ExactaBooks

Shopify's default setup is built for selling, not for accounting. Most founders think they made $180k when the real number is $47k. That’s not a revenue problem. It’s a visibility problem. 🧵

#Shopify #DTCBrands #Bookkeeping

Your bookkeeper sends you a P&L. You open it. Rows of numbers. Revenue at top. Net income at bottom. Everything in between — a blur. You close it and go back to Shopify. Here's what you're missing. 🧵

What number do you actually look at when your bookkeeper sends you the report? Full breakdown of how to read a P&L as a founder: exactabooks.com/how-to-read-a-…

The number everyone looks at but reads wrong: Net margin %. 10–20% is healthy for early-stage Shopify brands. Below 5% is tight. But net margin is shaped by every line above it. If it dropped — start at gross margin. Not at the bottom.

@KevinDHinton The 3PL timing problem is brutal to reconcile. Shipments billed, orders in Shopify, payouts — three numbers that should be one. What's usually behind the 100 vs 50 discrepancy in your experience — split shipments, or something else entirely?

@ExactaBooks The cash-vs-P&L gap is brutal in fulfillment specifically. Invoice timing never lines up with when the orders are sent and billed to the client. A constant question that comes up, "We shipped 50 orders this week, but there are 100 shipments, what is going on?!"

Your P&L shows a $12,000 profit last month. Your bank account has $800 in it. Both numbers are correct. That's the problem. 🧵

Profit tells you whether the business is working. Cash tells you whether it's sustainable. Have you ever had a profitable month and still felt broke?

Prepaid expenses. Six months of software upfront. Annual insurance premium. Cash gone now. P&L spreads it across the months it covers. 3PL invoice due next week. P&L already shows the fulfillment cost. Cash hasn't left yet.

We wrote the full breakdown — what this involves, why the 5th specifically, and what you actually get from doing this consistently. exactabooks.com/why-your-books…

Every month. Same order. Same checklist. That's it. 2–4 hours. Done.