3 Reasons to Consider Outsourcing Your Cannabis Company’s Accountant Role

It’s no walk in the park running a cannabis company, most especially when the business is in its formative growth stages. Whether you’ve got a one-man operation or a full team, any startup is enough to keep your hands full.

While you focus on making money and building your cannabusiness, it can be easy to forget things like counting the money, paying bills, and planning for taxes. That’s where hiring a professional accountant comes in.

Before paying out big bucks to hire an in-house accountant for your cannabis-related company, there’s a few noteworthy reasons why you should consider outsourcing first.

1. Quality

Unless you’re a lawyer, you probably wouldn’t represent yourself in court, right? At the risk of sounding repetitive, if math and accounting is not one of your competitive advantages, you’re going to want some professional guidance.

While math may be black-and-white by nature, accounting is not. There is a huge difference between a good accountant and a bad one. While most people don’t realize this until tax season or an audit comes around, its best to learn this lesson from others. This is especially true in the cannabis industry where there are specific tax rules that are not applicable to other businesses.

“Accounting issues surround the cannabis industry. From taxes and regulatory compliance to lack of traditional banking and business resources, each affects a business’s accounting,” commented Kareyna Miller, CPA, President and Founder of LC Solutions Michigan PLLC. “Cannabis businesses should make it a priority to implement strong accounting processes and best practices, and work with a quality professional.”

The bottom line is that no one knows accounting like accountants do. The peace of mind that comes with knowing your books are accurate is priceless compared to the low cost of outsourcing your accounting services.

2. Costs

When you’re business is in growth mode, every penny counts. Although you’re saving money by managing your own books, your business can run into serious trouble down the road as a result. Believe it or not, having a point person for your company’s finances can actually enhance your efforts to grow your company, raise capital, and increase sales.

Because of this Catch-22, more and more ganjapreneurs are deciding to outsource business roles like accounting that are outside of the realm of their skill set.

Where as a full-time CFO costs just over $125,000/year, cannabis-focused accounting firm LC Solutions Michigan PLLC offers outsourced CFO services (think budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis) for as little as $1,500 per month, depending on client needs. Hiring an in-house bookkeeper on the other hand, albeit cheaper than a CFO, can still cost around $40,000/year on average.  Meanwhile, LC Solutions Michigan PLLC offers virtual bookkeeping services for a fraction of that.

3. Time

No one will argue that accounting is a tedious and time-consuming task.

While it may seem like an obvious point to make, different tasks take people different amounts of time to complete. In the same way that math homework took some kids 15 minutes and others an hour, you’ll be better off outsourcing your accounting work to a professional that eats, sleeps, and breathes numbers.

If your schedule is packed and you’re running out of bandwidth, one of the best ways to free up extra hours is to delegate.

By delegating your cannabis company’s accounting functions to a dedicated point person, you not only increase free time but also increase the quality of work.

Conclusion

Whether you just started your cannabis-related business or have been growing for a little while now, it is never too late to consider outsourcing your company’s accounting role.

“The cannabis industry has historically seen a lack of accounting professionals serving the industry with a proactive and holistic approach. By offering complete accounting, bookkeeping and CFO services, we are able to provide our clients the support they need, but may not otherwise have access to,” concluded Miller.