A fast-growing, multi-brand e-commerce business partnered with GATP Solutions to bring structure to a complex, multi-entity accounting environment. Through Multi-entity e-commerce accounting, dedicated team operations, and intercompany accounting across three LLCs, the client now operates with full financial clarity, and a scalable outsourced accounting department that functions just like an in-house team.
BUSINESS BACKGROUND
The client is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business selling automotive parts and accessories across multiple online marketplaces. What began as a single brand quickly expanded into a multi-entity e-commerce accounting three separate LLCs — each selling through a different combination of platforms and managed through separate bank accounts and credit cards.
By the time GATP Solutions was engaged in 2018, the business was processing thousands of transactions per month across Amazon (USD and CAD), Shopify, eBay, Walmart, and NewEgg. Revenue flowed through multiple payment gateways including PayPal, along with credit card accounts across several major providers. Inventory moved between entities, each with its own fee structures, settlement timelines, and reporting formats.
The financial complexity was substantial, and growing every quarter. The client needed a proper multi-entity e-commerce accounting solution, not just a part-time bookkeeper. They needed a full outsourced accounting department that could handle multi-entity e-commerce accounting, multi-platform revenue reconciliation, and financial reporting for e-commerce, all without the cost of building an in-house team.
KEY CHALLENGES
Multi-entity e-commerce accounting is uniquely complex. Every sale across every platform generates a cascade of financial events, and when those events span three LLCs, six sales platforms, multiple payment gateways, and dozens of daily transactions, even small gaps in process create compounding problems.
The client faced the following core challenges:
- Multi-entity e-commerce accounting was fragmented – settlement reports, platform fees, refunds, and chargebacks were recorded at different times, creating persistent mismatches between recorded sales and actual bank deposits.
- Intercompany accounting lacked structure – inventory moved between entities (between LLCs) without clean journal entries or audit trails, making entity-level P&L unreliable.
- No SKU profitability analysis was available – without cost-level visibility per product, management could not determine which items were actually profitable after all fees and shipping costs.
- Shipping audits were inconsistent – billing discrepancies from UPS and FedEx were going undetected, quietly eroding margins.
- Financial reporting for e-commerce was incomplete – month-end reports were not decision-ready, and management lacked confidence in the numbers for day-to-day and strategic decisions.
- Sales tax obligations across multiple states added compliance complexity that required structured tracking.
Impact
- No reliable single view of profitability across entities or platforms.
- Intercompany balances were unreconciled and unreliable.
- Management lacked data to make confident pricing or growth decisions.
- Reconciliation delays were creating downstream tax and reporting issues.
REQUIREMENTS & EXPECTATIONS
The client needed a complete multi-entity e-commerce accounting services solution- not just a bookkeeper, but a dedicated, structured accounting operation that could:
- Perform multi-entity e-commerce accounting across all six sales platforms every month.
- Manage intercompany accounting cleanly across all three LLCs.
- Deliver reliable, decision-ready financial reporting for e-commerce management.
- Provide SKU profitability analysis to identify true product-level margins.
- Handle sales tax compliance, shipping audits, and AR/AP management.
- Operate as a true outsourced accounting department, with the consistency and accountability of an in-house team.
STRATEGIC APPROACH
- Reviewed all existing sales, settlement, bank, and accounting workflows across all three entities.
- Mapped multi-entity e-commerce accounting gaps and designed a structured clearing and matching process.
- Introduced intercompany accounting protocols with clean journal entry workflows for stock transfers and advertising allocations.
- Deployed Karbon HQ for project management and Slack for daily team check-ins to ensure operational consistency.
- Integrated Fathom for SKU profitability analysis and management-level reporting.
COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION
A. Dedicated Virtual Accounting Team
GATP did not simply assign a bookkeeper, we built a dedicated virtual accounting department. A team lead and two staff accountants work on the client’s books daily, operating like an in-house department but without the hiring, training, or overhead costs. Automated daily task check-ins via Slack and Karbon HQ project tracking ensure every recurring task is assigned, deadline-managed, and completed on schedule.
B. Multi-Entity E-Commerce Accounting
Every month, GATP performs complete multi-entity e-commerce accounting across all six platforms like Amazon USD, Amazon CAD, Shopify, eBay, Walmart, and NewEgg. Each platform has unique settlement formats, fee structures, and payout timelines. GATP standardised the reconciliation process so that every transaction is matched to the correct bank deposit, every platform fee is accounted for, and every month closes cleanly with no outstanding mismatches.
C. Intercompany Accounting & Stock Transfers
With inventory moving between the three LLCs, clean intercompany accounting is critical. GATP manages all intercompany journal entries like stock transfers, advertising allocations, and billable expense invoicing between entities, ensuring that each LLC carries an accurate, audit-ready balance sheet. Daily AR/AP matching reminders keep intercompany balances reconciled in real time.
D. SKU Profitability Analysis
Beyond standard e-commerce bookkeeping, GATP delivers SKU-level profitability analysis through Fathom integration. This gives management visibility into which products are genuinely profitable after all costs like platform fees, shipping, returns, and advertising, are accounted for. This data directly informs purchasing, pricing, and platform strategy.
E. Shipping Audits & Sales Tax
Regular UPS and FedEx shipping audits catch billing discrepancies before they compound. GATP also manages sales tax reporting across multiple states, ensuring compliance obligations are met on a structured, recurring schedule, with no risk of missed filings.
F. Weekly Reporting & Proactive Communication
Every week, the client receives a detailed work status report covering completed tasks, pending items, delay reasons, Negative GP Reports, Negative Inventory Reports, and open categorisation queries. Automated checklists via Karbon ensure all bank statements, credit card statements, and platform data are collected on schedule, with escalating reminders for overdue items.
MEASURABLE RESULTS
- Multi-entity e-commerce accounting completed monthly across all six platforms with zero persistent mismatches.
- Three entities managed as one unified operation, with clean intercompany accounting and audit-ready balances.
- SKU profitability analysis delivered monthly, enabling confident product and pricing decisions.
- Same-day bank reconciliation turnaround delivered when the client urgently needed accounts confirmed for vendor payments.
- Shipping cost recovery identified through regular UPS and FedEx billing audits, directly improving margins.
- Sales tax compliance maintained across multiple states with no missed filings.
- Weekly financial reporting for e-commerce management that is decision-ready and consistently on time.
- Scalable outsourced accounting department that absorbed new platforms, currencies, and payment methods without disruption.
- Seven-plus years of continuous, uninterrupted partnership since 2018.
Client Impact
With GATP Solutions operating as their outsourced accounting department, the client gained the financial clarity, operational consistency, and data-driven visibility needed to manage a complex multi-entity e-commerce accounting operation with confidence. What started as a single brand in 2018 has scaled into a multi-LLC, six-platform business, and the accounting infrastructure has scaled with it.
CALL TO ACTION
If your e-commerce business has grown beyond what a single bookkeeper can manage, GATP Solutions can build the multi-entity e-commerce accounting, intercompany accounting, and financial reporting infrastructure you need, without the cost of an in-house team.
