Specialist accountants
Changing to an ecommerce accountant
Changing accountant works the same way for an online seller as for any business. What is different is what to check before you move, and the extra things to hand over.
The short answer
You can choose to change accountant, subject to any notice period or other terms. Before you move, ask the new firm about the marketplaces and software you use, any VAT registrations you have abroad, and how they handle stock. Then move access to your accounting software, your marketplace reports and your VAT records, as well as the usual records from your old accountant.
Questions to ask before you move
- Marketplaces: which marketplaces and shop platforms do your clients use, and which ones do you work with now?
- Payouts: how do you match marketplace payouts to sales, fees and refunds? Who does it, us or you?
- Software: which accounting software and linking tools do you use, and can we keep ours? Is the cost in your fee?
- VAT in the UK: who checks which sales the marketplace accounts for and which we do?
- VAT abroad: we have (or may need) VAT registrations outside the UK. Do you handle those, or use a partner firm?
- Stock: how will you work out our stock figure if some is in a marketplace warehouse?
- Fees: what does the fee cover, and what happens if we add a channel or have a busy season? See What ecommerce accountancy can cost.
The general questions for any new accountant are in Questions to ask a new accountant.
What to move across
On top of the records your old accountant passes on, an online seller has extra things to sort out. Several of these you may control yourself, not your old accountant.
| Item | What to do |
|---|---|
| Accounting software | Give the new firm access, and remove the old firm's access once the handover is done. If the old firm holds the subscription, agree how it moves to you or the new firm. |
| Linking tools | Check who owns any tool that pulls in marketplace data, and that it keeps running during the move so no payouts are missed. |
| Marketplace reports | Download the payout and fee reports for the periods the new firm will work on, or give them read-only access if the marketplace allows it. |
| VAT records | Make sure the new firm has your VAT returns and the records behind them. GOV.UK says you must keep some VAT records digitally unless you are exempt from the Making Tax Digital for VAT rules.1 |
| VAT registrations abroad | List each country, its VAT number, who files there now and the next return date. |
| Stock records | Your latest stock count and how it was worked out. A limited company must keep records of its year-end stock and the stocktakings used to work it out.2 |
| HMRC access | Authorise the new firm as your agent with HMRC, as with any change of accountant. |
How the change itself works
The steps, who does each one and the professional enquiry between old and new accountants are set out in How changing accountant works. To keep track as you go, use the Switching checklist.
This part is our judgement: if you can, avoid moving in the weeks before a VAT return is due, or in your busiest selling season, so the handover doesn't hold up a filing.