Accountant for e-commerce businesses: eight checks that tell you if your numbers can carry a decision
Accountant for e-commerce businesses whose money arrives as net marketplace payouts, whose stock sits across several locations, and whose VAT changes depending on which platform made the sale.
Most owners can tell you last month’s revenue. Far fewer can tell you what one unit earns once fees, returns, shipping and landed cost come off it. The checklist below is what your books need to look like before that number is worth acting on.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for owner-managed UK e-commerce businesses, run remotely from Chester by Gavin Jardine MIAB. It reconciles marketplace payouts, stock and platform VAT, then reports monthly on an agreed date. Fees are a monthly amount scoped to the work, and the handover from a current accountant is managed at no separate charge.
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
- IAB member (MIAB 292185)
- Anti-money-laundering supervised
- Established 2021
Three things you’d know before you reorder
Know which products earn after fees, returns and shipping
Every payout is broken back into sales, fees and refunds, so margin is measured on what actually landed in the bank.
Place the next stock order against a real number
Stock is valued at landed cost and matched to what sold, so the cash tied up on the shelf is visible before you commit more.
Raise prices on the lines that need it, not all of them
Reporting splits performance by channel and product, so a price move can be aimed rather than applied across the range.
The decisions e-commerce owners make on numbers that were never reconciled
Three that come up most often, and what each one cost.
- Price
“We put prices up across the whole range because the bank balance looked wrong. Half of those lines were already our best earners.”
The weak lines carried on losing money and two strong sellers lost volume. Margin had never been calculated after platform fees and returns.
- Purchase
“I ordered six months of stock on a supplier discount, then couldn’t pay the VAT bill that quarter.”
The discount was real, the cash was not. Nothing in the records showed what was already committed to stock against what was due to HMRC.
- Supplier
“We moved to a cheaper fulfilment partner and our shipping and returns costs quietly went up by more than we saved.”
It took nine months to notice. Shipping and returns sat in one lump with everything else, and cost per order was never tracked by channel.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The payouts are reconciled weekly, so the month-end figure is a fact rather than an estimate. You can see what each channel returns after fees and what the stock on the shelf is worth. A reorder decision takes an afternoon instead of a fortnight. When a platform VAT question comes up, the answer is already in the records.
Quick check · no email
If your accountant cannot tell you this week what a unit earns after marketplace fees, returns and shipping, and what your stock is worth today, you have the wrong accountant
Answer these three about the accountant you have now.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by this afternoon what one of your best sellers earns after platform fees and returns?
Could they show you today what your stock is worth at landed cost and how much cash is sitting in it?
Could they say which of your sales the platform accounts for the VAT on, and which you do, without going away to check?
Three noes means nobody is breaking the payouts back to sales, fees and refunds, so the margin you are trading on is a guess. The review is where we find out how far out it is.
That is a reasonable position, and the gap is usually stock valuation or fee treatment rather than the basics. A clean-up of exactly this kind is how £20,000 of goods supplied and never invoiced came to light.
Three yeses and you are well served, so stay where you are. The guide on the first ninety days is there if you want something to compare your routine against.
What changes when a payout is reconciled rather than just recorded
Both approaches file the accounts. Only one of them answers you in June.
A year-end accountant
Files accurate statutory accounts and the corporation tax return.
Works from the platform summaries you send once a year.
Values stock once, at the year-end date.
Tells you what happened, months after you decided it.
A finance function that answers this week
Breaks payouts into sales, fees, refunds and shipping as they land.
Carries stock at landed cost and matches it to what sold.
Questions the VAT treatment on each platform rather than assuming it.
Puts margin by product and channel in front of you monthly, on an agreed date.
Eight questions your e-commerce books should answer before you reorder
Answer these as your records stand today, not as they will be once someone catches up.
- 01
Does every marketplace payout break down into sales, fees, refunds and shipping?
If it lands as one net line, your revenue and your costs are both wrong, and so is every margin built on them.
- 02
Can you see gross sales by channel, separately from what the platform paid you?
Without the split, a channel taking fifteen percent looks identical to one taking five.
- 03
Is your stock valued at landed cost, including freight and duty?
Unit margin built on the supplier invoice alone flatters every product you import.
