A2X Newsletter (for Online Sellers) | 13 expert tips for a more profitable 2026

The holiday rush is behind us. The returns are (mostly) processed. Now comes the part that separates “busy” from “profitable” – turning last year’s numbers into a plan you can trust.

We asked our community of accounting and bookkeeping partners – the people behind some of the highest-performing ecommerce brands – for one finance move they’d prioritize for 2026.

Skim this, pick 3 tips that match your biggest pain right now, and put them on the calendar for January. Small fixes early in the year have a way of compounding.

Have a question for an ecommerce finance expert? We want to bring you more tactical tips in 2026 – reach out to let us know and we’ll help you find the answer!

✅ Get the basics right

Before you chase growth, make sure your numbers can keep up. These are the basic fixes that prevent expensive surprises later.

Cash vs. profit: reconcile the gap

“If your bank balance does not make sense compared to your reported profit, something is broken. Before setting 2026 budgets or growth targets, sellers should reconcile cash movements to profit, including inventory timing, loan accounts, owner drawings, and tax liabilities. We regularly see fast-growing brands with strong sales and profits but hidden cash flow leaks due to poor reconciliation between systems. Fixing this early changes everything.”

— Natalie McDermott, Kelly+Partners

Find out if payment processors are hiding your true costs

“The new year is the perfect time to clean up your bookkeeping, especially how you handle money coming in from payment gateways. Ecommerce sellers can fall into the common trap of only recording the net deposit (where the processor has already taken their cut). This error hides your true expenses and makes your revenue look too low. The general fix: set up a Current Asset Clearing Account for each processor. When you get a payout, you’ll typically need three separate steps: record the full gross sale amount, record the net deposit into your bank, and then post the processor fee as a distinct expense. This habit makes sure that account balances out to zero, guaranteeing you catch every single cost for accurate, reliable financials. Every payment gateway is different – get step-by-step walkthroughs for how to reconcile popular gateways in my video series with A2X.”

— Teresa Slack, The E-Commerce Training Academy

Build a P&L that actually helps you make decisions

“Is your P&L truly giving you the clarity you need to run your ecommerce business in 2026? If you’re relying on the default report in your accounting software – it’s likely falling short. We teamed up with A2X to break down how a Shopify P&L should be structured so you can surface real, actionable insights.”

— Simon Davis, SBO Financial

📊 Master your margins

Margins don’t disappear all at once – they leak through landed costs, stale unit costs, and “nice” offers that quietly turn SKUs unprofitable.

Landed costs: treat it as “all in”

“My top ecommerce bookkeeping tip for 2026 is to get your landed costs right – and apply the rule: ‘All in until it’s in.’ Inbound freight, duty, packaging, and any cost required to bring a product into your business should always be included in COGS. Clean landed costs lead to cleaner margins, more reliable profitability reporting, and far better decision-making throughout the year.”

— Phil Oakley, Outserve

Refresh unit costs so gross profit isn’t lying to you

“2025 brought big swings in landed costs driven by tariffs and other rising expenses. I’ve noticed some sellers haven’t kept their product unit costs up to date. If that’s you, 2026 is a good opportunity to reset. Start with a solid inventory count, then reconcile any differences to the books as needed. From there, take a hard look at how you’re tracking landed costs. Commit to updating unit costs on a regular cadence. COGS is one of your largest expenses, and understated COGS can make gross profit look better than it really is. If maintaining spreadsheets isn’t your thing, consider outsourcing this work to a dedicated analyst. You can also move to more systematic tools – an inventory management system like Finale can help tighten inventory accuracy (and it integrates with A2X).”

— Steve Freshour, The Seller CPA

Free shipping: confirm it still pays

“With shipping and fulfillment costs on the rise, sellers need to break down their profit margins by SKU after fulfillment costs. A general P&L often hides SKUs that are profitable at the gross margin level but unprofitable after fulfillment. Re-evaluate shipping strategies and minimum order values.”

— Lahari Neelapareddy, LN Accounting

Cut costs, tighten ops, and track the bottom line like it matters

“I think the focus for this year should really be about where you can cut costs. Unfortunately, we have a complex economy right now, especially for inventory-based businesses. Digging into your expenses to really review what you can cut, especially if you’re coming out of a period of high growth where that wasn’t a priority for a while, will be really helpful. This doesn’t have to just look like cutting things either. You can also really review where you can make your processes more efficient with better SOPs or automation. And, it’s so basic and obvious, but make sure you’re properly tracking net income. A lot of entrepreneurs get so excited about top line revenue, they don’t want to look at the not so fun expenses and what that means for the bottom line.”

— Abby Cleckner, Acuity

💸 Get ahead of your cash flow

Revenue is a story. Cash timing is reality. The brands that stay steady plan around when money moves, not just when sales happen.

