Effective Walmart bookkeeping is key to running a successful business. By maintaining accurate financial records, you ensure tax compliance, gain clear insights into your profitability, and make smarter business decisions.
In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Walmart bookkeeping, from managing sales and fees to automating your accounting.
With the right approach, you can streamline your bookkeeping process, reduce errors, and keep your business running smoothly.
Key Takeaways from this Post
Walmart bookkeeping involves tracking sales, refunds, fees, and taxes for accurate financial records.
Proper bookkeeping is crucial for managing a Walmart business, ensuring tax compliance and informed decision-making.
Streamline your Walmart bookkeeping process with automated solutions like Link My Books to save time, reduce errors, and improve efficiency.
What is Walmart Bookkeeping?
Walmart bookkeeping involves tracking and recording all financial transactions associated with your Walmart seller account. These include sales, refunds, fees, taxes, and deductions. Accurate bookkeeping is essential to maintaining clear financial records, ensuring tax compliance, and understanding the overall financial health of your Walmart business.
What Does Walmart Bookkeeping Involve?
1. Sales and Refunds
Each sale or refund processed through your Walmart account needs to be tracked. This includes recording the order number, date of sale, product details, and customer information.
2. Fees and Deductions
Walmart charges various fees, including fulfilment fees, referral fees, and advertising expenses. Each fee must be tracked to ensure accurate financial records and prevent overpayment.
3. Reimbursements for Returns
Returned items may involve reimbursements, which need to be tracked separately. This ensures that refunds and product returns are accounted for correctly in your records.
4. Settlements or Disbursements
Walmart provides regular disbursements based on your sales. These need to be reconciled with your bank deposits to ensure everything is accurate.
5. VAT, GST, Sales Tax, and Other Taxes
Sales tax calculations vary depending on the location of your customers. Keeping track of these taxes is essential to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal tax laws.
6. Collecting and Remitting Sales Tax
Depending on where your customers are located, Walmart may automatically collect and remit sales tax on your behalf. In cases where Walmart doesn’t handle the sales tax, sellers are responsible for remitting the correct amount of tax to the relevant authorities.
To effectively manage your Walmart bookkeeping, consider using automated e-commerce accounting software, which can streamline the process and reduce errors.
Walmart Bookkeeping vs. Walmart Accounting
How to Do Bookkeeping for Walmart Sellers
Link My Books makes Walmart bookkeeping simple. Here's a step-by-step overview of how it works:
- Connect Walmart to Link My Books: Start by linking your Walmart seller account and your accounting software (e.g., Xero or QuickBooks) to Link My Books.
- Automatic Data Sync: Link My Books will automatically import your sales, refunds, and fees from Walmart into your accounting software.
- Generate Summary Invoices: Link My Books creates clean summary invoices, categorizing each transaction into sales, refunds, fees, and taxes.
- One-Click Reconciliation: The integration allows for quick reconciliation with just a click, matching your Walmart payouts to your bank deposits.
Best Accounting Tools for Walmart Businesses
Both Xero and QuickBooks provide comprehensive tools for expense management, customizable reporting, and tax compliance, while Link My Books streamlines reconciliation, making your Walmart bookkeeping process faster, more accurate, and compliant with tax regulations.
Xero with Link My Books
Xero offers customizable invoicing, expense tracking, and inventory management. When integrated with Link My Books, you can benefit from automated Walmart bookkeeping and tax compliance, making it easy to reconcile payouts and generate financial reports.
Link My Books can help ease the process of Walmart to Xero Integration.
Xero Features
- Automated Sales and Payout Reconciliation: Xero, when integrated with Link My Books, automatically syncs and reconciles your Walmart sales, refunds, fees, taxes, and payouts with your accounting records.
- Real-Time Financial Reporting and Analytics: Xero provides robust reporting features, allowing you to generate real-time financial reports such as Profit & Loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports.
- Multy channel tracking: You can track all your sales channels in Xero. This feature allows you to generate detailed financial reports that break down income and expenses by channel.
