I'm running a number of e-commerce retail sites, I just don't know how to properly account for credit card sales I make. As I see it, I can do it one of two ways:
1. Enter each individual transaction into my accounting software
2. Just enter the daily totals, minus refunds, chargebacks etc
Obviously entering hundreds of sales manually is tedious and time consuming.
I'm not sure which is the correct approach. Most of my transactions are to British consumers at the standard rate of VAT. However, some transactions are to consumers outside of the EU, just in case this affects it for VAT purposes.
Any help would be much appreciated. I've got a little problem here!
Regards,
Matthew
Matthew
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Replies (6)
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Can you download statements from the card vendors?
Do Barclaycard, Mastercard etc supply you with electronic statements? If they do, maybe you could download the detailed statements into Excel, do your analysis there, and post the summary results to the accounts system.
Stick to summaries if you can
Hi Matthew
Presumably your website tracks the individual customers for account and marketing purposes, and you should get regular reports off the website for all sales, plus reports from the credit card companies.
So you should be able to limit the accounting data to summaries of sales, provided they have detailed supporting reports and can distinguish the different groups for VAT purposes.
Think of a retail store which uses a till roll (in the olden days...), but enters a single total for the day's takings.
HTIH
Regards
Mike
import
if you are able to obtain the sales details in CSV format then most accounting packages will allow you to import this directly with the click of a button! OK maybe a few buttons!
Get some advice
Hi Matthew
I really think that you should invest in some advice from a good accountant.
I think that with your type of business the system for recording your sales will be really important. Dealing with the credit card sales should be fairly straight forward as you will simply post the receipts against the sales which you will hopefully be able to enter from reports from your e-commerce sites. Refunds etc should be automatically accounted for as they will appear as credits on your sales summary - by posting net cash received it should all reconcile hopefully!
However, it is the fact that you sell outside of the UK that I would be most concerned about. If it were me I would set up my accounting software so that both the type of sale could be recorded and also the location of the customer. You say that you sell to customer's outside of the EU but if that were to change you could find yourself having to submit EC Sales lists to HMRC - if you have the system set up correct in the first place you will easily be able to adapt to any changes within your business as it grows.
It's a difficult one.
Hi Matthew,
It's tough one to deal with especially when you have limited resources.
The value of entering the detailed transactions is that it allows you to reconcile your site receipts against your bank receipts. This is normally done using a process similar to a bank reconciliations.
However, when you have 1001 other things to do, the value of entering every trasaction can be difficult to see until things go pear shaped and then it is often too late.
I work for a software house in south Wales and we have an ecommerce interface to our accounting solution. It brings in orders and credit card payments directly into the business system, processing them straight from the web. One click and all of your orders are ready for processing and all of you cash is posted against the customer accounts. This means that the system brings the detail in for you automatically. Products are all database driven from the stock system and the whole thing is very slick and efficient.
If you would to take a look at the product and trail if for a couple of months for free on one of your web sites, I am happy to orgaise this for you, to see if it helps you. Thereafter, on costs start at £29.99 per month.
Give me a call on 01792 818177 if you want to take a look at it.
If there is anything else I can help you with pleae let me know.
Kind regards
Jonathan Harris
Accounting Office Software Limited