E-commerce Accounting & CFO
Accounting & CFO Services for E-commerce Startups
Inventory and COGS accounting, multi-state sales tax, channel-level margin, and contribution-margin reporting that keeps DTC brands investor-ready and profitable.
E-commerce accounting is deceptively hard. Inventory valuation, landed cost, returns reserves, multi-channel reconciliation, and sales tax across every state you ship to — it all has to be right for gross margin to mean anything. StartupCFO runs DTC and e-commerce books that give you real channel-level margin, and keeps you compliant with post-Wayfair sales tax obligations.
What's Hard About E-commerce Finance
The e-commerce-specific challenges that generic bookkeeping services miss.
Inventory, COGS, and landed cost
Inventory valued at landed cost (product, freight, duties, inbound fees). COGS booked correctly so gross margin is defensible.
Multi-channel reconciliation
Shopify, Amazon, Stripe, Klaviyo, 3PLs — all reconciled to your general ledger with fees, refunds, and reserves correctly separated.
Multi-state sales tax (post-Wayfair)
Economic nexus monitoring, registration, and monthly filing across the states where you have exposure. No surprise tax liabilities later.
Returns, refunds, and reserves
Returns reserves estimated from actual return-rate history, not plugged. Refund liability on the balance sheet so revenue isn't overstated.
Channel and SKU-level margin
Contribution margin by channel (DTC, Amazon, wholesale) and by SKU. You see where you actually make money, not just gross sales.
How StartupCFO Helps
One integrated team — accountant, CPA, and fractional CFO — running the right e-commerce playbook.
- Monthly close with inventory, COGS, and landed-cost accounting
- Multi-channel reconciliation: Shopify, Amazon, Stripe, 3PLs
- Sales tax nexus monitoring, registration, and monthly filing
- Returns and refund reserve accounting
- Channel- and SKU-level contribution margin reporting
- Fractional CFO support for pricing, inventory planning, and fundraising
E-commerce metrics we track
- Revenue and gross margin by channel (DTC, Amazon, wholesale)
- Contribution margin by SKU after COGS and fulfillment
- CAC, LTV, and payback by acquisition channel
- Returns rate and return reserve
- Inventory turns and days of inventory on hand
- Runway under demand scenarios
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you handle multi-state sales tax?
Yes. We monitor economic nexus across all 46 states that tax e-commerce, register you when thresholds trigger, and file monthly or quarterly returns. We also handle marketplace-facilitator reconciliation for Amazon and similar channels.
How do you account for inventory and COGS?
Inventory is valued at landed cost (product + inbound freight + duties + inbound fees). COGS is booked at the moment of sale using the chosen method (FIFO or weighted-average, consistent with GAAP). Reserves for shrink, obsolescence, and returns are estimated from actual history.
Which e-commerce platforms do you integrate with?
ClariFi integrates with Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, Stripe, Square, WooCommerce, and common 3PLs. We reconcile payouts to GL and normalize fees, refunds, and reserves across channels.
Can we see margin by SKU or by channel?
Yes. Every growth-plan client gets SKU-level and channel-level contribution margin reporting in ClariFi. You can see which products and which channels are actually profitable after COGS, fees, and returns.
Ready for E-commerce-Native Accounting?
Book a free consultation and we'll walk through how we'd run your e-commerce books, taxes, and CFO support — live within 48 hours.
