Are you in the Retail Business?
You and we both understand that accounting for retail business is crucial. However, it is important to note that accounting for online retail businesses has various benefits as well.
It helps us see where we spend the most, how we can cut some costs, and how best to deploy money.
Read on to learn more about how accounting works in business and the pros and cons of using a good retailer’s own financial records. It can help you keep an accurate record of your finances.
What is Retail Accounting?
Accounting for retail is an approach to valuing inventory. Because accounting for retail inventory is valued based on the selling price rather than the purchase price, it differs from “cost accounting” for inventory.
A slight misconception exists with the term “retail accounting.”
In this type of accounting, you evaluate your inventory’s worth rather than calculating it manually.
Things to Know About Accounting in the Retail Business
Learn how retail store accounting methods have transformed over time, from traditional to technological methods.
1. Utilisation of Retail Accounting Software
Accounting for retail businesses is crucial, and that is where accounting software helps to reduce human mistakes and save time and money.
A centralised database and a “retail-centric” paradigm should be used in conjunction with fully integrated accounting systems. Additionally, you must be able to provide a real-time view of your store’s gross profit as well as document assets, liabilities, expenses, and revenues.
2. Invoice and Billing Creation
The accounting for retail business and financial responsibilities are finished by the ERP system, which also makes sure taxes are paid on time. Drill-down to PO detail should be included in invoice matching. Future liability estimates are required for centrally managed leases and rent billing.
3. Making a Budget and Forecasting the Results
Employing the data trend gathered from the previous year, businesses can compute and understand financial performance for the current year as well as aid in estimating the predicted year’s budget. By utilising this budgeting and forecasting tool, businesses can create their estimates and set reasonable sales targets.
4. Asset Administration
A single tool for more precise financial data management is fixed asset management. Features in this area include cost records, depreciation calculations, resource distribution to departments, and audit history, among others.
5. Point-of-Sale
In order to accomplish these goals, a smart retail system combines personal information as well as purchase history.
Quickly obtaining this information and offering a range of solutions to satisfy your customer’s wants should be the goals of the point-of-sale software.
6. Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Look for an inventory control functionality retail method of accounting solution that includes capability for order management, fulfilment, warehouse management, returns, and other areas. It will be less expensive and quicker to manage your supply chain if you keep them all in the same system. When it makes sense, you can even drop-ship if you can determine when inventory is low. Select retail management software with SCM capabilities like order management and fulfilment that combines sales and inventory data.
7. Openness to integration
The ability to combine the accounting system with retail management software, productivity apps, and other retail services is flexible.
Integrated payroll services are the best option for commissions and incentives since they are rule-based and sent directly to your payroll provider.
8. Management of Inventory
With different businesses or channels, you may manage your inventory and expense allocation with ease with the accounting for small retail business management feature.
You must select the best accounting software that can track inventory if you want to boost your profitability and reduce overhead costs. It can regulate product availability and movement and prevent delivery problems like overstocking or understocking.
9. Reporting
A strong retail finance system should offer reporting at several grouping levels. Retailers can identify areas for development at the shop and regional levels by using technologies for reporting and analytics in the retail industry. You’ll find it easier to obtain insights and turn them into sound business decisions if you choose a retail solution with these qualities.
Depending on your company’s demands, comprehensive solutions that integrate point-of-sale, customer relationship management, accounting, SCM, inventory control, and reporting are the best for accounting software.
Also Read: Top 11 Reasons Why Accounting is Important for Your Business
The Pros and Cons of Retail Accounting
Pros
The following are a few advantages of retail store accounting:
- Logistics
Your actual inventory is less important in retail accounting than your understanding of the retail prices for all of your products. This convenience is especially valuable if you manage many outlets because it will save you time when conducting physical inventories.
- Simple Computations
Calculating the value of your inventory is easy since the retail method of accounting works under the premise that all units of one item are priced the same and go through the same price changes. Using this simplified formula also makes creating financial statements much simpler.
