Ask a cannabis CFO how long it takes to close the books and you rarely get a number. You get a range.
The range is the finding. A close you can't predict isn't a close built on records. It's a close built on reconciliation, and reconciliation takes as long as the discrepancies take to chase down. Every month the team starts over, hunting for the same categories of difference between the same systems, and every month the finish date moves.
Finance teams in cannabis are not slower than finance teams anywhere else. They are working with data that was never structured to close on. Here is what actually consumes those fifteen days.
On a discovery call earlier this year, a controller said something we hear in some form almost every time:
It isn't, and it was never designed to be. State traceability systems are regulatory ledgers. They record what the state needs to see about plant and package movement. They do not carry cost. They do not carry labor. They do not roll into a general ledger.
But METRC is the system your cultivation and packaging teams touch every single day. When it's the only place everyone looks, it becomes the default answer to “how much do we have,” and the finance team inherits a version of inventory that has no financial dimension attached to it.
So close begins with a three-way variance hunt. The compliance system says one thing. The spreadsheets say another. The GL says a third. Someone has to explain the difference before any of it can be trusted, and in most operations nobody formally owns that reconciliation. It falls to whoever is fastest in Excel, which means it falls to the same person every month.
The most common sentence in cannabis cost accounting:
That came from a CFO at a California operation feeding a brand from roughly twenty farms, a mix of their own grows and contract growers. Smart operator, real scale, and no cost transparency below the department level.
This is the part that separates cannabis from every other manufacturer. Under 280E, cost of goods sold is the only meaningful deduction available. Everything you can legitimately absorb into inventory reduces taxable income. Everything you can't is a period expense you pay tax on.
That makes COGS a defensible position, not just a number. And a position needs an audit trail.
When absorption happens in a workbook after the period ends, there is no trail. Cost layers are reconstructed each month rather than carried forward. The logic lives in formulas one person understands. The result may be perfectly reasonable, but reasonable is a hard thing to defend three years later when the examiner wants to see how a specific harvest batch was costed.
From the same conversation, a different stakeholder:
Payroll runs in an HR platform. The HR platform doesn't talk to accounting. Hours arrive as a lump sum, get posted to a department, and stop there.
For 280E purposes that's a costly place to stop. Direct labor applied to production is absorbable. Labor sitting in a period expense bucket is not. Without time flowing to a work order and from the work order to a lot, the money is spent either way, but only one version of it reduces the tax bill.
There's an operational cost too. If you can't see labor per harvest, per room, or per strain, you can't answer whether a cultivar is actually profitable. You're making planting decisions on yield and price without the cost side of the equation.
One multi-entity organization we evaluated was running roughly forty allocation templates, consolidating manually, and closing in eight days. That's a well-run finance team outside of cannabis, with no traceability system and no 280E exposure.
Now add cannabis. Entities split by license. Shared services spread across cultivation, manufacturing, and retail with different tax treatment at each stage. Intercompany transfers that have to be priced and eliminated. A separate labor entity in some structures.
Every one of those allocations is a rule. If the rules live in spreadsheets rather than in the system, someone rebuilds them every month, and every rebuild is a chance to introduce an error that surfaces two months later.
If the on-hand number isn't trusted, the only way to get a number you believe is to go count it.
That's how a lot of operators close. Someone walks the vault, counts the room, reconciles the sheet. Now the accounting calendar is gated by a physical process that requires people, floor time, and often a compliance witness.
Perpetual inventory that stays accurate through transactions turns counting into cycle counts, which are a validation activity you run continuously rather than a gate you clear before closing.
Point of sale. Wholesale marketplace. Testing lab. Payroll. Cultivation tracking. Banking.
Each of those is a system with data finance needs, and in most operations each one is an export, a mapping, and a human being who knows how to do the mapping. Six systems is six exports, six formats, six opportunities for a column to shift.
This is the piece operators tend to underestimate, because none of the individual handoffs feel hard. Each one is twenty minutes. It's the aggregate, and the fact that the whole chain is sequential, that turns a five-day close into a fifteen-day one. Nothing can be validated until everything upstream has landed.
None of the above is an accounting problem, which is why hiring another accountant rarely fixes it. The team isn't slow. The inputs are unreliable, and unreliable inputs mean the work of closing is investigation rather than review.
The operators who close fast have four things in place:
Perpetual inventory carrying cost. One system where quantity and value move together, at the lot level, updated by the transaction rather than by a month-end adjustment.
Costing at the lot. Materials, labor, and overhead absorbed into the batch as production happens, so COGS is a record of what occurred rather than a calculation performed later. Parent lots pass cost to child lots through every conversion.
Labor on the work order. Time captured against the task, valued at a rate, flowing into the batch. This is the single highest-leverage change for most cannabis operators, because it converts a period expense into an absorbable cost and simultaneously gives cultivation real unit economics.
Reconciliation as an exception report. The compliance system and the ERP should be synchronized continuously, with differences surfacing daily as a short list to investigate. Not a month-end scavenger hunt. A queue.
Get those four in place and the closing activity becomes what it is in other industries: reviewing a set of numbers the system already produced, rather than assembling numbers from scratch and hoping they hold.
If you want a single diagnostic before changing anything, track this for three months: the gap between your earliest close and your latest close.
A team that closes in eight days every month has a process. A team that closes somewhere between seven and eighteen days depending on what breaks has a reconciliation exercise wearing a process costume. The variance tells you more than the average does, and it's the thing that disappears first when the underlying data structure changes.
Year end reporting is one of the most stressful times for cannabis operators. It brings together every part of the business, from inventory and production to compliance and financials. If systems are not aligned throughout the year, the pressure builds quickly as teams try to pull everything together at once.
Many operators find themselves relying on spreadsheets, manual adjustments, and last minute reconciliations to get their numbers in order. This process takes time, introduces risk, and often leads to long hours spent tracking down discrepancies.
The challenge is not just closing the books, it is doing so with confidence in the accuracy of the data.
The stress of year end reporting usually starts long before the end of the year. When data is managed across multiple systems, inconsistencies can develop over time. Inventory records may not match financial reports, production data may be incomplete, and compliance information may require additional verification.
These gaps often go unnoticed during daily operations, but they become much more visible when it is time to finalize reports. Teams are forced to reconcile months of data, which can be both time consuming and frustrating.
Manual processes add another layer of complexity. The more data that needs to be entered, adjusted, or verified by hand, the greater the chance for errors. This makes it harder to trust the final numbers and increases the likelihood of delays.
A smooth year end close is built on consistency throughout the year. When data is captured accurately and systems are aligned, reporting becomes a natural extension of daily operations rather than a separate, stressful event.
This means having real time visibility into inventory, production, and financial data at all times. When information is updated continuously, there is no need to reconstruct it later.
It also means having a single source of truth. When all data lives within one system, teams can rely on consistent and accurate information across departments.
With this foundation in place, year end reporting becomes faster, simpler, and more predictable.
365 Cannabis brings together accounting, inventory, compliance, and operations within a single platform built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This integration ensures that data is consistent and up to date throughout the year, reducing the need for manual reconciliation during the close process.
Inventory movements, production activities, and financial transactions are all recorded in real time, creating a reliable data set that can be used for reporting at any point. Because the system integrates with compliance platforms like Metrc, reporting remains aligned with regulatory requirements without additional effort.
With tools like Jet Reports and Power BI, teams can generate accurate financial reports quickly, without spending hours compiling data from multiple sources. This allows operators to close the year with greater confidence and less stress.
When year end reporting is supported by a connected system, the experience changes significantly. Teams spend less time searching for data and more time reviewing and analyzing it. The process becomes more efficient, and the pressure that typically comes with closing the books is reduced.
Accuracy also improves. With fewer manual adjustments and more reliable data, teams can trust their reports and move forward with confidence.
This not only improves internal operations but also supports better communication with investors, auditors, and other stakeholders.
Year end reporting will always be an important milestone, but it does not have to be overwhelming. With the right systems in place, it can become a routine process that reflects the strength of your operations rather than exposing their weaknesses.
For cannabis operators looking to simplify their reporting process and reduce stress at year end, moving to a unified platform like 365 Cannabis offers a clear path forward and a more reliable way to manage the business.
For many cannabis operators, profitability is not always as clear as it should be. Revenue may be growing and products may be moving, but understanding exactly where margins stand can feel uncertain. This is especially true as operations expand and become more complex.
The issue is not a lack of effort or attention. Most teams are tracking sales, monitoring costs, and reviewing reports regularly. The challenge is that the data needed to understand margins is often spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to see the full picture.
When information is fragmented, margin visibility becomes something that has to be pieced together rather than something that is immediately clear.
Margin visibility depends on having accurate and connected data across inventory, production, and financial systems. When these areas are managed separately, it creates gaps that make it difficult to calculate true profitability.
Material costs may not be fully captured during production, labor may not be tied directly to specific activities, and inventory values may not reflect real time changes. As a result, financial reports can show a version of profitability that does not fully align with what is happening on the ground.
These gaps often lead to delayed insights. By the time margins are calculated and reviewed, the opportunity to make adjustments has already passed. This makes it harder to respond to cost increases, pricing changes, or operational inefficiencies.
The longer this disconnect continues, the more difficult it becomes to confidently manage the business.
To truly understand margins, cannabis operators need a system that connects costs and revenue in real time. This means tracking material usage, labor, and production outputs as they happen and linking that data directly to financial reporting.
When costs are captured at each stage of the process, operators can see exactly how much it takes to produce each product. This makes it easier to identify which products are most profitable and where improvements can be made.
It also requires accurate inventory valuation. When inventory is updated in real time and tied to financial data, operators can trust that their reports reflect the current state of the business.
With this level of visibility, margin analysis becomes a tool for decision making rather than a retrospective exercise.
365 Cannabis connects operational and financial data within a single system, allowing operators to track costs and revenue with greater accuracy. Built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, it brings together inventory, production, and accounting in a way that eliminates the gaps between systems.
Material usage, labor, and production outputs are recorded in real time, providing a clear view of how costs are accumulated. This data flows directly into financial reporting, ensuring that margins are calculated based on actual activity rather than estimates.
Because inventory is updated automatically, operators can maintain accurate valuations without manual adjustments. This improves the reliability of financial reports and makes it easier to analyze profitability across products and locations.
With integrated reporting tools and options like Power BI, teams can access up to date insights without waiting for data to be compiled.
When margin visibility improves, operators gain the ability to make more informed decisions. They can identify which products are driving profitability, where costs are increasing, and where adjustments are needed.
This allows for more strategic pricing, better resource allocation, and improved cost control. Instead of reacting to financial results after the fact, teams can take a proactive approach to managing margins.
Over time, this leads to stronger financial performance and a more resilient business.
As cannabis businesses scale, maintaining clear visibility into margins becomes more important and more challenging. Without connected systems, complexity can obscure profitability and make it harder to stay competitive.
By investing in a unified ERP platform, operators can bring clarity to their financials and create a stronger foundation for growth. For teams that are ready to move beyond guesswork and gain a clearer understanding of their margins, exploring a solution like 365 Cannabis offers a practical and impactful next step.
For many cannabis operators, financial reporting feels like a lagging indicator rather than a real time tool. By the time reports are compiled and reviewed, the data already reflects what happened days or even weeks ago. This delay makes it difficult to respond quickly to changes in the business.
The issue is not a lack of data. Most operators have plenty of it. The problem is that financial information is often disconnected from daily operations. Inventory, production, and sales data live in separate systems, which means financial reporting depends on pulling everything together after the fact.
This creates a constant gap between what is happening in the business and what leadership can actually see.
When financial data is managed separately from operational systems, it requires manual input and reconciliation to stay accurate. Teams spend time exporting data, updating spreadsheets, and verifying numbers across multiple platforms.
This process introduces delays and increases the risk of errors. Even small discrepancies can lead to inaccurate reports, which makes it harder to trust the numbers. As a result, leadership may hesitate to act on the data they have.
The longer this cycle continues, the harder it becomes to maintain a clear and consistent financial picture.
