Fractional Accounting Team Rectifies Embarrassing Payroll And Data Errors, Establishes SOPs

Our client in this case study is a $10M+/year ecommerce business that sells products internationally through multiple channels including Amazon, Shopify, TikTok, and B2B/wholesale. Externally, their sales were flourishing. But internally, they were grappling with some critical mistakes made by their offshore accountants. Once they contacted kept.pro, our fractional accounting team was able to identify the problems, correct the the issues, and create new processes to ensure they wouldn’t happen again.

Identifying The (Many) Problems

After diving into the books, we realized multiple accounting operations and communication failures were impacting this successful ecommerce’s cash flow. The issues were so significant, the company missed multiple payroll deadlines – which is not only embarrassing, but also a liability. For example:

• There was no cash forecasting process in place, resulting in them nearly running out of cash at one point.
• The offshore team didn’t conduct 3-way purchase order matching, which led to much higher charges from a major supplier than anticipated.
• Critical transactions were not recorded in the accounting system.
• Reported net income figures were incorrect, and sent with no explanation or follow up.
• The offshore team often asked questions that had already been (repeatedly) answered.

Course Correcting With Accountability & Integrations

We provided an experienced fractional accounting team to work with this client and address these pain points. This approach means they have multiple kept.pro experts at their disposal, and that there are multiple levels of accountability to ensure payroll is completed in a timely manner. We utilize tried-and-true checklists and approval timelines to ensure all deadlines are met. Our detailed month-end review process ensures accounts are reconciled, transactions are recorded properly, and all data is accurate. We also send monthly reports, which include calculated ratios, to flag and provide insight on any potential cash deficiencies.

By integrating their inventory management system with QuickBooks Online (QBO), we streamlined the syncing of purchase orders and invoicing. We regularly reconcile the purchase clearing account to ensure all bills received in QBO match the landed cost of inventory in the inventory management system. Additionally, we reconcile that system with QBO monthly to verify all invoices have been inputted, and to confirm all orders shipped have been invoiced. Establishing these SOPs ensures our client has the clean and accurate data they need in order to effectively manage their business.

Finally, we treat all our clients’ time as a valuable resource. They had previously experienced communication frustrations with their offshore accountants, particularly around redundant questions. We have well established and documented procedures on how to code certain items and use history for guidance on coding. This has greatly reduced the number of transactions we need to ask them about. They know that if we ask a question, it’s an important one!

Results: Increased Confidence & Cash Flow

This ecommerce client now has accurate financials and a reliable partner they can trust in kept.pro. The CEO recently told us he’d never had anyone able to explain inventory adjustments in a satisfactory way before, and that he feels confident in his numbers and A/R balance. (In fact, we just caught a cost error in his inventory system last month.) He said it’s a relief to no longer have unpleasant cash flow surprises, and he is working on strengthening key balance sheet ratios informed by our industry benchmarking analysis.

You can’t make informed decisions without quality financials. The experts at kept.pro are here to help. Learn more about our unique team approach that will help you build business resilience, manage risk, and realize greater profitability.