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Getting Started With A2X Checklist
Getting Started With A2X Checklist

Important resources and step-by-step instructions to set up your A2X account successfully

Amy Crooymans avatar
Written by Amy Crooymans
Updated over a week ago

Steps to complete


Before you get started

Welcome! You’re a few steps away from automated, accurate ecommerce financials. This Getting Started Checklist will provide you with important resources and step-by-step instructions to set up your A2X account successfully.

Before getting started, here are some important considerations:

Do you have an ecommerce accountant?

  • If you work with an accountant or bookkeeper, we recommend consulting with them during the setup of your A2X accounts, especially for the accounts and tax mapping stage of the process. You can invite them as a user and they are more than welcome to join our partner program.

  • If you don't have an accountant or bookkeeper specializing in ecommerce, you can easily find one in our accountant and bookkeeper directory. These are accountants and bookkeepers that have a lot of experience with A2X and ecommerce. We can even help you find the right bookkeeper to suit your needs.

If you do your own bookkeeping, you can access our helpdesk for additional information or connect with us directly via support if you have any questions.

Support

A2X has a 24/7 support team that you can contact via the chat icon in the bottom right corner of your screen. When you chat with our support team, you’re connecting with real people, many of whom have a background in accounting or bookkeeping. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Trial mode

When you first create your A2X account it will default to ‘Trial mode’ aka our free trial. You’ll know that your account is in ‘Trial mode’ when you see a banner at the top of your page that says 'You're in Trial mode'.

When you’re in ‘Trial mode’ the data you’ll be able to view and post to your accounting software will be limited. When you connect to your sales channel, A2X will fetch the last 5-10 payouts. While in 'Trial mode’, A2X won’t bring in any new data. New data will come into your account when you subscribe.


Setting up your A2X account

You need to complete three key steps to set up your A2X account.

  1. Connecting - In this step, you'll connect your ecommerce store or marketplace, and your accounting software.

  2. Accounts and tax mapping - In this step, you'll choose which accounts you'd like your data posted to in your accounting software. You'll also select what tax rates should be applied to your different transactions if this is applicable in your accounting software.

  3. Reconcile - In this step, you'll send your first entry through to your accounting software and reconcile it to a payout in the banking screen.

Once you've completed these steps, your A2X account will be set up, and you will have reconciled your first payment. When the setup is complete and you're happy with how A2X is working, A2X will fetch and organize the data in the background before posting to your accounting software, meaning that you'll never have to worry about manually reconciling your ecommerce payments again.


1. Connecting

Sales channel - marketplace or storefront

To connect your sales channel, log into A2X and click 'Continue with (your chosen sales channel)' and follow the prompts.

Once connected, data will flow into A2X, but nothing will change within your sales channel. You can disconnect A2X at any time.

Click below for more information about connecting to your specific sales channel:

Common questions


Connecting your Accounting Software

It’s important to note that when you connect your accounting software nothing will be posted from A2X until you provide approval.

Navigate to the 'Connect to accounting' section and click on 'Connect' to your accounting software and follow the prompts.

You'll get the option to choose which organization/company you'd like to connect to; this is particularly useful if you have multiple organizations/companies. You can connect more than one A2X account to a single organization/company. You can also connect different A2X accounts to different organizations/companies.

Once you've connected to your accounting software, you may be prompted to select which bank account your deposits are posted into and which credit card is used to pay owed amounts. This bank account and credit card should be the ones you have linked in your seller account (i.e., to Amazon or Shopify, etc.) Should you need to change the bank account or credit card, you can update them in the A2X settings by clicking on 'settings' > 'connections'.

Click below for more information about connecting to your accounting software:

Common questions

Pre-approve invoices in Xero [support article].


Setting up a custom connection

If you’re using a desktop accounting software or a cloud platform that A2X doesn't have a direct integration with, it's possible to set up a custom connection. A custom connection integration will require you to upload your chart of accounts manually into A2X. You’ll also need to manually export the entries out of A2X and upload them into your accounting system. Although it's an extra step, you’ll still benefit from A2X creating tidy, accurate summaries that match the payouts you receive. More on these options below:


Multiple or different currencies

There are many different scenarios that could mean you're dealing with foreign currency conversion. For Shopify, some stores will have multiple currencies within the store, others will have one currency because the Shopify store converted everything to the home currency.

For Amazon, the currency is always based on the marketplace A2X will always display the payouts in the currency they were sold in. For example, if the sale occurred on amazon.com, the payout will come into A2X in USD. However, you might be selling in multiple currencies; these currencies might also be different from your home bank account currency. Amazon or a third-party service could be converting the funds for you.

The conversion happens in your accounting software and this may require just one extra step when reconciling.


2. Accounts & tax mapping

The next part of the setup is the accounts and tax mapping. In this section, you’ll select which accounts (Chart of Accounts or General Ledger) you’d like your transactions posted to in your accounting system. Think of it as creating the rules.

