Inventory Accounting
Track what you have, calculate what it cost, and keep your inventory numbers synced with QuickBooks.
What This Is
If you sell physical products, you need to track what you have, what it cost you, and what happens when it sells. That’s inventory accounting. It’s the difference between guessing at your profit margins and actually knowing them. Without it, your income statement is telling you a story that might not be true.
The challenge is keeping inventory records in sync with your books. Most businesses track stock one way and do accounting another way, and the two never quite match. We connect your inventory management to QuickBooks so everything flows together automatically and the numbers stay accurate.
What We Track
What We Track
Units on hand, purchase costs, landed costs if you import, and value by product or category. When inventory sells, the cost flows to COGS on your income statement. When you buy more, it goes to inventory on your balance sheet. Every movement gets recorded correctly.
The Integration
The Integration
Your point of sale, e-commerce platform, or inventory app connects to QuickBooks. Sales reduce inventory and record revenue. Purchases increase inventory and track what you owe vendors. The numbers match at month end without you entering the same data twice.
Why This Matters
Most product-based businesses don’t know their real profit margins. They look at revenue and think they’re doing well, but they’re not accounting for what the inventory actually cost. When you factor in purchase price, shipping, duties, and shrinkage, the margin is often much smaller than expected. Some products are losing money and nobody notices.
The other problem is cash. Inventory is money sitting on shelves. Order too much and you’re short on cash for payroll or rent. Run out and you lose sales. Without accurate tracking, you’re making ordering decisions based on gut feeling instead of data, and that leads to either empty shelves or a warehouse full of stuff nobody wants.
The Margin Problem
The Margin Problem
A 30% markup looks great until you realize shipping costs ate half of it. Or that you’ve been calculating COGS using one method while your accountant assumed another. Small errors in inventory valuation compound over thousands of transactions. By year end, your reported profit might be off by tens of thousands.
The Cash Trap
The Cash Trap
Every dollar in inventory is a dollar you can’t spend elsewhere. Businesses routinely tie up $50,000 or more in stock they don’t need while struggling to cover operating expenses. Proper tracking shows you what’s moving and what’s collecting dust so you stop buying things that just sit there.
What Changes
You know exactly what you have, what it cost, and what it’s worth. Your income statement shows real gross margins based on actual cost of goods sold. Your balance sheet reflects inventory at its true value. The numbers match reality, and you can trust the reports you’re looking at when making decisions.
Ordering becomes logical. You can see which products are turning fast and which are sitting. You know when to reorder and how much to buy. Year-end inventory counts stop being a nightmare because the records are already accurate. You’re managing inventory instead of just hoping it works out.
Accurate Margins
Accurate Margins
When you know your true cost per product including all the hidden costs, you can price intelligently. You can identify which products make money and which ones aren’t worth carrying. You stop promoting items that lose money and focus on the ones that actually drive profit.
Better Cash Flow
Better Cash Flow
Inventory levels stay optimized. You’re not tying up cash in dead stock. Reorder points are based on actual sales velocity, not hunches. The money in your bank account reflects what you have available to operate, not what’s locked up in products that haven’t moved in six months.
LA's Small Business Bookkeeper
The Next Step:
A Short Conversation
Tell us about your business and what you're dealing with. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a clear price for the work.