Cannabis Accounting & Bookkeeping
Industry-specific ledgers, perpetual inventory costing, and a disciplined monthly close built for licensed Maryland cultivators, processors, and dispensaries.
We design the chart of accounts so production and selling activity separate at the account level, maintain a perpetual inventory subledger that reconciles to seed-to-sale data, and run a fixed monthly close with retained workpapers. The output is a general ledger where cost of goods sold builds itself from coded transactions instead of being derived by quarter-end journal entry.
- Chart of accounts designed by department, location, and production function
- Daily cash reconciliation and point-of-sale tie-outs
- Inventory valuation and gross margin reporting by category
- Monthly close checklist with signed workpapers
280E Tax Strategy & Planning
Cost allocation, entity structuring, and documentation strategy that maximize allowable cost of goods sold and position your Maryland operation cleanly through the federal transition to Schedule III.
Under IRC Section 280E the only meaningful reduction to taxable income is cost of goods sold, so the engagement is cost accounting first and tax return second. We separate inventoriable from disallowed costs, build defensible allocation bases for labor, utilities, and depreciation, and document the methodology contemporaneously so the position holds under examination rather than being reconstructed years later.
- Producer versus reseller cost capitalization analysis
- Payroll and overhead allocation studies with written support
- Entity structuring across multi-license and multi-location groups
- Effective tax rate modeling and rescheduling transition planning
Cannabis Sales & Use Tax Compliance
Comprehensive structural tracking, accrual optimization, and compliance management built for Maryland's unique 9% adult-use cannabis sales and use tax framework. Our localized accounting tracking protocols ensure clean corporate separations, protecting your dispensary or processing facility margins from state-level compliance leakage while optimizing overall cash-flow efficiency.
The tax outcome is decided at the register, not on the return. We validate product and patient classification mapping in the point-of-sale system, accrue the liability daily from transaction detail, and tie gross sales through the general ledger to the filing so the Comptroller of Maryland return is a report rather than a rebuilt spreadsheet.
- Medical versus adult-use classification review at the SKU level
- Daily accrual and separate collected-versus-remitted liability accounts
- Void, refund, and discount reconciliation
- Comptroller-ready workpapers retained for every filing period
Fractional CFO Services
Senior financial leadership on a fractional basis: budgeting, capital planning, KPI dashboards, and lender or investor reporting for scaling Maryland cannabis operators.
We build the operating budget bottom-up from unit economics, maintain a rolling thirteen-week cash flow forecast covering payroll, tax remittances, and license renewals, and review working capital and inventory investment monthly. Reporting is standardized so budget variance, cash coverage, and margin trends are comparable period over period.
- Annual budget with monthly phasing and variance commentary
- Rolling thirteen-week cash flow forecasting and scenario cases
- KPI dashboards: margin, inventory turns, shrink, revenue per labor hour
- Lender and investor reporting packages with EBITDA bridges
Compliance & Internal Controls
Cash-handling protocols, segregation of duties, and audit trails engineered to withstand Maryland Cannabis Administration and Comptroller of Maryland examinations.
Control design starts with the cash room and ends with the document retention policy. We write the procedures, implement dual custody and independent review, and reconcile METRC packages to the inventory subledger on a cycle short enough that variances remain explainable. Every inventory adjustment carries a reason code, an approver, and supporting evidence.
- Dual-custody cash counts and armored transport documentation
- Segregation of duties between custody, recording, and reconciliation
- METRC reconciliation cadence and variance investigation protocol
- Audit documentation standards and retention policy
Business Advisory & Valuation
Transaction support, quality-of-earnings review, and valuation work for license transfers, capital raises, and ownership changes in the Maryland market.
Deals in Maryland get diligenced hard, and inventory valuation is usually where they slow down. We prepare clean cutoffs, normalize earnings with a documented adjustment bridge, model multi-year scenarios, and assemble the data room so buyers and lenders test the numbers rather than the recordkeeping.
- Quality-of-earnings support and normalized EBITDA analysis
- Inventory and working capital diligence preparation
- Multi-year financial modeling and sensitivity analysis
- License transfer, capital raise, and ownership change support