Recently, we were confronted with a unique issue. An eCommerce client who sells on Amazon came to us and wanted to stay with Quickbooks Desktop. Typically during the onboarding process, we’re migrating clients from Quickbooks Desktop to the cloud solution, Quickbooks Online (QBO), not keeping them on a desktop tool.
Though we were skeptical, it’s important for us that the technology stack we use best serves our clients’ needs – now and as they grow.
So we embarked on a research project to determine the best setup for this client.
The Project Requirements
Here were the requirements and assumptions:
- Full technology setup and ongoing bookkeeping, accounts payable, and monthly financial reporting
- Either Quickbooks Desktop or Quickbooks Online for the accounting software
- Full automation of recording and reconciling transactions
- Integration with Amazon Seller Central or Amazon FBA
- Compatible with Amazon.ca
- Assembly inventory tracking for their light manufacturing
Accounting Tools for Evaluation
Once the requirements were set, we shortlisted 2 amazon accounting apps that might meet our client's needs:
- A2X
- Entriwise
Accounting Tool #1: A2X
A2X is an eCommerce accounting app that posts Shopify, Amazon and Walmart sales and fees directly into QuickBooks or Xero. As Xero is not a part of our evaluation, specific details relating to this tool won’t be included in the breakdown.
Functionality:
- Integrates with QBO
- Can customize the integration to accommodate what data you want and how it’s presented
- Will group and reconcile transactions based on orders and payouts from Amazon and will then match to the bank feed in the accounting system
- Single sign-on (SSO) with Google, Intuit, or Xero for ease of access
- Can handle multiple currencies and tax codes
Accounting details:
- An Amazon settlement is posted in QBO as a journal entry in the bank register where it can reconcile against the deposit that will hit the account in the bank feed
- Can set up inventory accounting in QBO
- All posts are journal entries that require approval before they can be reconciled
In terms of pricing, it varies between $19 - $139 USD per month and is heavily dependent on order volume.
Accounting Tool #2: Entriwise
Entriwise offers Quickbooks accounting for Amazon sellers.
Functionality:
- Integrates with Quickbooks Desktop Pro/Premier/Enterprise and QBO Plus in Canada
- Offers custom account mapping
- Involved set up process
- Handles Amazon Seller Central and FBA transactions
- Sync can be automated
- Overview dashboard similar to Amazon to Accounting
Accounting details:
- Imports Amazon orders as sales receipts
- Includes inventory accounting
- Can map products
- Automated reconciliation with Amazon statements
There are 3 pricing tiers that offer different features and then the price scales based on transaction volume.
The winning combination
As we evaluated the tools, we found that Entriwise had the most comprehensive solution.
With A2X, transactions are posted as journal entries. If possible, we prefer to post-sales receipts as there is better tracking and more detail. With journal entries, they are challenging to audit, review, and troubleshoot, especially when there are thousands.
In addition to posting sales receipts, Entriwise also has the best dashboard, and of course, offers the inventory accounting that was necessary. Our preference was not to have to find another integration to track inventory.
Now for the accounting solution. Though we rarely work with desktop solutions, inventory tracking was only available through Quickbooks Desktop (for now at least). To alleviate some of the challenges common with desktop tools – and key reasons for us to recommend cloud solutions – we decided to host this instance in the cloud using Microsoft Azure.
With cloud hosting, we’re able to reap many benefits of QBO including its accessibility. Additionally, we found that tools like Dext Prepare, which we recommend for expense tracking, are compatible with Quickbooks Desktop. This allows us to continue to leverage our cloud process best practices with a desktop app.
The winning combination was Quickbooks Desktop and Entriwise, but each business may have differing needs. At Enkel, we work with many eCommerce companies to create a scalable cloud-based accounting process and manage their books on a monthly basis. If you’d like to learn more about how we work with ecommerce companies just like yours, please reach out.
How We Select and Evaluate Our Recommended Software
We thoroughly research and test the apps we include in our regular workflow for Client bookkeeping services. After deciding on criteria for evaluating the software and then researching the app itself, we tested the app, noting its strengths and weaknesses. We then work with the app for at least a few weeks before deciding whether to recommend it to our readers. We use the software as it was designed for its intended tasks. For a detailed walk-through of how we select and evaluate software, please see the details of our process.