Real time financial visibility is about more than faster reporting. It means having financial data that reflects the current state of the business at any given moment. Instead of waiting for updates, operators can see how inventory, production, and sales are impacting financial performance as they happen.
This level of visibility allows for more proactive decision making. Teams can identify trends earlier, respond to issues faster, and make adjustments before small problems become larger ones.
It also creates greater confidence in the data. When financial reporting is tied directly to operational activity, there is less need for manual verification and fewer opportunities for errors.
365 Cannabis brings financial and operational data together within a single system by leveraging Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This integration allows inventory movements, production activities, and sales transactions to automatically update financial records in real time.
Instead of relying on manual processes to connect different systems, everything flows through one platform. This eliminates delays and reduces the risk of inconsistencies between departments.
With built in reporting tools and integrations like Power BI, operators can access up to date financial insights without waiting for reports to be compiled. This makes it easier to monitor performance, track costs, and understand profitability across the business.
Because the system is designed for cannabis, it supports the unique workflows and compliance requirements that operators deal with every day.
When financial visibility improves, decision making becomes faster and more effective. Leadership no longer needs to rely on outdated reports or assumptions. Instead, they can act on current data with confidence.
This allows operators to adjust production levels, manage inventory more effectively, and respond to market changes in real time. It also helps identify opportunities to reduce costs and improve margins.
Over time, this level of insight creates a stronger, more resilient business.
As cannabis operations scale, the need for accurate and timely financial data becomes even more important. More products, more locations, and more complexity all increase the demand for better visibility.
Without a connected system, financial reporting becomes slower and less reliable. With the right ERP in place, operators can maintain clarity and control even as their business expands.
For teams that are tired of second guessing their numbers or waiting on reports, moving to a unified platform like 365 Cannabis offers a clear path forward and a more confident way to run the business.
A lot of cannabis operators start with QuickBooks because it feels familiar. It is easy to set up, widely used, and more than capable of handling basic accounting in the early stages of a business. At that point, operations are still relatively simple, and QuickBooks does exactly what it promises.
The problem is that cannabis businesses rarely stay simple for long. As operators expand into new products, new locations, and more complex compliance environments, the demands on their systems increase. What once felt like a reliable solution starts to show its limitations, and the cracks begin to appear across multiple areas of the business.
QuickBooks was never designed for the operational complexity of cannabis. It was built for general small business accounting, and while it performs well in that context, it lacks the structure needed to support an industry that requires strict compliance, detailed inventory tracking, and real time visibility.
Inventory management is often the first major pain point. Cannabis operators need to manage lot tracking, batch production, and constantly shifting inventory states, all while staying aligned with compliance systems like Metrc. QuickBooks does not support this level of operational detail, which forces teams to rely on external tools and manual processes to fill the gaps.
Compliance itself becomes fragmented as a result. Instead of working from a single source of truth, teams end up managing multiple systems that do not communicate with each other. This creates inconsistencies in data, increases the likelihood of errors, and makes it more difficult to maintain audit readiness.
As these gaps grow, so does the amount of manual work required to keep everything running. Data is entered multiple times across different platforms, which not only slows down operations but also introduces risk. At the same time, financial reporting begins to lag behind reality, leaving leadership with outdated information when making important decisions.
Rather than replacing QuickBooks, many teams try to adapt it to fit their needs. They build workarounds, add spreadsheets, and create internal processes to bridge the gaps between systems. While this approach may seem cost effective in the short term, it introduces inefficiencies that compound over time.
The true cost shows up in ways that are not always immediately visible. Compliance issues become harder to track, inventory discrepancies become more frequent, and reporting takes longer to produce. Teams spend more time correcting data than using it, and confidence in the numbers begins to erode. What started as a simple solution gradually becomes a bottleneck for growth.
As cannabis businesses scale, they need more than a basic accounting tool. They need a system that connects operations, compliance, and finance in a way that reflects what is happening in real time. This means having inventory that updates as production occurs, direct integration with compliance systems like Metrc, and built in batch and lot traceability that does not rely on external tracking methods.
It also means having financial reporting that is accurate and current, without the delays caused by disconnected systems. When all parts of the business are aligned within a single platform, teams can operate more efficiently and make decisions with greater confidence.
