Future of Shopify Accounting Launches in New Zealand: Introducing A2X for Shopify
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A2X is an innovative plugin that connects Amazon Seller Central to cloud-based accounting systems such as Xero
and QuickBooks Online.
Over the past 4 years, we have helped thousands of sellers and hundreds of leading eCommerce accountants to
simplify their Amazon accounting.
We have just launched A2X for Shopify, which is poised to help the rapidly growing market of 700,000+ Shopify store owners and sellers to keep on top of
their finances.
Prior to A2X’s inception in 2014, the process of accurately accounting for sales on Amazon was a difficult task at the
best of times. We realized this, and pioneered a new method of recording and reconciling transactions with information
in the accounting system: settlement accounting.
What is settlement accounting and what does A2X do?
When a merchant sells something on Amazon, the platform processes the transaction, arranges for delivery and looks after
some elements of customer service. Once every fortnight, Amazon pays out any sales income minus fees, refunds and
adjustments to sellers. These periodic payments are known as settlements.
Many Amazon sellers simply record the settlement income received as gross revenue in their accounting systems. However,
this only tells part of the story and results in a very inaccurate set of accounts. Not only that, but it means that if
Amazon charges an incorrect amount or increases their fees, sellers aren’t likely to notice.
How does A2X work?
When Amazon processes a settlement payment, they also upload a settlement file to Seller Central (note: Seller Central
is the backend platform that merchants use to sell products on Amazon). This file contains a detailed breakdown of all
the transactions that make up the settlement - such as sales, fees, refunds and adjustments.
As soon as a settlement file is uploaded, A2X automatically fetches this file, crunches the numbers and generates a
summary of the revenue, expenses and other transactions.
A2X then generates invoices or journals from each settlement and posts them to your cloud accounting system - either
automatically or as required. You can then set the ledger accounts and tax rates that apply to each type of transaction.
When the settlement payment from Amazon arrives in your bank account, it is easy to reconcile these amounts with the A2X
settlement postings.
By using this method to account for transactions, Amazon sellers are able to reclaim their time and focus on higher
value tasks. Because let’s face it: who really wants to waste time with manual data entry or analysing incorrect sets of
accounts?
"I don't know life without A2X, but it makes everything SO easy compared to what I have to do for all other sales
channels. I can't imagine working without it and trying to have to compile all of the data manually - I'm sure it would
take a few days every month instead of a few minutes!"
- Jo Schroeder, eCommerce Accountant at Catching Clouds
Bring our solution to a wider audience
During the past few years, we have constantly received requests to create a version of A2X that works for Shopify. So we
decided it was time to provide people with what they want. After months of development and testing behind the scenes,
we’re confident that our new app will change the Shopify accounting playing field for good.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a rapidly growing eCommerce platform that sellers can use to create and manage highly functional online
stores with ease. It was founded in 2006 by a team of entrepreneurs based out of Ottawa, Canada and has grown to support
over 700,000 shops - everything from local artisan producers to some of the largest brands in the world.
Merchants in selected countries have the option to use the inbuilt transaction processor, Shopify Payments to collect
money from customers via credit card. In the same way that Amazon processes settlement payouts once every 2 weeks,
Shopify pays sellers any money owning less fees in batches (either every other business day, weekly or monthly). This
creates a major headache for sellers to accurately account for the underlying income and expenses that make up the
settlement.
How does A2X for Shopify help?
We have taken the exact same approach that we use with Amazon, and applied it to our latest integration - A2X for Shopify. Our app currently supports Xero and QuickBooks accounting systems, however we plan to offer functionality for a range of other service providers in the future.
Rather than spending your time sorting through numbers and manually adjusting settlement entries to accurately account
for fees, why not automate this task away with A2X and focus on higher value opportunities?
Are there any other tools available for Shopify merchants?
Yes, there is a plugin called Bold. However, this app imports each individual transaction as a new entry. When it comes
time to balance the books, it can be quite difficult to determine which transactions relate to each payout and account
for settlements that include sales from two different months or years.
The other issue with recording sales at the transactional level rather than by settlement is that it’s not very
scalable. For smaller stores that only make a few sales per day, this method is fine. But when sales volumes increase,
large amounts of entries into the accounting system create unnecessary complexity and potential confusion.
Imagine generating 1,000 sales every day, and having a new entry in your accounting system for every single transaction.
Gaining a clear understanding of your business becomes quite difficult.
With this in mind, we are confident that A2X for Shopify is going to simplify accounting operations for a great deal of online sellers and be a game changer in the world of
Shopify accounting.
Where can I find out more?
To learn more about our latest A2X for Shopify integration, try one of the links below:
If you have a Shopify store and would like to see if A2X could be a good fit for your business, please feel free to get in touch with us. We are more than happy to provide a free 14 day trial (no credit card required), and have a team of Shopify experts
and accountants on hand to support you with getting set up.
A2X is a product of Export X International Limited, an innovative Kiwi company that helps New Zealand and Australian producers to sell their goods on Amazon and other
international marketplaces around the world.