- Seamless Integration with Third-Party Apps: Xero integrates with over 1,000 third-party apps, including e-commerce, inventory management, and CRM tools.
QuickBooks with Link My Books
QuickBooks is known for its user-friendly interface and robust financial tools. When combined with Link My Books, you can automate transactions, track expenses, and reconcile sales data for accurate accounting.
Walmart to QuickBooks integration is seamlessly handled by Link My Books, it takes 15 minutes to set up and you can try it out for 14 days free of charge.
QuickBooks Features
- Customizable Class Tracking: QuickBooks allows you to categorize and track income and expenses by different segments of your business, such as marketplaces or sales channels. When integrated with Link My Books, it automatically assigns sales, fees, and other transactions to the correct class, ensuring accurate and insightful Profit & Loss (P&L) statements.
- Automated Data Entry: QuickBooks Online when integrated with Link My Books simplifies Walmart bookkeeping by automating data entry for all your Walmart sales transactions, including line items, taxes, and shipping costs.
- Advanced Reconciliation Tools: QuickBooks offers powerful reconciliation tools that automatically match your Walmart payouts with the corresponding bank deposits, making it easy to keep your accounts balanced.
The Benefits of Automated Walmart Accounting Software
Save Time
Automated accounting software saves you countless hours by eliminating manual data entry, and syncing all transactions directly from Walmart.
Reduce Human Error
Manual bookkeeping is prone to errors. By automating the process, you minimize mistakes and ensure accurate financial records.
Save Money
By streamlining the bookkeeping process, you avoid costly accounting mistakes and reduce the time spent on tedious tasks, saving both time and money.
Stop Overpaying Tax
With automated tax calculation, you can be sure that you're accurately calculating and remitting sales tax, preventing overpayment.
Valuable Insights
Automation software provides real-time financial analytics, helping you make data-driven decisions to improve your business's profitability.
Easier to File Your Taxes
At tax time, you'll have all the necessary information organized and ready to go, making filing taxes much simpler.
Safer
Automation reduces the risks associated with manual data entry and accounting errors, giving you peace of mind that your financial records are accurate and compliant.
You can read more about the 6 Best Walmart accounting software here.
Why Walmart Accounting is Vital for Sellers
Compliance with Tax Laws
Accurate accounting ensures compliance with tax regulations, reducing the risk of penalties or audits.
Understanding Your Business’s Financial Health
Proper accounting gives you a clear picture of your business's financial standing, helping you identify areas of strength and those needing improvement.
Planning for the Future
Accurate financial records enable better business planning and decision-making, whether it's scaling up, managing cash flow, or optimizing expenses.
The Challenges with Managing Walmart Business Accounts
Managing accounting for a Walmart business comes with its own set of unique challenges:
Complex Fee Structures
Walmart charges a variety of fees such as referral fees, fulfillment fees, and advertising costs, which can quickly add up and be hard to track. If not accurately recorded, it can lead to inaccurate profit calculations and potential overpayment of taxes.
Sales Tax Compliance
Walmart operates in multiple states and countries, each with its own tax rules and regulations. Tracking and remitting the correct amount of sales tax for each jurisdiction can be daunting and time-consuming without automation.
Reconciling Payments and Payouts
Walmart's payout system can be difficult to reconcile manually. Payments are often disbursed in batches, including deductions for fees and returns, making it hard to match payouts with bank deposits accurately.
Managing Returns and Reimbursements
Handling returns is more complex than just refunding the money. You need to track inventory, update financial records, and manage the associated reimbursements. Without proper tools, this can quickly become overwhelming and lead to inaccurate financial statements.
Multi-Channel Sales Complexity
Many Walmart sellers also sell on other platforms like Amazon or eBay, making it essential to track sales across multiple channels. Without a unified accounting system, this can lead to inconsistent financial data and accounting errors.
eCommerce Accounting Methods: Manual vs Automated
Extra Tips on How to Do Walmart Seller Accounting
These tips will help you keep your financial records organized, reduce the time spent on manual tasks, and ensure compliance with tax regulations. With tools like Link My Books, much of the heavy lifting can be automated, leaving sellers more time to focus on growing their business.
