Virtual CFO for e-commerce operators
We repair and rebuild the financial system behind established online retailers, connecting orders, payouts, inventory, fees, refunds, and taxes so you can see real margin and make the next move with confidence.
One financial picture across the places you sell and get paid
Where e-commerce numbers break
A dashboard can tell you what sold. It rarely tells you what made it to the bank, what is tied up in inventory, or which channel is quietly consuming the margin. We rebuild the view around the decisions you actually make.
Payout-to-bank reconciliation
Orders do not land in the bank as clean revenue. We connect sales to platform activity and net payouts, then account for the movements between them.
Contribution margin
Revenue minus product cost is only the beginning. We build a practical margin view that includes returns, discounts, payment fees, marketplace charges, fulfillment, and advertising where the data supports it.
Inventory & COGS
We align inventory movement and cost of goods sold so purchasing decisions reflect real cash exposure, not a stale balance.
The IRS requires retailers to account for inventory and cost of goods sold, subject to small-business exceptions and elections.
Sales tax visibility
We organize the financial data needed to monitor direct and marketplace activity by state and coordinate with the right compliance resources.
This work supports visibility and planning; it is not a promise of a particular nexus or tax outcome.
Why the bank balance feels wrong
The gap is not one mystery number. It is a chain of timing, inventory, returns, fees, taxes, and operating decisions. We make each link visible.
Settlement timing varies, weekend transactions may be grouped, and reserves or split payment methods can separate the order date from the cash date. We reconcile by transaction and payout identifiers, not by bank date alone.
Shopify payout timing guidanceRefunds reduce available payouts, while the original processing fee may remain a cost. A clean margin view has to follow both the revenue reversal and the fees that did not reverse with it.
Shopify refund guidanceBuying ahead pulls cash forward while accounting recognizes product cost as goods sell. We connect the inventory plan to a rolling 13-week cash model so growth does not outrun liquidity.
IRS small-business inventory guidanceThe financial operating system
A controlled close that ties store activity, gateways, marketplaces, returns, fees, and deposits back to the general ledger.
A contribution view that separates gross sales from the costs required to win, fulfill, and retain the order.
A rolling forecast that puts purchase orders, lead times, ad spend, payroll, tax, and owner cash in the same conversation.
A monthly working session with Bruce Hacking, CPA, focused on the decision in front of you rather than another report in your inbox.
The repair and rebuild
The same five-step Hacking CPA system, focused on the flow from checkout to bank account to financial statement.
We examine every account, report, integration, marketplace, gateway, and close habit feeding the numbers. We find where activity stops matching cash.
We define the channel, product, margin, inventory, and cash views your decisions actually require. You approve the map before the rebuild begins.
We redesign the chart of accounts, payout-clearing logic, reporting cadence, and cash model while retaining the parts of your current workflow that work.
We close a full month on the rebuilt system, resolve exceptions, and teach you to read cash, contribution margin, and operating scenarios together.
Every month, Bruce pressure-tests the decision in front of you and models what it does to cash while there is still time to act.
Built for a specific operator
Founder & principal
Certified Public Accountant
The CPA who has operated the business
Bruce spent his career inside operating companies before building Hacking CPA. At a computer retailer, he ran production and all nine stores, moved the plant to lean manufacturing, cut inventory in half, rebuilt the accounting, and identified stores quietly losing money.
Later, as CFO and then an operations leader at PlanSwift, he helped guide the company from $2.4 million and fourteen employees to more than $14 million and 140 employees through a merger, a sale, and two additional acquisitions.
The point is not the résumé. It is the perspective: clean numbers matter because someone has to make the next purchasing, pricing, hiring, and growth decision.
Talk directly with BruceCommon questions
If the question is not here, bring it to the call. Honest fit assessment is part of the work.
Not necessarily. Bookkeeping records activity; this engagement designs the financial system, repairs what is unreliable, builds cash and margin views, and adds a monthly CFO decision cadence. We can work with an existing bookkeeper when the roles are clear.
Yes. The discovery maps each store, marketplace, gateway, bank account, inventory source, and accounting integration. The exact rebuild depends on the quality and level of detail available from those systems.
The financial system will organize the direct and marketplace activity needed for visibility and planning. Registration, filing, and nexus conclusions depend on your facts and may require a specialized compliance provider. We will be clear about what Hacking CPA handles and what should be coordinated elsewhere.
No. That is a normal starting condition. The ninety-day process assumes that reconciliations, integrations, or account structures may need repair. If the condition of the books changes the timeline, you will know before the work moves forward.
The full repair and rebuild runs about ninety days. The goal is a working cash model and an initial margin view within the first month, followed by a fully tested close and financial dashboard by day ninety.
Yes, for clients already working with Hacking CPA. Tax planning and return preparation are priced separately. The books stay tax-ready year round so the return becomes a downstream result of a clean operating system, not a once-a-year surprise.
Schedule a strategy call
Thirty minutes with Bruce Hacking, CPA. No prep deck. No associate handoff. You describe the problem; Bruce will tell you whether the repair and rebuild fits and what it would look like for your store.