If you are selling on Amazon or Shopify, in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, then A2X can automate the accounts and tax mapping process for you, using the assisted setup feature.

If you’re selling on eBay, Etsy, Walmart, or on Amazon or Shopify and outside of the countries listed above, then you can just to the accounts section below to start mapping your accounts.

Assisted Setup will be available on all new Amazon and Shopify accounts Additional channels to be announced in the future.

Assisted Setup

When you visit the Accounts and Tax Mapping page, you'll see an onboarding questionnaire that asks you a series of questions. Once questions are answered, A2X will then automatically suggest the required Chart of Accounts and apply the tax rate to all of your transaction lines.

With just a few clicks, you can now automate the whole accounts and tax mapping process.

Click below to view specific accounts and tax mapping instructions for your region:

US & CA assisted mapping.

UK & EU assisted mapping.

AU & NZ assisted mapping.

Accounts

If you’re selling on eBay, Etsy, or Walmart you’re selling outside of the main regions for Amazon or Shopify, you will need to select your account and tax rate for each transaction line.

This step will likely be the most time-consuming part of the setup process, but it only needs to be done once, and then it will apply to all future payouts. You’ll need your store/marketplace and your accounting software connected before you can start mapping.

A2X can recommend default which accounts for accurate ecommerce accounting, and can even create these directly in your accounting software. Using these default accounts is a great place to start and then you can update specific accounts should you like.

Click below for more information about mapping your specific sales channel:


Taxes

The second part of the mapping section is selecting a tax rate. All transaction lines need to be filled in, either with a tax rate or by selecting 'no tax'. You'll choose a tax rate if you want your accounting system to calculate tax on that transaction. Applying a tax rate is more common when using Xero or a system that will calculate your tax return.

If you don't want your accounting system to apply a tax rate, and instead just pass any tax collected directly to a tax account without any calculation, you would likely select no tax.

Tax, VAT, & GST rates can all be applied within A2X using whatever tax rates are set up in your accounting system.

Useful resources


3. Reconcile

Once you've connected your platforms and completed your mappings, you're ready to reconcile your first payment.

Reviewing your settlement

Before sending the entry to your accounting system, you can review it in A2X. Click on 'review' to see the entry.

Here, you'll see the payment period, paid amount, and channel. To review the information that will be posted to your accounting system, click on the dropdown arrow.

In the dropdown, you'll see all of the transaction details that will be posted to your accounting system, including description, amount, account (chart of account or general ledger account), and tax rate.

Posting to your accounting software

Once you've reviewed your entry and you're happy with how it looks, you can click on the 'send' button.

This will send the entry to your accounting system, ready for it to be matched to your bank deposit. If you've already sent the entry to your accounting system, then a flag will appear; this is to avoid sending the entry more than once. You can delete the entry and re-send it if you need to change anything.

Matching the deposit in your accounting system / reconciling the payment

A2X will post your entry to your accounting system, and then the final step is to match it to the bank deposit.

Raw data file attached to your entry

There is a file attached to your entry, this is the raw data that made up the summaries and it gives you an audit trail. The raw file can be downloaded from your accounting software or from within A2X.

Common questions


Success

Congratulations, you’ve reconciled your first entry. Now you get to enjoy the benefits - accurate books without the hours of manual work. The following sections cover what happens next and how to get the most out of your A2X account.


Your A2X trial account

Now that your account is set up and you have posted your first entry to your accounting system, within your free trial, you'll be able to post two more entries to your accounting system.

While in trial mode, no new data will be fetched for your account. Even if you receive a payout in your bank account, this data won't be available in your trial account.

Once you're ready to have A2X take care of all your entries, you can subscribe to a paid plan and receive full access to all data.


Set up additional A2X accounts

If you sell on multiple sales channels, you can set up additional A2X accounts to support each channel. You can create new A2X accounts by clicking on the blue dropdown in the top right of your A2X screen.

From there, you’ll be able to select which sales channel you’d like to set up. You’ll also be able to follow this checklist to set up any additional accounts that you need.


Choosing the right plan

There are many different options for A2X pricing plans to ensure they work for all sellers. The key considerations are:

  1. How many / what platforms are you selling on?

  2. How many orders are you doing per month?

There are additional features that come on some plans but not others:

  • How much history A2X will fetch

  • What support is available

  • The additional Cost Of Goods Sold & FBA inventory features (comes on all plans except minis).

Here are the A2X pricing plans: Amazon | Shopify | eBay | Etsy | Walmart | A2X pricing plans for multichannel sellers.

If you aren't sure which plan is right for you, please chat with our team.


FAQs

A2X has hundreds to support articles, including configuration tips and FAQS.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to the support team for more information.

Hint: If you are in chat and wish to view the article outside of the chat window, please click HERE

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