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What you need to know about eCommerce Accounting

Technology has undeniably made our daily lives easy. Not only at home, but at work too. To start off with the basics. E-commerce, also known as electronic commerce, is the buying and selling of goods and services over an electronic network, primarily the internet. 

Online shopping has become firmly established in South Africa: you can now buy food on Uber Eats, Mr. Delivery app, etc, from your favourite restaurant and get it delivered to your home, you can buy clothes online, and you can ever deliver a parcel to anyone via the Uber app! On the other hand, e-commerce accounting is the practice of recording, organizing, and managing all of the financial data and transactions relevant to the operation of the company. 

Ecommerce accounting, like all accounting for businesses, entails both fundamental bookkeeping duties (such as maintaining invoices, payroll, and balance sheets) and more intricate planning and reporting duties (like preparing financial statements and creating a strategic tax plan).

In this blog, we will only focus on only 2 of the major areas i.e. Bookkeeping and Tax management. 

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping includes tracking and categorizing income and expenses, inventory management, and reviewing balance sheets, as well as tracking customer returns. If not done well, one return can throw off your sales, inventory, expenses, and sales tax records all at once. 

An e-commerce accounting system should take into account customer returns and allow you to accept returns without throwing off your financial reports.

Tax management

Ecommerce tax management includes tracking and setting aside all applicable taxes, calculating and filing quarterly estimated taxes, etc. Determining when an e-commerce seller must charge sales tax can be complicated. On a general note, if a seller has a significant business, that seller is responsible for collecting and remitting taxes for any purchase. 

Whether you hire a bookkeeper, or an account, or not, the choice is yours. Many operators of online stores rely exclusively on accounting software. As a result, a significant portion of bookkeeping work can be automated while also lowering the risk of human error. These services can interface directly with your e-commerce platform and bank account. Assisting with tasks like transaction categorization, invoice creation and mailing, and account reconciliation to ensure accuracy, an online bookkeeper can also help you use tax and accounting software.

Your balance sheet will surely become more complex as your company expands. Without a plan, what could initially appear to be a straightforward DIY project can turn into a nightmare of miscategorized transactions, missing monies, and unreconcilable accounts.

Save yourself a headache and hire a registered accountant/tax practitioner, or set up an accounting system tailor-made for an e-commerce business as soon as possible!

The Ultimate Guide To Financial Software for Small Businesses in South Africa

You know what they say, Cloud Accounting Software helps business owners keep a finger on the pulse of their finances. 

To do this, one needs agility decision-making skills, and those decisions must be based on the real-time financial truth. Accounting software may assist business owners with a number of typical duties, such as keeping track of transactions, sending invoices, storing receipts, and tracking sales taxes. It can also help with managing cash flow and has a tax management tool that makes tax filing a little bit simpler. 

The advantages of using Accounting Software include, but are not limited to:

  • Efficiency – it saves time and money
  • Clarity – helps you see your financial health
  • Accuracy – the automation feature helps you speed up the calculations
  • Tax compliance – helps you stay ready for tax season.

Do you NEED it?

If anything, using Accounting Software has more advantages than disadvantages, perhaps things like security should be at the top of your priority when choosing one that’s best for your business, followed by cost, support, etc. Also, consider what special needs your business has outside of accounting, do you need simple bookkeeping and accounts service, or do you require other features, like assisting with company claims, tax returns, custom invoices, etc?

2 additional tips to help you choose the right Accounting Software for your business:

Access – it’s easier when you can access it from anywhere: from any device and location, at any time of day.  

Easy functionality –  it is important to choose the option that provides an easy-to-understand dashboard with access to all your important financial information. 

A few trusted Accounting Software companies you can check out:

Zoho – starting from R99 p/m

Quickbooks – starting from R115 p/m

SMEasy – starting from R150 p/m

Xero – starting from around R160 p/m

Sage – starting from R3,220 p/a

A – Z of Accounting | Basics of Accounting

First things first, Accounting is the practice of recording and reporting on business transactions. This helps you see how well your business is performing, in comparison with your expectations. 

Accounting methods 

Cash Accounting

Expenses paid and income received is accounted for when cash flows(when cash is paid or received)

Accrual Accounting

Expenses and income are accounted for when incurred

GAAP suggests Accrual Accounting. It portrays more accurate records

We touched a bit on this topic in our Bookkeeping workshop, here’s a skit:


Record Keeping

To enlighten you, this means setting up accounts in which financial information is stored. Accounts fall into the following classifications:

•Assets: business valuables, help the business make more money. E.g. product design 

•Liability: obligated to be paid by the business, they take money out of the business. E.g. loans 

•Equity: ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Eg. shares

•Revenue: this is the amount billed to customers in exchange for the delivery of goods or provision of services.

