The Shopify Finances Summary - what every Shopify seller should know
For Shopify entrepreneurs, keeping track of your financial data is crucial to running a successful e-commerce business. One essential tool that provides valuable insights into your Shopify finances is the Shopify Finances Summary report. What is the significance of this report and why should Shopify sellers thoroughly understand it? Today we’ll answer those questions and go over the key features of the Shopify Finances Summary report. Keep reading or click the video linked below to dive into the Shopify Finances Summary - what every Shopify seller should know.
How to run the Shopify Finances Summary report
Let's first go over how to run the Shopify Finances Summary report. From the left side menu in your Shopify account, go to Analytics, then select Reports.
You will need to find the report named Summary under the category of Finances. Once you find it, go ahead and pin it to your report to access quicker.
Next, you’ll click on Summary, and then you'll see the Finances Summary report. The Finances Summary report is essentially a summary of everything that has taken place in your Shopify store from a financial standpoint, whether it's sales, payments process through your payment gateways, liabilities, and gross profit. You can modify the date range of this report to view a specific time period. Next we’ll go over the sections on the Finances Summary report.
Sales section
The first section we’ll go over on the Finances Summary report is the Sales section. Here you'll find Gross Sales, Discounts, Returns, Net Sales, Shipping Income, Taxes withheld, and Total Sales. For any of the amounts that you see on this report, you can click on the amount to then look at what's included in it. For example, if you click on the amount for Gross Sales, you will see all of the sales that were made in the given date range with details including the date, order number, product, and the amount sold. If you’d like to see an example of what this looks like, click here for the video.
Payments section
Next, let’s discuss what you’ll find in the Payments section of the Finances Summary report. Here you’ll see all of the amounts that were processed through the payment processors for the given date range. Your list will depend on the specific payment processors you use, but some examples include Amazon payments, PayPal, Shop Cash, Shop Pay Installments, and Shopify Payments. You’ll also see the Total payments. Ideally, the total amount sold (Total Sales) is equal to the total amounts that were processed through the payment processors (Total payments), but sometimes they're not. If you’d like to see an example of the Payments section in the video, click here.
Liabilities section
The next section is the Liabilities Summary. You’ll find it on the bottom left corner of the Shopify Finances Summary report. If you're selling gift cards, this will show Gift card sales and Gift cards outstanding. For some merchants who collect tips, this is also where you will find your total tips. To see this part of the video, click here.
Gross profit section
The last section on the Finances Summary report is Gross Profit. In this section you will find your Net sales. If you're tracking cost in Shopify, then you'll also see the Cost of Goods Sold in this section. Just a note about Cost of Goods Sold in this report, in some cases, cost of goods sold is not going to be the right amount. This is because sometimes you can have the wrong cost entered or sometimes there are products that have no cost. You would need to do additional work to make sure that you have an accurate amount for the cost of goods sold. This section also shows the amount of Gross Profit for the date range of the report. To see an example of the Gross Profit section, click here for the video.
Why is the Finances Summary report important?
From the perspective of your bookkeeping or your accounting, you want a report that shows you what has taken place from a financial standpoint on your Shopify store. The Finances Summary report gives you everything that you need to record your sales, your gift card liabilities, and the amounts that were processed through your payment processors. You are then able to take these amounts from the Finances Summary report and record an entry on your books based on the amounts that we find in the Finances Summary report.
Closing and Resources
That’s our deep dive into the Shopify Finances Summary - what every Shopify seller should know. By understanding and utilizing this report effectively, Shopify sellers can streamline their bookkeeping process, maintain accurate financial records, and make informed decisions to drive business growth. If you want to learn even more about Shopify bookkeeping, we invite you to explore our Mavency YouTube channel. Also make sure to get a copy of our free Shopify Bookkeeping Blueprint. If you are ready to work with a trusted and reliable Shopify bookkeeping team, you can use this link to learn more about Mavency to see if we are a good fit for working together. For some additional support, come join my Facebook community where you can connect with other Shopify sellers and professional bookkeepers online.