In recent years, doing accounting has become a whole lot easier yet more complex at the same time due to the advent of digital technology and the growing number of consumers.

With the boom of e-commerce, in particular, modern business owners find themselves struggling with immense order counts and growing levels of government intervention taking place. For Shopify store owners, the task of keeping up with their online business’s accounting needs has also grown much more complex. It comes to the point that running the simplest of Shopify stores can be daunting at times. Accounting, as a matter of fact, has cemented its spot as the most-hated business task for most Shopify store owners. It is often regarded as the “last thing they’ll ever want to deal with.”

Given the fact that Shopify stores heavily rely on proper management of numbers to stay afloat and achieve growth, owners have no choice but to heed the call of proper accounting. Understandably, most owners end up being frustrated with having to cope with their accounting needs because nothing they do makes things less complex.

If you’re still struggling with your Shopify store’s accounting, even if you have the most advanced systems in place, then there’s a chance that you’re still making a few common mistakes. Nevertheless, accounting doesn’t have to be the bane of your Shopify store ownership experience. It boils down to knowing what errors you should avoid making.

Here are a few common accounting mistakes that you should definitely avoid altogether when running your Shopify store:

1. Not having an accounting or bookkeeping system

One of the quickest ways to throw all your efforts out the window and fail miserably in a matter of months after growth is to completely ignore the need for having an accounting or bookkeeping system. As opposed to the “one-time, big-time” effect that most business owners expect, having your Shopify store fail is actually a culmination of smaller problems that stem from having amassed debt and poor cash flow.

Most of these “silent killer” cases can be linked to a lack of an accounting or bookkeeping system that is essential in optimizing a business’s cash flow and tracking its obligations. Not knowing what your business has to pay or is owed can easily put your Shopify store under the water.

2. Tracking each sale individually

While this approach may possibly work with the first few weeks of your Shopify store, individually tracking your sales is a key ingredient for disaster that should be avoided at all times. The e-commerce industry’s structure makes it a whole lot easier to grow your Shopify store exponentially. If you track your sales individually, then you probably experience having to deal with a truckload of data even without getting halfway through the last load.

3. Manually keeping your records

Speaking of manual labour blunders, another common accounting error that most Shopify store owners torture themselves with is the unnecessarily complex task of manually keeping records. While doing so may seem like a great idea to maintain greater control over your business, you’re unknowingly digging your own grave by going deeper into a set of complexities and restraints. Manual record-keeping is not only tiring, but it also takes away valuable time that you can use for growing your business in other ways instead.

Final words

Shopify store accounting is often regarded as a difficult task due to the fact that most business owners unknowingly make things harder for themselves. By taking these common errors into mind, you can prevent yourself from committing the same mistakes.

If you are looking for an accounting service for your e-commerce store, get in touch with us to see how we can help.