Build a 12-month cash flow forecast you’ll actually use

“If you want a calmer 2026, optimize your cash flow forecast first. Most ecommerce brands I see plan to spend around assumptions on top line sales. The stable ones plan around cash flow timing, including inventory lead times, vendor terms, and when cash actually flows into or leaves their bank accounts. Tip: Do a larger 12-month cash flow forecast early in January. Then, update it monthly or quarterly. Set up a cadence for consistent comparison and reflection. Layer in your inventory forecasts. Then pressure-test it against your real burn rates and sales performance. It’s boring, often manual work in Google Sheets or Excel, but it’s also the difference between coasting through the year and getting blindsided in Q3 when your bank balance tanks out of nowhere and you’re looking to make a big restock purchase in prep for BFCM.”

— Wayne Richard, Bean Ninjas

Give every dollar a job (especially around taxes)

“At the end of the year, your bank account will likely be full. It’s tempting to want to pay off debt or splurge a little. I recommend pulling out the extra cash, the amount above your typical balance. Over the first few weeks of the new year, get an estimate of your 2025 taxes due and set that aside. Then consider the best use of the remaining balance. Make sure the money will be put to work to further your business goals, not just used in everyday operations.”

— Cyndi Thomason, bookskeep

🧠 Build a strategy for sanity & growth

Less firefighting. More repeatable decisions. Set a framework now so the year doesn’t run you.

Replace “whack-a-mole” with a real planning rhythm

“Stop playing “whack-a-mole” when it comes to strategic planning for 2026.
➡️ Stop, think, plan: You cannot react your way to growth. You must pause to document the good things you want to happen, the bad things you want to avoid, and visualize the optimal outcome for the year or quarter.
➡️ Adopt a business framework: Run your business within a structured framework (like EOS – Entrepreneurial Operating System). This is the only way to stop playing “whack-a-mole” on issues that pop up every hour and actually move the business forward.
➡️ Seek external expertise: Do not go it alone. Ask for help, leverage external expertise, lean on peers, or join a mastermind.
➡️ Finish what you start: Focus on finishing any project as efficiently as possible. There are an infinite number of new challenges waiting, so you cannot let old projects drag on.”
— Scott Scharf, Scharf Consulting

Delegate the work that drains you (or slows you down)

“Looking back at 2025, ask yourself what were the pain points or business tasks you dreaded doing the most or felt like they were being done incorrectly? Consider delegating that task to a software or expert so you have more time to do what you enjoy most with the business.”

— Lee Sutkowi, Acuity

🌍 Scale compliantly

Expansion is exciting. Compliance is expensive when it’s an afterthought. Set up the tracking before you add complexity.

Segment sales and fees before you go international

“If you’re planning on expanding by selling into new international regions in 2026, be sure to consult with your ecommerce accountant or bookkeeper to confirm you are set up to expand correctly and compliantly. A critical tactical move they can help you implement is ensuring your financial system tracks sales and fees by specific country or region before you launch. By default, platforms often lump all international sales together, making it impossible to monitor individual country tax thresholds (like VAT or sales tax). Use bookkeeping automation (like A2X with Xero/QuickBooks tracking categories) to segment this data. This initial setup is vital: it allows you to accurately forecast cash flow for future tax payments, weigh the true costs of expansion, and stay ahead of compliance requirements in every new market you enter. (For UK-based sellers interested in global expansion, watch this video guide!)”

— Victoria Port, MVP Bookkeeping

Keep sales tax payable clean (and sleep better)

“Make reconciling your Sales Tax Payable account a consistent habit in the new year. This account represents tax you collected but do not own – you are merely ‘babysitting it for the state’.

Reconciliation cadence: Ideally, reconcile the account monthly, or at least quarterly.

The goal: The account should aim to zero out after the filing period’s payment clears, before tax for the new period is recorded.

The process: Compare two simple things each period:
1️⃣ Sales tax collected (from your platforms or tax engine)
2️⃣ Sales tax remitted (from your sales tax returns and bank payments)

Common errors to fix: Be sure to check for and correct these common issues:
➡️ Sales tax is hitting the revenue/P&L (it should be in a liability account).
➡️ Sales tax payments are hitting the P&L as an expense (they should reduce the liability).
A mismatch exists between collected and remitted amounts.

Why it matters: Keeping this liability account clean is one of the fastest ways to lower your audit risk and provides genuine confidence in your compliance, helping you sleep better and start the year right.’

— Shane Rowley, Nimbl

Have a financial question about your ecommerce business? Reach out and tell us what you’re working through – we’ll help you find the answer.

Here’s to a profitable 2026!

– Geoffrey