What your accountant needs from your Shopify store

The recurring conversation between a store owner and their accountant goes the same way. The accountant asks for the records. The owner sends a sales export. The accountant asks for the fees, the payouts and the bank reconciliation. Time passes.

That exchange is entirely avoidable, and understanding what is actually needed shortens it from weeks to a handover.

Why a sales export is insufficient

It contains what customers were charged and none of what happened to the money afterwards.

Missing: what the payments cost, when they settled, what was withheld, what the delivery cost, and how the bank deposits relate to any of it. On a Malaysian Shopify store none of that is in Shopify, because Shopify Payments is unavailable here and the settlement data sits with your gateway — see what the Shopify Admin API actually returns.

So the accountant receives a revenue figure and a bank statement that does not agree with it, and has to reconstruct the middle. That reconstruction is what the fee is largely paying for.

The six things that actually close a period

Sales at gross, by period, split between goods, shipping charged and tax collected — see Shopify gross sales vs net payout.

Gateway settlement reports covering the period, at transaction level with fees itemised.

Bank statements, with each gateway deposit traceable to its settlement report.

Refunds and chargebacks, with dates and their link to original orders.

Courier invoices, matched to consignments so delivery cost sits with the right period — see courier invoices and how to reconcile them.

Cost of goods and closing stock, valued at landed cost — see inventory valuation across online and offline.

That set closes a period. Anything less means somebody reconstructs, and reconstruction is slow, expensive and approximate.

The four questions they will ask

Predictable enough to prepare for, and each is a specific figure rather than a discussion.

Why does revenue not match the bank? Because deposits are net of fees, refunds, chargebacks and reserve. Answerable in seconds with decomposed payouts and not at all without them — see decomposing a payout line by line.

What is in this suspense or holding account? Unallocated deposits awaiting their settlement report. Fine if small and aged; a problem if it has been growing quietly — see when the payout arrives before the report.

What is owed to you at period end? Sales not settled, settlements not paid out, reserve held, and any cash-on-delivery collected and not remitted — see reconciling across a period boundary.

How is stock valued, and does it tie? Landed cost, and the figure in the accounts should agree with quantity at cost from your stock system.

Four questions, four figures. A store that can produce them has a straightforward close.

What makes the annual version painful

The scramble is not caused by insufficient effort. It is caused by attempting a year of reconciliation at once, months after the fact.

By then the settlement reports may no longer be downloadable, the people who remember specific transactions have forgotten, the courier invoices are in an inbox somewhere, and every unexplained difference requires investigation from cold.

The alternative is not more effort at year end. It is reconciliation happening as data arrives, so that year end is a confirmation of twelve closed months — see how often to reconcile your Shopify store.

The same principle applies to keeping source documents: settlement files and courier invoices stored with your records as they arrive, rather than retrieved a year later from systems that may no longer hold them — see building the reconciliation data model.

Working better with them

Four things that change the relationship.

Give access rather than exports. An accountant who can see reconciled data directly stops asking for files, and stops waiting for them.

Agree the chart of accounts early. How fees, delivery, discounts and reserve are coded, decided once rather than corrected annually.

Tell them about changes. A new payment method, a new channel, a new courier arrangement. Each creates a new stream, and finding out at year end is how a close gets extended.

Ask what they spend time on. The answer is usually one specific reconstruction, and it is usually fixable at source. That conversation is worth having once and it is rarely had — see explaining your numbers to someone who was not there.

An accountant given reconciled data spends their time on judgement, structure and advice. Given raw exports, they spend it on matching transactions, which is the least valuable use of the most expensive person involved.

Common questions

Why is a Shopify sales export not enough for accounting?

Because it shows what customers were charged and nothing about what happened to the money afterwards — the processing fees, settlement timing, amounts withheld, delivery costs and how bank deposits relate to sales. On a Malaysian store none of that is in Shopify, since Shopify Payments is unavailable and the settlement data sits with the payment gateway.

What does an accountant actually need to close a period?

Gross sales split between goods, shipping and tax; gateway settlement reports at transaction level with fees itemised; bank statements with each deposit traceable to its settlement report; refunds and chargebacks linked to original orders; courier invoices matched to consignments; and cost of goods with closing stock at landed cost.

Why is the annual close so painful?

Because it attempts a year of reconciliation at once, months after the fact, when settlement reports may no longer be downloadable, nobody remembers specific transactions, and every difference must be investigated from cold. The fix is not more effort at year end but reconciliation as data arrives, making year end a confirmation of twelve already-closed months.

How can a store owner reduce accounting fees?

By providing reconciled data rather than raw exports, giving direct access instead of sending files, agreeing the chart of accounts once rather than correcting it annually, and telling the accountant about new payment methods, channels or courier arrangements as they happen. An accountant given reconciled data spends time on judgement rather than on matching transactions.

Related: month-end without the scramble · preparing for an audit with automated books · how often to reconcile your Shopify store