Your Ecommerce Q4 To-Do List

Q4 is of course our most busy and stressful time of year as ecommerce business owners. However, over the years I’ve picked up on a few tricks to help divide the work and ease the stress over the next few weeks. Let’s talk about them.

Tidy Up

One of the first things to do is make sure you have the correct information down for your inventory. Grab your Amazon inventory report and an inventory report from your inventory management system as of 12/31/2022.

Take note of what you may have prepaid for or items that are in transit and record their values. Then take a physical count of items in you have left in the warehouse or garage in early 2023.

Add the Finishing Touch

This is the time to make sure all the transactions you’ve put off are coded and reconcile those accounts. Put the finishing touches on any coding or reconciliations that must be done in January.

Then, take a look at your P&L and Balance Sheet in your accounting system and make sure that it makes sense. Check the inventory values—are they in line with your count reports? Compare to last year. Is there anything too low or too high? Is there anything missing? Does it accurately represent the “reality” of your year?

Take Care of 1099s

File your 1099’s before January 31, 2023. This is something your bookkeeper or CPA can help with, and there are many services out there offering online filing. One option we like is Track1099. Then, collect your 1099 K from Amazon and any other payment processors you may have. Send all the info to your accountant and let them handle the rest.

If you take the time to tackle a task at a time and do a couple every week, you’ll notice the difference in your Q4 craziness. You’ll be prepared and ready for all your accountant will ask of you, making both of you a lot less stressed!

Interested in Profit First?

If your ecommerce business isn’t where you’d like it to be in terms of profitability, check out my book, Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers. It answers important questions about how to implement Profit First in an ecommerce business. Take control of your money and your business, and put Profit First to work for you!

You can also sign up for the Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers Online Course. As a Mastery Level, Certified Profit First Professional, I will teach you why Profit First works so well for ecommerce businesses and the particular challenges for businesses that have physical products requiring inventory management. You will learn how your behavior drives your money management habits for your business and how you can set up your business bank accounts to work with your habits.

Check out all our ecommerce accounting and profit advising services here!

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