•Expenses: the cost of operations that a company incurs to generate revenue.

Transactions 

If you own a company, you should set up separate accounts for banking, credit cards, etc. Don’t buy business supplies with your personal credit card. Organize your accounts and protect yourself and keep these two separate. Amongst other reasons, this will help you if any tax or legal issues arise (might depend on your business structure). 

These transactions are recorded within the business’s accounts by the accountant. Key transactions include:

✅The purchase of materials and services from suppliers.

✅Selling goods and services to customers. (Send invoice to customer) 

✅Receive payments from customers. 

✅Pay employees. (subtracting tax and other deductions, resulting in net salary).

Reporting

Also known as Bookkeeping, recording all transactions that occur in the business account. Amongst other reasons, this helps you budget, know the financial health of your business, and prepare you for tax season. The most common books are Income statements, Balance sheets, and Cash flow statements. 

Just to expand the above mentioned:

Income Statement – it presents all revenues and subtracts all expenses. It essentially measures the ability of a business to attract customers and operate in an efficient manner.

Balance Sheet – it presents the assets, liabilities, and equity of a business as of the end of the reporting period. This can also determine the ability of an organization to pay its bills.

Statement of Cash Flows – it presents the sources and uses of cash during the reporting period. It is especially useful when the amount of net income appearing on the income statement varies from the net change in cash during the reporting period.

Another thing to look at is Budgeting and Forecasting. This has much more benefits other than getting funds from the bank or investors. Planning your finances helps you keep a healthy relationship with your money/accounts; thus helping you make better financial decisions in your business. Keep it realistic and achievable. 

Should you need assistance or have any questions regarding accounting, do get in touch with us here: 

📧: info@accasesolutions.co.za

☎: 0615238833

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How to close off business for 2021 | Bookkeeping | Accounting


What better way is there than to prepare for the future by reflecting on your progress? This is why KPIs (key performance indicators) are so important. “It is better to move forward, than to move fast and backwards”. Now, how do you measure that you’re really going forward? 

What do the books say about revenue growth? The “books” are a business’s revenue, expense and income summary reports. Lucky for you if you are using an accounting software, it automatically closes your income and expense accounts at year end before adding your net profit (or loss) to your retained earnings account. If you have not automated this process and recording in your books manually, read on. 

Closing the books annually lets businesses draw up financial statements that give business owners insights into their business’s financial health. This also helps you to properly file for your income tax returns. 

Here are 5 things you need to do before you close off the business year: 

* Monetize all invoices.

Be sure to send out reminders to clients on outstanding payments and that all the invoices are being monetized. If some clients don’t pay you, you can write the invoices off as bad debt (or if you think they are never going to pay you-this is why contract agreements are important). Follow up on invoices and payments, and make sure all the business money has reached the business account. 

* Record your expenses.

ALL your bills go onto this; from things as little as internet costs, fixed costs, to variable costs. This includes incurred business expenses, keep track of those separately; you can claim tax deductions on these.

* Reconcile bank statements.

This is a common practice for many, even for personal finance. This will help you identify discrepancies, possible bank errors, or fraudulent activity that may have happened in your account. This can also help you reflect on some transactions you have authorized, that might kill your business, canceled and uncleared checks. 

* Profit and Loss.

This reports on your business performance over the year. This shows the value of sales, expenses, and overheads and the resulting gross and net profit or loss for the year. Run it from the first day of your fiscal year to the last. 

* Balance Sheet.

This report shows the worth of your business from the day you started trading, up to the end of the fiscal year. It includes your company assets and liabilities. 

That’s a few pointers from us. Let us know what your year end closing tradition is like, we would love to hear about the different ways for different businesses. 

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Bookkeeping Guide

Let’s not assume you know, and take it from the top. 

Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions made by a business, this means keeping track of what your business spends and what you receive. The  transactions would be recorded in daybooks, cashbooks, or journals, you can also use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel.

Do you need a bookkeeper for your business? 

You can either do this by setting up a software, or hire a bookkeeper to keep your books in check. A Bookkeeper’s responsibility is to record, classify, and organize every financial transaction that is made throughout business operations. 

Amongst other reasons, one of the reasons why some startups fail is due to the poor management of money: sole business owners mostly can relate. It gets a bit challenging to separate business finances form personal finances, making it harder to account for some of the money that comes in, and goes out of the business because no one is holding you accountable for anything. This is where bookkeeping comes in. When studied thoroughly, you can see some of your spending habits which you need to change.

