

Agree how reports are obtained, which tool imports them and who checks that the sales, tax, deductions and unpaid settlements reconcile. Exceptions still need a person to resolve them.

Key Services Every Ecommerce Accountant Should Provide

The appropriate service depends on the complexity and the scope you buy. Use these questions to establish it:

A daily sales dashboard and checked monthly accounts have different purposes. Both can be useful. Do not mistake continuously imported data for a completed accounting close.

Multi-Channel Payment Reconciliation

The first check is that the channel report explains the amount paid into the bank.

Here is a simplified illustration. All sales use an assumed 23% VAT rate, with no refunds, currency differences or other deductions:

The payout is €12,300 less €300. Treating the €12,000 bank receipt as sales excluding VAT overstates that revenue by €2,000 and hides the fee. The VAT still needs to be accounted for.

Actual settlements can include refunds, reserves and timing differences. Ask for the bridge that fits your reports. Our Shopify accounting guide covers the detailed workflow; do not assume the bank feed does it automatically.

Comprehensive VAT Management

Map where the goods are held, where they travel and who buys them. Your company address is only part of the answer.

Revenue’s Union OSS scheme can simplify reporting for qualifying cross-border consumer supplies. It does not mean every sale or every obligation is covered by one Irish return. Overseas stock and domestic sales in the warehouse country need their own assessment.

Marketplaces are deemed suppliers in defined circumstances, not for every cross-border transaction. Confirm who accounts for VAT on each route instead of assuming that Amazon or another platform has handled everything.

Before opening a new warehouse or market, agree the registrations, filing responsibilities, lead time and ongoing cost. If another adviser handles local filings, establish how their figures connect with your Irish records.

Accurate Inventory and COGS Management

Cost of goods sold is the cost of the stock sold in the period. Buying stock uses cash before all of that cost necessarily reaches the profit and loss account.

Ask how quantities, purchases, sales, returns and write-offs are checked. Where several fulfilment providers are involved, the records need to establish ownership and location as well as the count.

Stock sitting in a warehouse is not the same as cash available to pay wages. A useful report should explain slow-moving items, replenishment commitments and the money tied up in inventory.

An annual stock adjustment may meet part of the year-end job. It is not a substitute for the regular information you need to order and price products. Agree that reporting separately where required.

Recommended Software For Smart Ecommerce Accounting

We use Xero as our core accounting platform. The connections around it should fit the channels, VAT complexity, transaction volume and number of stores.

A2X and Dext’s ecommerce tools are options to assess for more complex sales-data workflows. Test the supported channels, countries, currencies and tax mapping against your setup. Neither removes the need to review the treatment and reconcile the output.

Receipt and purchase-invoice capture is a different job from importing ecommerce sales and settlements. The old description of Dext Commerce as simply receipt processing missed that distinction.

Do not add apps solely because they appear on a recommended stack. Start with the gap, test a representative settlement and define who maintains the connection. Our software selection guide covers the wider platform decision.

Profitability Insights: Going Beyond Basic Books

Revenue and advertising return can look healthy while the contribution is thin. Compare like with like and state which costs are included.

Extend the €10,000 sales figure above, with illustrative costs excluding recoverable VAT:

Gross margin is 55%; contribution is 20%. On the same €10,000 revenue basis, €2,000 of advertising gives a 5x revenue-to-ad-spend ratio. That does not mean the business earned €8,000 of profit.

This is an illustration, not a client case or benchmark. Actual advertising reports may use different revenue definitions. Align VAT, refunds, attribution and the reporting period before comparing them with the accounts.

For customer acquisition, decide which acquisition costs are included and divide by the relevant new customers. For lifetime value, use a clearly defined estimate of future contribution rather than treating lifetime revenue as profit. Forecasts of repeat purchases need evidence and should be revisited.

Working Capital and Growth Planning

Stock orders, settlement delays, returns and tax payments can consume cash before growth produces it. Model their timing before raising advertising spend or expanding a range.

Our cash-flow forecast guide shows why the payment date matters. Ask what happens if a settlement is delayed, the stock sells more slowly or the supplier needs payment earlier.

Our Ecommerce Growth Guide covers the wider operating questions.

Tax planning belongs in the same conversation, before the transaction. Specialist reliefs and international structures need an assessment and agreed scope. They are not automatic benefits of running an online store.

When It’s Time To Switch To An Ecommerce Specialist Accountant

First check what you agreed. Missing monthly reports could mean a delivery problem, or that the engagement only covers annual work. Those need different responses.

Ask your current accountant to explain the settlement bridge, stock process and VAT responsibilities. If those answers are unclear, establish what would fix them and what it costs.

For a change, agree the cut-off, open returns, historic cleanup and system access before transferring the work. No firm can responsibly guarantee an immediate improvement without seeing the records.

Choosing The Right Ecommerce Accounting Partner

Ask for relevant experience and a clear process, not a promise to remove every manual task. Discuss who prepares and checks the records, which reports you receive and how specialist issues are handled.

Around Finance’s ecommerce accounting page explains the sector context. Our outsourced accounting service starts with the work your business needs. If you run an Irish ecommerce business turning over €250,000 or more, book a Finance Fit Call to discuss the arrangement.

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