Running a commerce business today means moving fast — launching products, serving customers across channels, and optimizing margins. But behind the scenes, finance and accounting teams are often stuck in the past: juggling spreadsheets, reconciling data manually, and chasing invoices across disconnected systems.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Automation is now accessible to lean teams without needing a massive ERP or custom-built infrastructure. Below are 10 practical ways to automate finance and accounting for commerce businesses — with real impact on speed, accuracy, and scale.

1. Automated Reconciliation of Sales and Payouts

Connect your sales channels (Shopify, Amazon, Stripe, POS) and payment processors directly to your accounting tools. Use automation to reconcile what was sold with what was paid out — down to fees, refunds, and chargebacks — without hours of manual checking.

Benefits: Near real-time visibility, fewer errors, and faster month-end close.

2. Automated Expense Categorization

Use AI or rules-based logic to automatically categorize expenses from credit cards, bank feeds, or expense tools. Integrations with platforms like Ramp, Brex, or Expensify can auto-sync categorized transactions to your ledger.

Benefits: Cleaner books, less manual entry, and faster insights into spend.

3. Inventory Accounting That Updates Automatically

Inventory affects cost of goods sold (COGS), margins, and tax — but tracking it is notoriously messy. Automate inventory accounting by syncing your fulfillment or WMS system with your financial records.

Benefits: Accurate COGS reporting and visibility into margin drivers.

4. Sales Tax Automation

Navigating sales tax obligations across states or countries can be a nightmare. Solutions like Avalara or TaxJar integrate directly with e-commerce platforms to automate collection, reporting, and remittance.

Benefits: Stay compliant without manual work or risk of audit penalties.

5. Automated Accounts Payable Workflows

Move away from email-based invoice approvals and data entry. Tools like Bill.com or Ramp automate invoice capture, approval routing, and payments — with built-in audit trails.

Benefits: Faster approvals, better controls, and less time chasing signatures.

6. Revenue Recognition Rules That Run in the Background

For subscription-based commerce or multi-month contracts, revenue recognition can be complex. Automate this with tools that apply rules and schedules automatically, syncing with your GL.

Benefits: Accurate GAAP-compliant reporting without spreadsheets.

7. Real-Time Dashboards for Finance KPIs

Use BI tools connected to your systems to auto-generate dashboards for revenue, cash flow, burn, gross margin, and more. Stop waiting for end-of-month reports.

Benefits: Make decisions based on live data, not stale snapshots.

8. Automated Bank Feed Imports and Reconciliation

Ensure your bank and credit card feeds are directly connected to your ledger. Automate the reconciliation process so discrepancies are flagged without manual effort.

Benefits: Faster close cycles and less risk of missed transactions.

9. Syncing Order Data to the General Ledger

Rather than manually entering order-level detail, use connectors to feed order data (SKUs, taxes, shipping costs) directly into your accounting software — mapped to the right accounts.

Benefits: Accurate books and easier auditability at scale.

10. Audit-Ready Document Collection and Organization

Tools like Millentic can be used to build custom automations that can automatically store and organize documentation (transactions, invoices, receipts, contracts) by vendor or account.

Benefits: Be audit-ready without last-minute document scrambles.

Wrapping Up

Finance teams in commerce businesses are no longer just bookkeepers — they’re strategic operators. Automating routine tasks unlocks time for higher-value work like scenario planning, pricing strategy, or expansion modeling.

You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Start with one or two of these automation areas and build from there. The result: cleaner data, faster decisions, and a finance function built for scale.