365 Cannabis is built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, bringing accounting, inventory, compliance, and operations together in one unified system. Instead of relying on multiple disconnected tools, operators can manage their entire business from a single platform that is designed to support the complexities of the cannabis industry.
This approach eliminates the need for duplicate data entry and reduces the risk of inconsistencies across systems. Inventory can be tracked from seed to sale with full traceability, while direct integration with Metrc ensures that compliance remains aligned with daily operations. Cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution workflows are all connected, creating a more streamlined and efficient process from start to finish.
Financial reporting also becomes more reliable because it is tied directly to real time operational data. This gives leadership a clear and accurate view of the business, allowing for faster and more informed decision making.
When cannabis businesses transition from QuickBooks to a purpose built ERP, the impact is immediate. Teams are able to reduce manual work, improve data accuracy, and operate with greater efficiency across departments. Compliance becomes part of the workflow rather than a separate task, and financials become something the business can rely on with confidence.
This shift not only improves day to day operations but also creates a stronger foundation for future growth.
QuickBooks can serve as a starting point, but it is not equipped to support cannabis operators as they scale. The complexity of the industry requires a system that can handle compliance, inventory, and financials in a connected and efficient way.
Cannabis ERP is not simply an upgrade. It is a necessary step for businesses that want to grow while maintaining control, accuracy, and compliance.
QuickBooks is often the first accounting system cannabis businesses turn to. It is familiar, widely used, and easy to get running. In the early days, it usually does the job well enough.
The problems tend to show up later, once operations become more complex and the business starts to scale. At that point, the issue is not QuickBooks itself. It is the gap between what the software is designed to do and what a cannabis business actually needs day to day.
Cannabis companies are not just managing invoices and payroll. They are tracking plants, batches, production runs, packaging, transfers, and sales across multiple teams and often multiple locations.
QuickBooks is built to record financial outcomes after the fact. It does not manage the operational steps that lead to those outcomes. As a result, operators end up relying on spreadsheets, side systems, or manual processes to track what is happening on the floor.
Over time, information gets fragmented. Finance has one version of the numbers. Operations has another. Leadership is left trying to piece together the full picture.
In cannabis, compliance is not a separate function. It is embedded in everyday work. Every inventory movement, production step, and adjustment has both operational and regulatory implications.
QuickBooks does not understand cannabis compliance on its own. Teams often enter data into state systems like Metrc and then re-enter related information into accounting. That duplication increases the risk of errors and inconsistencies, especially during audits or reporting periods.
As volume increases, this manual approach becomes harder to sustain.
Cannabis inventory changes constantly. Plants mature. Flower is converted into other products. Batches are split, combined, and repackaged.
QuickBooks was not built to handle that level of inventory transformation. Many businesses end up estimating costs or making adjustments after the fact just to close the books. That makes it difficult to understand true margins or identify which products are actually driving profit.
When margins are tight, delayed or incomplete data can lead to expensive decisions.
One of the most common frustrations teams mention is that QuickBooks creates more work as the business grows. Finance teams spend hours reconciling systems. Operations teams wait on reports that do not quite match reality. Leadership struggles to get timely insight they can trust.
What started as a simple solution slowly becomes a bottleneck.
At a certain point, cannabis businesses need a system that connects operations, inventory, finance, and compliance instead of treating them as separate worlds.
365 Cannabis is built specifically for cannabis operators on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, bringing these functions into a single platform designed for regulated, high-volume environments.
By moving beyond accounting-only software, teams gain:
QuickBooks works well for many businesses at an early stage. Outgrowing it is not a failure. It is a sign that operations have become more complex and require different tools.
If your team spends more time reconciling data than acting on it, or if critical information lives outside your accounting system, it may be time to look at solutions built for the realities of cannabis operations.
Growth should make the business clearer, not harder to manage.
Every December, cannabis operators across the country start the same ritual: late nights with spreadsheets, cursing at QuickBooks, and pulling data from half a dozen systems that refuse to play nice. End of year reporting is supposed to be about wrapping up the books, but for most operators it feels more like wrestling a gorilla made of compliance requirements.
