In today’s era of globalization, businesses are reaching customers far beyond their local markets. This expansion has opened up a world of opportunities but it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Among the challenges business owners and accounting and bookkeeping professionals serving them face are managing multicurrency transactions and tracking taxes across different jurisdictions. What adds even more complexity is that businesses often also want to understand their sales distribution across countries for strategic decision-making.
This is the problem that Lauren C., an experienced CPA working with multiple e-commerce clients, was trying to solve with accounting software. Today we’d like to look into Lauren’s story, delve deeper into her experience of using Synder – the way it has risen to these challenges, offering a streamlined approach that greatly simplified her bookkeeping processes.
Facing multiple challenges
It all started when Lauren was about to onboard a new client, a retail business with rising sales on Shopify and Amazon, who accepted payments via Square, Stripe and PayPal and used QuickBooks Online as their accounting platform. The business in question was selling throughout the US, Canada and the UK, so one of the first challenges was recording a huge volume of mulicurrency transactions. With 3 countries and lots of states, tracking taxes wasn’t an easy task either. As an additional point of interest and definitely a challenge for Lauren, the client wanted to understand their product sales by country.
Lauren understood that tackling those challenges manually wouldn’t be possible and she immediately started to look for ways to automate all these processes just to learn that this quest was a tough one.
We were looking for an automation that can sync summarized entries, as we did have thousands of sales a month and entering each one wasn’t making sense. And the software had to be highly customizable so that we could track all the things we wanted.
Having gone through a number of options, she asked for peer advice, and that’s how she found Synder.
Synder: One solution to rise up to all accounting challenges
Dealing with lots of transactions from multiple platforms
As the business grows, so does the number of sales. Recording detailed data for all payments becomes unnecessary: when you add different platforms to the equation, your accounting system becomes overloaded with details you don’t actually need. Usually a business is concerned about a bigger picture – how much they make per platform and which platform performs better. That’s what Lauren required and her client wanted.
Synder offered a solution – the Daily Summary feature which provides a single daily journal entry per each connected integration to the accounting software you’re using. This way, the software records transactions in a more generalized way but you can still see all sales, fees, taxes, refunds, etc. for each platform. Both Lauren and her client got what they desired – no manual data entry, no data overload, yet, lots of actionable data.
We were lucky to be suggested trying Synder! It has the Daily Summary mode that allows for posting one Journal Entry a day and is customizable enough.
Overcoming the multicurrency hurdle
For a business selling across different countries, dealing with multiple currencies can be daunting. Lauren knew that the fluctuating exchange rates and the potential for errors in conversion can cause significant problems. Synder came in to offer a tailor-made solution.
One of the main accounting challenges for this client was multicurrency, and Synder was perfectly able to manage conversion rates transfers.
By implementing a system that takes the conversion rates from the payment processors, Synder ensures that every transaction is accurately recorded in the correct currency. What’s more, it provides real-time updates to reflect the current exchange rates, minimizing any errors due to rate fluctuations and using a separate account to put all the exchange differences if such appear. This way you can have complete transparency of what is going on in your payment processor.
The growing number of international transactions no longer seemed to be a problem for Lauren. In fact, now she even encourages the business to explore the possibility of expanding to new markets – Lauren knows that Synder can handle this challenge well.
Simplified tax tracking across jurisdictions
Keeping track of tax obligations across multiple countries and different states within the US can be a complex and time-consuming process. Each jurisdiction has its tax rules and regulations, which businesses must comply with. Non-compliance could result in hefty fines and reputational damage. That’s not something Lauren wanted to experience with this client.
Synder accurately tracks all the tax amounts calculated by the sales channel and transfers them to the books. Lauren’s client wanted to see sales and taxes by state, so Synder was set up to show all sales results by state. Having taxes mapped this way gives them the transparency they need in their books.
What really changed the game for me was that there was a breakdown for states in Canada and the US. I can keep track of taxes in the Balance Sheet, even though the tax reporting is done via a third party app.
Empowering businesses with product- and country-wise sales insights
Understanding product performance and sales distribution across different countries is crucial for businesses to make strategic decisions. However, Lauren knew from the very beginning that gathering this data and making sense of it can be challenging. Synder made this process easier by categorizing and assigning classes in QuickBooks.
With Synder’s customization, we were finally able to see income for each product. In order to see sales by both product and country, we used classes in QuickBooks, which Synder supports as well. I’m relieved to say that our profit and loss now is perfectly detailed and always up to date with sales, COGS and breakdown by countries.
Lauren’s client understands their market spread better now thanks to Synder’s smart automation. This valuable information helps this business tailor their marketing strategies to maximize profits, and Lauren is a trusted advisor in this case.
Final thoughts
In an increasingly globalized marketplace, the need for tools that simplify international operations cannot be overstated. Synder’s ability to handle multicurrency transactions, tax tracking across jurisdictions, and sales tracking by country makes it an indispensable tool for accounting and bookkeeping professionals who work with e-commerce businesses that are actively expanding their global footprint.
By taking on these complex tasks, Synder enables accountants to focus on what they do best: providing excellent services to their clients, no matter how complex their needs are.
Lauren has managed to solve big accounting issues for her client and become indispensable in their strategic decision-making. All while ensuring that the bookkeeping processes are optimized and can be scaled further as their business grows.
Want to see what Synder can do for your accounting practice? Discover the potential of Synder by signing up for a 15-day free trial, or book office hours with a specialist to explore the tool’s functionality and ask questions. Get the ultimate solution to streamline your work and secure professional relationships with your clients!
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