Setting up bookkeeping and general accounting in an import-export company
Setting up the accounting system in companies that import and export: chart of accounts, the split between bookkeeping and general accounting, the import file, the export document chain, choosing and switching software, staff training and a checklist for the first three months.
A company's accounting takes shape in its first weeks. How the chart of accounts is opened, which software is chosen, how documents pass from hand to hand and who does which job determine how reliable the balance sheet will be at the end of the first year. In a company that trades abroad, foreign currency, customs documents and cost tracking by shipment are added to these decisions. The guide below takes the set-up step by step.
1. The order of the set-up
- Map the workflow. How are sales made (domestic, export, e-commerce), where do purchases come from (domestic suppliers, imports), is inventory held, and through which channels do collections and payments pass? The chart of accounts is opened according to this map.
- Open the chart of accounts. The main accounts of the Turkish Uniform Chart of Accounts are fixed; what is tailored to the business are the sub-accounts. Bank and customer/supplier accounts split by currency, separate sub-accounts for import files and cost centres are set up at this stage.
- Choose the software or adapt the existing one. The decision depends on transaction volume, inventory and currency needs and e-document integration (see section 5).
- Put the document flow in writing. Who receives an invoice, who approves it, who posts it; to whom does the file from the customs broker go? Without a written flow, lost documents and double postings are inevitable.
- Connect e-transformation. e-Invoice, e-Archive and e-Ledger integration is tested together with the software: Moving to e-Invoice, e-Archive and e-Ledger
- Post the opening entry. On incorporation, the capital and formation costs; on a software change, the closing balances of the old software are carried over with an opening voucher.
- Close the first month together. At the first closing every entry is checked; errors not corrected in the first month repeat for months.
2. Where bookkeeping ends and general accounting begins
If the boundary between tasks is not clear, the same work is done twice or not at all. A typical split:
| Task | Bookkeeping | General accounting |
|---|---|---|
| Sales and purchase invoices | Issues and posts them, monitors the e-document inbox | Checks account and VAT codes |
| Bank, cash, credit cards | Posts movements daily | Approves the month-end reconciliation |
| Customer and supplier accounts | Tracks collections and payments, sends statements | Period-end confirmation and doubtful receivables review |
| Inventory | Receipts and issues | Costing method, count differences |
| Import file | Collects documents into the file | Cost allocation and transfer to inventory |
| Foreign currency | Enters the correct document rate | Exchange differences and period-end revaluation |
| Returns and ledgers | — | VAT, withholding, advance tax, e-Ledger, closing |
The split can sit inside the company or between the company and its accountant; to choose a model: Monthly accounting service and changing accountant
3. Imports: one file per shipment
The cost of imported goods never comes from a single invoice. The supplier invoice, freight, insurance, customs duties, the customs broker's service invoice, storage and inland transport arrive on different dates and at different exchange rates. That is why an import file is opened for each shipment, and every item is collected in that file's sub-account of account 159 Advances Given for Orders until the goods are received.
| Item | Added to the file? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Advance or letter-of-credit amount paid to the supplier | Yes | At the rate on the payment date |
| Freight and insurance | Yes | Also part of the customs value and the VAT base |
| Customs duty, additional customs duty, KKDF | Yes | Amounts on the customs declaration |
| VAT paid on import | No | 191 Deductible VAT; deducted in the period of the declaration |
| Customs broker fee, storage, inland transport | Yes | Their own VAT is deducted separately |
When the goods are received, the file is closed and the total is transferred to the inventory account; if there are several products, the cost is allocated on a consistent basis such as value or weight. A freight invoice that arrives after the file is closed goes not to the file but to inventory or to cost of goods sold, depending on whether the goods have been sold.
To see the duties and total cost in advance: Import cost and customs duties · To decode a product code: HS code lookup
4. Exports: a chain of linked documents
In exports a single sale is tied to four separate trails:
- Invoice and customs export declaration: The export invoice is issued under the export scenario of e-Invoice; amount, quantity and delivery terms on the invoice and the declaration must match.
- Booking rate: The sale is booked at the rate on the actual export date; the difference on collection is an exchange gain or loss: Foreign-currency transactions and exchange differences
- Repatriation of proceeds: Export proceeds are brought back within the time limit and, where a sale to a bank is required, the related certificate is obtained; for time limits and rates: Customs and foreign trade
- VAT refund: A refund file is prepared for VAT that cannot be deducted because of exports: VAT exemption and refund on exports
Companies that buy for export or use the inward processing regime must track further deadlines: if the period in which the export must be completed after a delivery for export, or the commitment period on the authorisation, is missed, tax and late-payment interest arise. These deadlines should be followed on a separate tracking list, not through the software's reminder or report features.
5. Choosing and changing software
Accounting rules do not depend on the software; a good set-up rests on the same chart-of-accounts logic, the same document flow and the same checkpoints whichever program is used. When choosing software, check:
- Support for foreign-currency customer, supplier and bank accounts and period-end revaluation
- An inventory and costing module; the ability to collect costs by import file or project
- e-Invoice, e-Archive and e-Ledger integration
- Access to the same data for the bookkeeping team and the accountant
- Data export (getting data out matters as much as getting it in)
When switching software: The switch is made at the start of a period. The closing balances of the old program are matched account by account; open customer and supplier items are carried over invoice by invoice, inventory with quantity and cost, and currency balances with their foreign-currency amounts. Data are transferred by mapping the export files field by field, and after the transfer the trial balance is compared with the one in the old program. The old program's data must be kept readable for the statutory retention period.
To check a period-end revaluation: Currency revaluation
6. Staff training
A set-up falls apart at the first change of staff if the people who use it are not trained. Training is given by role and on the company's own documents:
| Who | Topics |
|---|---|
| Bookkeeping staff | Document checks, the e-document inbox, posting customer, supplier and bank items, opening an import file and collecting documents, statements and confirmations |
| General accounting staff | Cost allocation, exchange differences and revaluation, preparing VAT and withholding returns, month-end closing steps |
| Purchasing and sales | What an invoice must contain, delivery terms and their effect on the invoice, when documents must be handed in |
| Managers and shareholders | Reading the trial balance, balance sheet and income statement; cash and currency position |
Each training ends with written work instructions: which document, from whom, when, to which account. New staff start with these instructions.
7. Checklist for the first three months
- The chart of accounts was opened according to the workflow, with sub-accounts split by currency
- The document flow and approvers were put in writing
- e-Invoice, e-Archive and e-Ledger integration was tested
- The first import file was opened and its transfer to inventory checked at closing
- The first export invoice was matched with the customs export declaration
- Bank and customer/supplier reconciliations were done at the end of the first month
- Bookkeeping and general accounting staff were trained by role
- Currency revaluation was done in the first advance-tax period
Common mistakes
- Expensing import costs directly instead of collecting them in the file; inventory cost looks too low and profit too high.
- Adding import VAT to cost or deducting it in the wrong period.
- Booking a foreign-currency invoice at the payment-date rate instead of the document-date rate.
- Closing the period without matching export invoices with customs export declarations.
- Changing software mid-year without matching the opening balances.
- Leaving the set-up in one person's head with no written instructions.
For the scope of the set-up and training service: Accounting system set-up and staff training
Legal basis: Tax Procedure Law No. 213, arts. 175, 253 and 280; VAT Law No. 3065, arts. 11, 12, 21 and 34; General Communiqués on the Accounting System (Uniform Chart of Accounts); Customs Law No. 4458; Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency.