Businesses of every size can learn a lot from Walmart’s e-commerce accounting practices. This giant retailer has developed an impressive system that integrates its online store with its traditional stores. Let’s dive into the fundamentals of their accounting practices.
Outstanding Inventory Tracking
Inventory management plays a vital role in e-commerce services, and particularly in Walmart accounting. After all, Walmart wants to satisfy customers. When consumers place an order, they expect to receive their order in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, system errors can cause discrepancies between e-commerce and physical inventories. When this happens, those customers are not satisfied.
And that has several negative knock-on effects. Besides losing sales to competitors, inventory could become stagnant, or products could become obsolete.
But that’s only one aspect to consider. Walmart also allows online shoppers to buy goods from local stores. And that can be tricky. For example, if employees don’t quickly pull an order, an in-store shopper might buy it before it is able to be shipped.
To resolve these kinds of challenges, Walmart makes use of CFO advisory CPAs. These team members monitor and analyze inventory levels for various items to support the purchasing department. This helps Walmart forecast sales in such a way that suppliers have enough time to scale production. As a result, the right goods arrive at the right distribution centers at the right time.
We can help you with something similar
Fusion CPA services feature everything from outsourced bookkeeping to advisory services to help your business stay on top of everything. We can even help you choose and implement the best accounting software to ensure your inventory management is top of the class.
Tax Planning
Walmart’s tax planning involves an extensive network of accounting teams that work together to minimize the company’s tax liability. For example, their tax accountants depend on Walmart’s e-commerce accounting system to track sales taxes based on the location of their customers. Whenever Walmart does not comply with the tax laws of regional, state and local jurisdictions, the company is liable for substantial penalties.
Auditors and investors also both depend on the Walmart bookkeeping system to keep track of the firm’s taxable revenue. Without effective tax planning, a healthy gross sales figure could become troubling. For this reason, Walmart’s advisory accountants continuously monitor the company’s sales totals and strategically shift inventory and other assets to reduce the amount of taxes Walmart must pay.
Besides sales and income taxes, the Walmart tax planning team must consider property taxes and payroll taxes. After all, the location and size of their facilities can impact the firm’s profitability. As such, accountants must work with the company’s human resources team to minimize the impact of labor on the company’s bottom line.
We can help you with something similar
Our tax team has years of experience in e-commerce taxation for businesses of all sizes, including those that work in multiple states. This means we can help you with everything from tax planning and strategy, to maximizing possible benefits, and helping you reduce your tax liability.
By properly managing inventory and planning for taxes, Walmart can continuously improve profitability and please shareholders. And we can help your business benefit from doing the same.
With our e-commerce accounting services, you can stay focused on growing and managing your business and enjoy the benefits of expert e-commerce inventory management, bookkeeping, and tax planning. You’ll also have the help of our team of experienced e-commerce CFO advisors to help with negotiating contracts, positioning products, and developing financial strategies that can support long-term growth and stability. Avoid becoming overwhelmed.
To see how we can help you put your e-commerce business on the right track, schedule a Discovery Call.
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