It does not have to be that way. An ERP built for cannabis turns year end reporting from panic mode into a process you can actually trust. The right system will even keep you from burning the midnight oil and crying at your laptop.*
*results may vary
Cannabis businesses have a unique kind of reporting pain:
Instead of digging through silos, ERP brings finance, compliance, and operations into one system. The result is year-end reporting that does not require caffeine fueled marathons.
End of year reporting isn’t just about filing taxes or proving compliance. It’s also your team’s chance to learn from the year, and for an accurate analysis you need a single source of truth. ERP gives cannabis operators visibility to spot what worked, what flopped, and where next year’s growth should come from. Without that clarity, you are not planning, you are guessing, and those guesses get expensive and dangerous.
End of year reporting will never be fun, but it should not feel like punishment. With ERP, cannabis operators step into reporting season with confidence instead of chaos, accuracy instead of anxiety.
Ready to swap late night spreadsheet misery for stress free reporting? Talk to 365 Cannabis and make this year the one you finish strong.
Starting out, you didn’t need a dedicated cannabis accounting software, you needed just enough to get by – seed-to-sale for compliance, a dozen spreadsheets for your processes, and Quickbooks to manage your money. Once up and running, you quickly realize this isn’t a long-term solution.
Replacing disparate systems every year or two can become a burden on your staff and wallet. Investing in a cannabis software that is an all-in-one solution will ultimately save you mass amounts of time and money.
To get started, here are 3 things to look for in a cannabis accounting software.
A cannabis accounting software should go far beyond basic transactions – it should provide granular financial tracking at every level.
One of the most important features to look for is the ability to track and assign costs. This would include rent, utilities, supplies, labor, and job hours, with the ability to apply these costs based on an individual plant, batch of plants, or an entire room.
With the right cannabis accounting software, these calculations should be completely automated and extremely flexible.
Transparent and detailed audit trails allow you to justify every expense.
Whether you’re a single-state operator with no intention of growth or already have a 10-year plan with multi-country on the docket, either way, you should always be prepared. With an enterprise-level cannabis accounting software solution, you’ll be future-proofed no matter the trajectory of your cannabis operation. Sinking costs into a solution that can’t cross borders greatly hinders your scalability and budget.
Although many systems will claim to have multilingual and multi-currency capabilities, it is crucial to determine how realistic and cost effective the solution will be.
Proprietary systems (ones built from the ground up) will likely have to custom build all the translations and currency capabilities out from scratch. This can be extremely expensive, not to mention can take years to complete. A cannabis ERP system built on a platform deployed around the world, like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, has language and currency option out of the box.
When shopping around for a new software vendor, be sure to ask what platform they’re built on. Better yet, see if they’re a true cannabis ERP.
Any time you’re transferring data from one system to another there is room for error. Using a disparate cannabis accounting software can be detrimental to your bottom line.
A fully integrated ERP solution brings all your processes and activities into one place. As you set up a new job in the system – assigning labor, materials, space, etc – the costs involved are already connected to your finance system.
Furthermore, a single solution immediately automates dozens of processes, reducing errors, saving time, and increasing productivity.
There are many benefits to using an ERP with a fully integrated cannabis accounting solution for your operation, even if you aren’t quite there today. If you’re currently using seed-to-sale software and a few other disparate systems, it’s time to future-proof your cannabis business with an ERP solution that will grow with you.
Ready to for an all-inclusive ERP with a built-in cannabis accounting software? Contact us today to see how – your wallet will thank you!
With the current state of the world, many businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Business owners are checking their company finances hourly--adjusting and readjusting.
With this in mind, we asked fellow business owners, “What are you currently doing to help manage your budget and maintain any remaining profits?”
Here’s what they had to say.
During these uncertain times, we are making it a top priority to stay within our tightened monetary margins. We have also been in constant communication with our clients to ensure that their software can assist them with the new challenges that COVID-19 brings. Overall, it is about sticking to your budget, eliminating unnecessary costs and ensuring that your product is malleable enough to still assist clients in these unforeseen times.
