Chart of Accounts as Tax Infrastructure
Design the chart so production, selling and administrative activity separate automatically as transactions post. Add location and department dimensions from day one, because retrofitting them is expensive and less defensible.
Inventory Is the Center of Gravity
Perpetual inventory by batch and product form, reconciled to the tracking system, drives both financial reporting and the tax position. Periodic estimation is not sufficient in this industry.
- Batch-level cost accumulation
- Documented absorption methodology
- Cycle counts with variance investigation
- Written write-off and shrink policy
The Monthly Close
Publish a close checklist with owners and due dates. Reconcile cash, inventory, payables, payroll and intercompany balances every period, and retain the supporting schedules with the trial balance.
Systems and Integration
A general ledger, an inventory or point-of-sale system and the state tracking system must agree. Whether integration is automated or manual, the reconciliation must be defined, scheduled and owned.
Reporting That Drives Decisions
Deliver a short management package with commentary: margin by category, cost per unit, labor productivity, inventory turns and cash position against forecast.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the first thing a new operator should get right?
- The chart of accounts and the inventory costing methodology. Nearly every downstream problem traces back to one of those two.
- How long should a monthly close take?
- Ten to fifteen business days is a reasonable target once reconciliations are current.
- Is specialized cannabis software required?
- Not necessarily. Discipline in reconciliation matters more than the specific platform, though inventory functionality should be genuinely capable.