Choose the Right Accounting Method
Decide whether you’ll use the cash basis or accrual basis for your accounting. The cash basis records transactions when cash changes hands, while the accrual basis records them when they're incurred, giving a fuller picture of your business’s financial health.
Separate Personal and Business Finances
Always keep your personal and business finances separate. Having dedicated bank accounts and credit cards for your Walmart business makes tracking expenses and preparing taxes far simpler.
Use Accounting Software
Using automated accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks, or Link My Books can save you time and reduce the risk of errors. These tools automate transaction tracking, tax calculation, and financial reporting, streamlining your accounting processes.
Maintain Organised Accounts
Regularly update and categorize your transactions. Track income, expenses, inventory, and sales tax accurately to avoid confusion and potential penalties when tax season arrives.
Perform Regular Checks
Make it a habit to perform regular reconciliations of your Walmart payouts with your bank deposits. Regular checks help you spot discrepancies early and ensure that your accounts are up to date.
Set Aside Time
Set aside dedicated time each week or month to focus solely on bookkeeping tasks. Doing so prevents a last-minute scramble at tax time and helps you stay on top of your financial health.
Ensure Tax Compliance
Keep up with changing tax regulations in the regions you operate. Automated accounting software can apply the correct tax rates and keep you compliant with sales tax, VAT, or GST requirements.
Utilise Free Resources
Take advantage of free trials, tutorials, and webinars from your accounting software provider. Platforms often provide valuable resources to help sellers understand how to manage their Walmart accounting more efficiently.
Key Financial Reports to Know for Walmart Sellers
By focusing on these reports you can make data-driven decisions to grow your business while maintaining compliance with sales tax regulations.
Profit & Loss Statement
A Profit & Loss Statement (P&L) summarizes your revenue, expenses, and profits over a set period. This report is essential to understand how much you're earning versus how much you're spending.
- Revenue: Total income from sales on Walmart, including shipping fees.
- COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): Direct costs tied to the products sold (inventory, production, etc.).
- Expenses: Walmart fees, fulfilment fees, advertising, etc.
- Profit: The difference between total revenue and expenses, showing your business's profitability.
This report helps you track your profitability over time, pinpointing areas where you can cut costs or increase earnings.
Balance Sheet
The Balance Sheet provides a snapshot of your Walmart business's financial standing at a specific moment. It shows:
- Assets: What your business owns (inventory, cash, receivables).
- Liabilities: What your business owes (debts, loans, unpaid invoices).
- Equity: The net worth of your business after subtracting liabilities from assets.
A balance sheet helps you gauge the financial health of your Walmart store and how well you're managing your assets versus liabilities.
Cash Flow Statement
The Cash Flow Statement tracks how cash moves in and out of your Walmart business. It highlights:
- Operating activities: Sales revenue, refunds, operating expenses.
- Investing activities: Money spent on new inventory, equipment, or tools.
- Financing activities: Cash from loans, investments, or owner contributions.
This report helps you understand if your business has enough cash flow to cover expenses and sustain operations.
Key Financial Metrics to Know for Walmart Sellers
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
- Gross Margin
- Inventory Turnover
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
COGS includes all direct costs of producing and selling your products, such as manufacturing, materials, and shipping.
Monitoring COGS helps you price your products correctly and maintain healthy profit margins.
Gross Margin
Gross Margin represents the percentage of revenue that exceeds your COGS.
The formula is: Gross Margin=(Revenue−COGS/Revenue)×100
It shows how much profit you make from each sale before deducting overhead costs, helping you assess the profitability of your products.
Inventory Turnover
This metric measures how quickly your inventory is sold and replenished. It’s calculated as:
Inventory Turnover = COGS/Average Inventory
A higher inventory turnover indicates that your products are selling quickly, while a low turnover suggests that your stock may be sitting too long, potentially tying up capital.
