Talk to the firm
+65 6821 9482 [email protected]71 Robinson Road, #14-01, Singapore 068895
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm (Singapore time)
Month-end process · Singapore e-commerce
A predictable month end is mostly about knowing the cut-off and handing over documents before it passes. This is the process for a typical client, from the first of the month to the GST filing window, so you can plan around it. Yours may differ in the details, but the rhythm is deliberate.
Documents due each month
07
of the monthby the seventh of the following month. Everything downstream — reconciliation, draft books, your review, the GST return — is scheduled off that one date.
Sellers with clean exports usually find this generous. Sellers who chase exports until the twenty-fifth will find it tight, and we would rather say so now.
Read the reconciliation guide
You provide read-only access to your sales channels, your cloud ledger, and your bank feed, plus any export we cannot pull directly. That is usually it. Settlement reports come from the platforms, bank statements from the bank feed, and order data from the storefront app.
Missing a channel in a given month does not stop the close; it gets flagged, and the reconciliation for it happens once the export arrives. What we will not do is estimate a figure that should be evidenced — a number that cannot be traced back to a source will wait.
If you run your ledger on one of the common platforms, share read-only access rather than a copy of the file. It is safer for you and it means the close always works from the current period, not a snapshot from three weeks ago.
One rule, held every month, that prevents most disputes about why the revenue figure differs from the bank deposit.
In transit
A bank credit on the third of the following month usually relates to sales from the prior period. Anything still in transit is held, so the same sale is never counted twice.
Two figures, one gap
When the bank balance and the revenue line disagree, the difference is almost always a settlement in transit — not a missing sale.
Booking shape
If a payout settles after the period closes, it is booked to the next period with a note in the file. Each amount belongs to one period and one month only.
You receive the draft books with a short note: what was posted, what was flagged, what needs an answer from you, and what the variance against last month looks like. This is the review point — the last moment before the figures are frozen for the period. If you spot something we cannot see from the ledger, such as a personal purchase run through the business account, this is when to raise it. Questions asked here get fixed in the same cycle rather than the next one. Next month's close starts from figures that already hold their shape.
For GST-registered sellers, F5 preparation happens after the review confirms the draft. The split is done from the ledger, so every line keeps its evidence from the underlying payout.
Supplies are split from the ledger
Taxable, zero-rated and out-of-scope supplies are separated from reconciled payout lines, not estimated from totals.
Output and input tax summarised
Reverse charge entries on imported services are included where they apply.
Return prepared for submission
The GST F5 return is drawn up ready to submit. Filing remains your action on the IRAS portal.
Working papers are retained
Working papers stay in the file for the required retention period, and you keep access to all of it.
Cut-off is settled payouts only — in-transit amounts roll to the next period with a note. Questions raised by the 20th are fixed in the same cycle. The return is prepared inside the month and filed by you on the IRAS portal.
When something slips
It happens. A channel export is late, a bank feed disconnects, a supplier invoice arrives after the close.
When a missing figure is material, we say so in writing and either hold the line or post it in the following period with a note. What we do not do is plug the gap with an estimate and let the two runs disagree next month. The aim is books that hold their shape over time, not a fast close that unravels.
What to expect in month one
The first month is slower because posting rules are being built for each of your channels. Expect more questions from us than usual, particularly about fees and refunds, and expect the close to run late if exports are unfamiliar.
Month two is where the rhythm settles. If your ledger starts in a poor state, cleanup runs as a separate phase before the monthly cycle begins. We prefer to say this at the start rather than explain it after a month one that ran long.
Write to us with your channels, your current ledger, and roughly how many payouts you reconcile each month. We will reply with where your process matches this rhythm and where it will need to change.