- 04
Do returns and refunds sit against the sale and the product they came from?
A line with a high return rate can outsell everything you have and still lose money.
- 05
Do you know which sales the platform accounts for VAT on, and which you account for yourself?
Getting that the wrong way round either overpays HMRC or builds a liability nobody has seen yet.
- 06
Does the cash in your bank reconcile back to the payouts every week?
Weekly reconciliation is what makes the month-end figure a fact rather than an estimate.
- 07
Can you tell today how much cash is tied up in stock on the shelf?
That number decides whether the next order goes now or waits a fortnight for takings to clear.
- 08
Do management accounts reach you on the same date each month?
Numbers that arrive six weeks late only describe a decision you have already made.
What we take on when the payouts stop making sense
The whole finance function, built so the margin question can be answered on the day.
Payouts reconciled to sales, fees and refunds
Each settlement is broken back to its parts and matched to the bank, so revenue and cost of sale are both real figures.
Stock carried at landed cost and matched to sales
You can see what is on the shelf, what it cost to get there and how much of your cash is standing in it.
Platform VAT treatment questioned, not assumed
Returns prepared from reconciled books, with the treatment of each channel checked rather than carried forward from last quarter.
Entry 01
What the first clean-up usually turns up in an e-commerce ledger
One entry from client work, anonymised by type.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
What clients say
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
What you can decide at each stage of the first ninety days
The dates are agreed at the start and reports arrive on them.
You know exactly what we are taking on
Scope agreed, due diligence and AML checks completed, and the records collected from your current accountant or bookkeeper at no separate charge.
You can see what a sale actually leaves you
Payouts broken back to sales, fees, refunds and shipping, banks reconciled, and stock and supplier balances that make sense.
Stock and cash decisions have a routine behind them
Weekly reconciliation, supplier bills, credit control and VAT treatment all run to a timetable, with the duplicate manual work taken out.
A reorder or a price move takes an afternoon
Monthly management information on margin by product and channel, cash, debtors and creditors, delivered on the same date each month.
Who this does not suit, and why we would rather say so now
We do not take on cash businesses.
We do not take on construction work that depends on CIS.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, from falsified VAT records, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they actually need.
If none of that rules you out, the review is where we both find out whether the fit is right.
Questions owners ask before they get in touch
Is the Finance Function Gap Review just a sales call?
No. It is a sixty minute review of how your finance actually runs: bookkeeping and reporting workflow, debtor and creditor visibility, payroll, systems, and the top five priorities we would act on. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead, and you keep the findings either way.
We already have an accountant for our e-commerce business. Is it worth talking?
Usually yes, because most owners who call us already have an accountant. The gap is rarely the year-end filing. It is that nobody reconciles marketplace payouts, values stock at landed cost, or tells you which channel earns money while you can still change what you order.
What happens with our current accountant if we switch?
Ardein manages the handover and there is no separate charge for it. We write for professional clearance, collect the records, agree a responsibility map and set a transition plan around your year end. You do not have to run the conversation with your existing accountant or bookkeeper yourself.
Do we have to commit to a long contract?
No. The engagement is a monthly arrangement scoped to the work once we have seen the records and understood how the business runs. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so we only take on what we can be properly involved in, and you can end the arrangement if it is not working.
What does an accountant for e-commerce businesses do differently with payouts, stock and VAT?
Marketplace settlements arrive net, so we split each one back into sales, platform fees, refunds and shipping. Stock is carried at landed cost including freight and duty, and matched to what sold. The VAT position on each platform is checked rather than assumed, because who accounts for it varies by channel.
How are your fees worked out?
There is a monthly fee scoped to the work, agreed after we have seen the records rather than quoted blind from a website. The review itself carries a fixed fee, credited in full against onboarding. The handover from your current accountant or bookkeeper is not charged for separately.
Three ways to take the next step
Start with the review
You get the five things we would fix first and an indicative monthly structure, and you decide from there.
See what you’d be told 02 · A question firstGot a question about payouts, stock or platform VAT?
Send it to Gavin and you will get a straight answer rather than a brochure.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The guide on the first ninety days sets out what changes each month and what we need from you.
Read the guides →