Walmart and Sales Taxes
Considerations for Managing Sales Taxes
Sales tax regulations vary by state, and Walmart sellers need to track and remit the correct tax amounts based on where their customers are located. Depending on your state or region, Walmart may collect and remit sales taxes on your behalf, but sellers are responsible for any taxes that Walmart doesn’t handle.
Mismanagement of sales taxes can result in penalties, so staying on top of tax obligations is crucial.
Integration with Tax Software
To simplify the process, you can integrate tax software with their accounting systems. These tools automatically calculate and apply the correct tax rates for each transaction, saving time and reducing errors.
Automating tax calculations ensures compliance and prevents mistakes that could lead to overpayment or penalties.
Compliance with Tax Regulations
Accurately applying state-specific sales taxes is essential for staying compliant with federal and state tax laws. Ensuring that you're collecting the right amount of sales tax for each state or jurisdiction is key for preventing fines or audits.
Regularly reviewing tax laws and staying up to date with changes in legislation is essential for compliance.
Best Practices for Walmart Bookkeeping
- Regularly Reconcile Financial Records: Regular reconciliation of your Walmart payouts and bank statements ensures that your financial records are accurate.
- Keep Track of Expenses and Income: Categorize and monitor all expenses, from shipping costs to advertising fees, to get a clear picture of your profitability.
- Maintain Accurate Inventory Records: Keep track of your inventory levels and costs to ensure you don't overstock or understock products. This will help with both profitability and cash flow.
How to Reconcile Payments Into the Bank from Walmart & Other Payment Gateways?
Reconciliation is the process of ensuring that your Walmart payouts match the sales and fees recorded in your accounting software. Here’s how to reconcile payments from Walmart and other payment gateways, such as PayPal or Shopify:
- Import Transactions: Automatically or manually import all sales, fees, refunds, and payouts from Walmart into your accounting software (e.g., Xero or QuickBooks).
- Categorize Transactions: Ensure that each transaction is categorized correctly into sales, fees, refunds, or shipping.
- Check Bank Deposits: Review your bank statements to match Walmart’s payout amounts to the deposits made in your account.
- Reconcile: Use the reconciliation feature in your accounting software (such as one-click reconciliation with Link My Books) to match transactions with the corresponding deposits.
- Review for Discrepancies: If there’s a discrepancy, check if all transactions and fees (including refunds) have been correctly entered.
FAQ
How to Record a Sale on Walmart for Accounting?
Sales on Walmart can be recorded manually or automatically. If you use accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks integrated with Link My Books, all Walmart sales are automatically imported into your accounting system, categorized, and reconciled. You’ll see sales, fees, and taxes correctly recorded without manual entry.
What Accounting Software Does Walmart Use?
Walmart sellers commonly use popular accounting software such as Xero and QuickBooks. With integrations through tools like Link My Books, sellers can automatically sync their sales data, fees, and taxes with these platforms for simplified accounting and reconciliation.
What’s the Best Way to Track Inventory for Walmart?
Tracking inventory is essential for understanding profitability and stock levels. You can use QuickBooks or Xero integrated with inventory management software to automatically track product levels, sales, and restocking needs. This way, you avoid overstocking or stockouts and gain insights into fast-moving items.
How Do You Connect Walmart to QuickBooks?
To connect Walmart to QuickBooks, you’ll need to use a third-party integration tool like Link My Books.
How Often Should I Reconcile My Walmart Sales Data With Bank Deposits?
It’s a good practice to reconcile your Walmart sales data with your bank deposits monthly or weekly, depending on your volume of sales. Regular reconciliation ensures that your financial records are accurate, and discrepancies can be spotted early.
Make Walmart Accounting Easy and Accurate With Link My Books
Link My Books simplifies Walmart accounting by automating transaction imports, categorizing sales and fees, and ensuring accurate tax calculations. With seamless integration into Xero and QuickBooks, you can enjoy one-click reconciliation, real-time financial insights, and the elimination of manual data entry errors. This helps you stay compliant with tax regulations, track inventory, and streamline your entire accounting process, leaving you more time to focus on growing your business.
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