You didn't open a store to discover shrinkage only when cash runs out.
Inventory, margins, and channels that finally match the bank. Done in QuickBooks. Fixed fee. Free assessment.
On this page: Where the channel payout goes inside QuickBooks · this week · the package · common questions
If this is your week…
You're not bad at business. The books just stopped telling the truth about the floor and the register.
Inventory is a rumor
POS says one thing, shelves say another, books say a third.
Channel mix hides losers
Online, wholesale, and walk-in revenue pile together, so you can’t kill what doesn’t work.
COGS is late and wrong
Without clean cost, every “sale” is a gamble.
The Retail Business QuickBooks Cleanup Package
Retail cleanup that makes inventory and margin honest.
Full diagnostic review
Every account reconciled and every anomaly documented before we change a thing.
Catch-up categorization
The backlog cleared with industry-correct categories, not a generic chart of accounts.
Clean handoff report
A before/after summary and simple monthly rhythm so it stays clean.
If our assessment can’t show you exactly what’s wrong and what it costs to fix, the assessment costs you nothing. No obligation either way.
Where the channel payout goes inside QuickBooks
You sold the goods. The deposit that landed in the bank is a different number. That gap is the cleanup. A card sale at the counter, an order on Shopify, and a marketplace order are different piles of money. Each one is reduced by the fee the processor keeps, and each one can be cut again by a refund before the money arrives. If the deposit is dropped into income on the day it hits the bank, the month you sold the goods and the month you got paid tell two stories.
Sales tax you collected is often inside that same deposit. It is not yours. When it sits inside the sales figure, the month looks stronger than the cash you are allowed to keep.
The shape that makes the file tell the truth is a clearing account for each channel. The sale is recorded at the full amount, on the day it happened, with the tax split out to its own account. The fee is recorded as a fee, not as a smaller sale. The refund is recorded as a refund. The deposit is then a transfer that empties the clearing account. When that account is zero, the bank and the channel agree. When it is not, the leftover is sitting where you can see it, instead of somewhere in a Saturday you no longer remember.
Gift cards are the same kind of problem in a different costume. Money you took today for a card that has not been redeemed is not a sale yet. It is an amount you still owe that customer. It belongs in a liability account until the card is used. If it sits in sales, this month looks busy and the month of redemption looks like you gave the product away.
Inventory is the third place a store file drifts. A sale should reduce the items that left the shelf, at a cost you can explain the same way next month. When the item list and the stock in the back room disagree, margin by product is a guess. Catch-up starts with the items that move and the items that hold cash, sets a cost you will use again, and lets the next sale reduce that count. You do not need a history of every unit you have ever owned. You need a count you would sign.
A plain example. Saturday you rang up in-store cards and shipped one online order. A later deposit arrived, short of Saturday's total. The short amount is the fee plus a refund you issued after the sale. In a cleaned-up file those are lines you can point to, and the deposit matches the bank without anyone retyping the day.
Bring the channel payout reports and the bank feed. You leave with each deposit having a home, gift cards no longer pretending to be profit, and a shelf count close enough to run the store.
Get your free cleanup assessment
Tell us a little about the business. We reply within one business day.
Read: Retail inventory, sales tax, and channel payouts on stevenpalmieri.com
Common questions
Why is the bank deposit smaller than what the store sold?
The payout is not the sale. The processor fee, a refund, and the day the money actually moves all sit between the order and the bank. A clearing account for each channel lets the deposit tie out without shrinking the sale.
A gift card sold today is not profit yet. Where does it belong?
It is money you still owe the shopper until they redeem the card. It belongs in a liability account, not in sales. Leaving it in sales makes this month look stronger and the month of redemption look worse.
Do you replace my CPA?
No. We make your CPA’s job easier (and often cheaper) by handing them clean, reconciled books.
Shopify + Amazon + in-store. Can you reconcile all three?
Yes. Per-channel clearing accounts so every payout ties to sales, fees, and refunds.
Will you judge the mess?
Never. Messy books are a symptom of a busy business. Fixing them is literally what we do all day.
The shelf and the item list disagree. What gets fixed first?
The items that move and the items that hold cash. Set a cost you can repeat, then let the next sale reduce that count. The aim is a margin you can read, not a perfect memoir of every unit.