From an office management standpoint, we froze as many services as we could and brought the vendors we could not freeze down to minimum spend.
Adrienne Collins, Workplace Experience Manager
Before the pandemic, we had planned on bringing more people in, but for now, hiring is on hold. I don’t want to be in a situation where I give someone a job, only to realize that we can’t afford to pay them and then be forced to let them go. We’re understandably not really investing right now, per se, because we don’t know if we’ll need that money to cover payroll. Innovation is on the back burner, you can afford to take risks when things are stable, but right now, maintenance is more valuable than the possibility of growth. I see a lot of companies cutting advertising budgets and I think it’s a mistake. We’ve been putting some money towards keeping advertising up on Facebook, and we’ve been having success with conversions, so not all investments are a bad idea.
Sean Nguyen, Internet Advisor
Project the planned costs, contracts and spend renewals, then remove them to create a more flat spend over time as the business cash flow will take time to recover, this eases pressure on those precious dollars. Make sure your clients know your value and have your emotional support and time so you keep relationships priority #1, even in the face of difficult business decisions.
Noah Wisnia, Head of Talent
Our energy plays a big role in our wellbeing in all aspects of life. Try your best to stay calm. Limit your news consumption. If you are homebound, stay physically and mentally active. Get outside and embrace the fresh air! Maintain your social life while respecting social distancing – even if that means virtual meetups. Lastly, know that you are not alone!
Galit Tsadik, Tsadik G Management
To maximize profits while we can, we have all sales, customer service and processing staff setup from home, or are fully operational - wherein the business can run at about 90% efficiency compared to pre-pandemic and lockdown.
As a small business owner, it is crucial to cut costs when you can. We decided to forgo all office costs and transition into working remotely. It has been a lifesaver during times when business isn’t certain. We have also been sticking close to our budget and keeping our staff size relatively small.
Brett Farmiloe, SaaS SEO Company
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Cannabis crosses over in many regulatory environments and since majority of cannabis markets exist due to its medical benefits, it crosses over into the medical regulatory environment. Particularly, medical cannabis is subject to follow guidelines under HIPAA, which outlines the utter importance of medical data security.
How does this relate to the cannabis industry?
HIPAA or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996) provides regulations on privacy of health information, security of PHI (patient health information) and electronic systems, as well as guidelines and penalties regarding confidentiality in the medical field.
Dispensaries and retail stores that sell to patients and store patient information for business swiftness or state regulatory uploads must be aware of the weight of HIPAA. The US Department Of Health and Human Services develops regulations protecting patients, their privacy, and their security. Being HIPAA compliant means that you comply with three main rules: privacy rule, security rule, and electronic data exchange.
The privacy rule involves simple protection of an individual’s health care data. Applying the privacy rule to your business could mean a variety of things, but the end goal has to include protecting the information.
Going hand in hand with privacy, security controls the confidentiality, storage of, and access related to PHI. Meeting this requirement could mean using a SOC 2 compliant software to manage the data of your business, creating controls to prevent unauthorized access, or using secure servers.
Finally, Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) pertains to data exchanged between providers and payers, or in general transmitting data. Another relevant transfer of data is those that go from the dispensaries to the state for proper tracking and statistics. Technology is both your enemy and your friend, make sure that the system you are using is strong and effective at preventing cyber attacks and successful at ensuring controls are working efficiently.
Anytime you come into contact with patient information or it’s easy for others in your business to access it, then you are subject to these security regulations.
There are some simple suggestions to combatting such an immense regulatory environment: don’t discuss patient information; avoid leaving records accessible to others (open POS systems or backfiles); refrain from printing or storing outside the secure system at all possible.
The best recommendation is to find a system that is SOC 2 compliant or has been audited to ensure exceptional security and safety for the information your business encounters. Always air on the side of caution and take impervious approaches to business processes and controls.
Always consult with professionals about the potential consequences regarding patient health information privacy breaches and plan ahead to prepare for worst case scenarios.
HHS Office of the Secretary,Office for Civil Rights, & Office for Civil Rights. (2013, July 26). Summary of the HIPAA
Security Rule. Retrieved September 26, 2019, from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/laws-regulations/index.html.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