- Least Affordable
You won’t need to perform manual inventory counts as regularly, but they are still crucial. Because manual counts require you to either keep your storefront closed while your personnel examine your merchandise or pay them extra for taking inventory after business hours, that could reduce your expenses.
Cons
The following are some disadvantages:
- Accuracy Issues
Accounting for retail businesses can be unreliable if the prices of your products fluctuate frequently. This is because frequent price changes cast doubt on the core tenet of retail management: that pricing, price changes, and price change rates are the same for all units of a single item.
- Provides an Estimated Value
A retail calculation only offers an estimate of the value of your inventory at best because it bases pricing assumptions on inflated prices. Hence, accounting for retail inventory is probably not going to be able to suit your objectives if you require precise price values.
- Ineffectiveness with Discounts
When you conduct promotions, since accounting for retail stores presumes a steady markup, it can easily become erroneous.
The retail method of accounting
You need to keep an eye on the price of the products you offer in order to track your sales and profit. Costs may be determined using a variety of techniques. Keep track of the technique you employ since you’ll need to remember it when it comes time to submit your tax return.
1. Inventory: Costing Method
Three different costing techniques are often used by enterprises to keep track of their inventory. In order to achieve this, you must develop a method for calculating the cost of products sold.
- First in, first out (FIFO)
- Last in, first out (LIFO)
- Average weighted
2. Inventory: Retail method
To determine the cost of products sold and your ending inventory, use the retail or cost-to-retail methods.
3. Keeping track of inventory amounts
After having the calculation of your expenditure and the profit you have made from the goods, you need to know your inventory stock to fulfil the customer’s requirements.
- Inventory: Perpetual method
- Inventory: Periodic method
4. Accounting 101
The crucial thing is to maintain the accounting book accurately.
Three primary financial statements must be regularly updated as-
- Income statement
- Balance sheet
- Cash flow
5. Accounting software automation
Your whole financial situation, including purchase and sales orders, is monitored by accounting software.
An example of accounting for retail
To further understand the accounting for small retail business techniques discussed above, let’s look at an example.
Imagine that you manage a retail store with a wide selection of clothing.
Let’s also say that you mark everything up by 20% and that the value of your inventory in the previous quarter was AED 50,000. In this case, if you have AED 25,000 in sales at the end of the current quarter and AED 5,000 in new inventory, you may use accounting for retail sales to determine the value of your inventory.
The primary values in this example will be listed first:
- AED 50,000 is the starting cost of the inventory.
- AED 5,000 will be spent on new at-cost merchandise.
- The total cost of inventory is AED 50,000.
- Retail sales totaled 25,000 AED.
- Total retail sales, including markup: 25,000 AED x 20% = 5,000 AED
You can calculate an estimate of the worth of your inventory using these figures. To achieve this, divide your total at-cost inventory by your total retail sales with markup. This gives you the value of your inventory using the retail store accounting methods, which is AED 50,000 – AED 5,000 = AED 45,000.
Keeping track of your accounting should be one of your retail business’s top tasks. Inventories can make this more challenging, but using the proper formula to determine your cost of goods sold and keeping track of it infrequently or continuously will assist.
Take Away
Accounting for retail businesses works best when it combines point-of-sale, customer relationship management, accounting, supply chain management (SCM), inventory control, and reporting, depending on the needs of your business.
The work is well worth it, even though studying corporate accounting may seem like a challenging mountain to climb. Accounting can influence important business and financial decisions and aid in your understanding of the big picture of your firm. Learning the accounting discipline will help your business grow.
FAQs
How is accounting used in retail?
The ability to maintain correct records is one of the key components of good accounting. The cash flow statement, income statement, and balance sheet are the three crucial financial statements that you or your accountant must keep up-to-date. These financial statements are required not only for tax purposes but for all retail establishments and businesses.
Why is accounting important in the retail business?
Accounting is crucial to any retail company. It enables us to determine where we spend the most money, how to reduce expenses, and the most effective ways to allocate financial resources to various departments like marketing, order fulfilment, warehouse management, and so forth.