3 reasons why you need bookkeeping:

  1. To reflect on whether you are spending more than you make, vise versa. Moreover, bookkeeping enables you to seamlessly analyze your expenses, and adjust your budget, if need be. You will have a record of all your financial information you may need in a case where you want to plan or budget for the future. 
  2. You can curate accurate tax returns. Tax preparation can be a stressful season for small business owners, this is where bookkeeping comes in. Instead of looking through a pile of documents to get the required information, bookkeeping ensures that this information is well organized beforehand.
  3. We have mentioned before, cashflow is one of the struggles small businesses have. Bookkeeping will help you mitigate that challenge by keeping track of the cash going in and out of your business. Having this kind of information will give you the confidence and peace of mind you need to make financial decisions. 

Bookkeeping: How-To

  1. Record your sales (in a cashbook/spreadsheet).
  2. Note down every business-related purchase (keep proof of purchase).
  3. Regularly cross-referencing your business books against your bank statements to check that the transactions and balances match, A.K.A Reconciliation. 

Other things to note…

  1. Accounts receivable, i.e. issuing invoices and making sure they’re paid, and accounts payable, i.e.paying bills on time.
  2. Payroll (paying employees). 


Bookkeeping software

There are many small businesses that use online bookkeeping software to speed up the job, this also cuts down on human data-entry errors and saves time. The benefits of these tools include, but not limited to: automatically pay bills, send automated invoice reminders to people who owe you money, and allow you to check cash flow from your phone. 


Here are 3 softwares you can check out:

1️⃣ Sage 

2️⃣ Xero 

3️⃣ QuickBooks


I’m conclusion…

If you are too much of a busy for bookkeeping for your small business, then you can find someone to do it for you; outsource or hire. We have an article on what’s the best option between the two, again this depends on a number of things. If you wish to get a bookkeeper for your business, look no further: Accase Solutions would love to assist! Reach us here: 

 ✉️: info@accasesolutions.co.za

☎: 0615238833

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How to pick the best accountant/tax personnel for your business

Picking the right accountant is important for your business’s financial future. An accountant manages your finances and plays a significant role on the direction of your business. So it’s important to do thorough research before you hire an accountant. 

An accountant can acts as your business’s financial guide by overseeing and/ or forecasting your company’s financial planning and recordkeeping. They can handle your bookkeeping, as well as help with tax planning and tax returns. 

A question that may arise as you read this may be, how do I CHOOSE the right accountant/tax personnel for my business?

Avoid being scammed and learn by reading on 🧠📚🤓👇

If you follow us on our social media, you would remember us touching a bit on this subject. Just to recap, as per Tax Administration Act no. 28 of 2011, every person who provides advice to another with respect to application of tax principles or assistists with any tax matters for a fee must:

✅ Be registered with Recognized Controlling Body that’s registered with SARS.  

✅ Be qualified.

✅ Undergo examination to evaluate their ability to competently perform functions of a tax practitioner

✅ Engage in continuing professional development.

1️⃣ Just to save you a bit of time, accountants in South Africa could belong to one of the other main South African accounting bodies:

Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (www.irba.co.za)

South African Institute of Professional Accountants (www.saipa.co.za)

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (www.acca.org.za)

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (www.cimaglobal.com)

The South African Institute of Business Accountants (www.saiba.org.za)

Institute of Administration and Commerce (www.iacsa.co.za)

Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (www.icb.org.za)

If your accountant belongs to one of these organizations, then that’s security for you! If there is an issue, you will be able to lodge a complaint with the respective organization. 

Accase Solutions is a company of Certified Tax Practitionership with accountants, tax and personnel involved in our tax accounting practice.

With all that said, we would like to top it off with a word that we are registered with the IAC, Institute of Accounting and Commerce as Certified Tax Practitioner since registration of Accase Solutions.

2️⃣ Your accountant needs to keep up with the ever changing technologies and should be using recent and relevant software solutions. Be it Sage Accounting Software, for instance, it’s important that they have the training and experience working with that tool. 

3️⃣ What evidence is there to support that you can trust them to manage your finances? Are they even real? Do they have references? What important information is there on their website? You might wanna call and check with the references if need be. 


Here are 3 reasons why you can trust Accase Solutions with your taxes and accounting:

✅ We are Certified Tax Practitioners, qualified and registered with Recognized Controlling Body.

✅ We are competent and can perform the functions of a tax practitioner & Accountants. 

✅ We are professional.

If you would like to consult with us, reach out to us here:

✉️: info@accasesolutions.co.za

☎: 0615238833