Cannabis / Retail & Dispensaries
You're running a high-volume retail operation with half the banking tools everyone else gets.
Dispensaries process hundreds of daily transactions, manage thousands of SKUs, and reconcile cash at volumes that overwhelm most retailers, all without standard banking infrastructure. Northstar builds finance functions for cannabis retailers who need financial visibility that matches the pace of their operations.
Selling cannabis is the simple part. Accounting for it is where everything breaks down.
Cash reconciliation takes hours and it's still wrong.
You're counting cash at close, reconciling against POS totals, and still ending up with unexplained variances. Over a month those add up to real money and real risk, especially if the IRS asks questions.
POS, books, and METRC all show different numbers.
Your POS says 847 units, METRC shows 839, and QuickBooks doesn't tie to either. Without a systematic three-way reconciliation, the gap gets harder to explain every month.
280E is taking 70% of my profit and my CPA's allocation feels made up.
Retail dispensaries have the hardest 280E position in cannabis. There are legitimate strategies for maximizing COGS allocation, but most CPAs won't take the aggressive-but-defensible positions that save six figures.
Opening a second location with no clean financials on the first.
Multi-location expansion multiplies every financial challenge. You need consolidated reporting, location-level P&Ls, and cash management across sites. If your infrastructure barely supports one store, it collapses under two.
What your finance team looks like with Northstar.
Your Northstar pod includes a controller and analyst who specialize in dispensary accounting, from daily cash reconciliation to 280E retail COGS optimization across single or multi-location operations.
Monthly close with retail 280E COGS allocation
Books closed by mid-month with every legitimate retail COGS cost identified, documented, and built into a position that's aggressive enough to matter and defensible enough to survive audit.
Daily and monthly cash reconciliation protocols
Register-to-vault-to-deposit reconciliation with next-business-day variance identification. POS matching, armored transport tracking, and bank deposit confirmation.
POS-to-books-to-METRC three-way reconciliation
Monthly reconciliation of POS sales data, financial records, and METRC inventory so all three systems agree and your compliance documentation holds up.
Multi-location consolidation and location-level reporting
Location-level P&Ls with revenue, COGS, labor, and controllable expenses, plus consolidated company-level reporting with overhead allocation.
Shrinkage tracking and inventory loss analysis
Losses categorized by type: vendor discrepancies, METRC errors, damaged product, expired product, and unidentified variances. See the pattern, fix the root cause.
Sales tax and excise tax management
All cannabis-specific taxes tracked, reconciled, and filed accurately every period. No scrambling before deadlines.
Product category and vendor margin analysis
Margins by category, vendor, and SKU so you know where to shift shelf space to maximize profitability per square foot.
Expansion modeling and new location pro formas
Revenue ramp, buildout costs, staffing, and breakeven projections so you open your next store with a financial plan, not just a lease.
What this looks like in practice.
The Situation
A three-location dispensary doing $11M in revenue had no consolidated reporting, weekly (not daily) cash reconciliation with $2,800/month unexplained variances per store, and a flat 30% 280E COGS allocation that was both indefensible and too low.
What We Did
We deployed a retail pod, standardized financial infrastructure across all three locations, implemented daily cash reconciliation, built POS-to-books-to-METRC three-way reconciliation, and performed a detailed 280E study capturing receiving labor, storage, and inspection costs.
The Result
Cash variances dropped from $8,400/month combined to under $400. 280E COGS increased from 30% to 47% of revenue, saving $312K in federal taxes year one. Location-level P&Ls revealed a 22% labor efficiency gap at one store, leading to a restructure that added $145K in annual contribution margin.
We were losing thousands a month in cash variances and didn't know it. Northstar standardized reconciliation across all three stores and within 60 days variances were basically zero. Then their 280E study saved us over $300K. Our old CPA used a flat 30% allocation; Northstar proved 47% was defensible.
Dispensary Owner
Multi-Location Cannabis Retailer, 3 Locations
Resources for dispensary operators.
The Dispensary Owner's Guide to 280E Retail COGS Allocation
Which retail costs qualify as COGS under 280E and how to build a defensible allocation that saves real money.
ReadDaily Cash Reconciliation Protocol for Cannabis Retailers
Step-by-step process for reconciling cash from register to vault to deposit with same-day variance identification.
ReadMulti-Location Dispensary Financial Playbook
Consolidated reporting, location-level P&Ls, and the financial infrastructure required to scale from one store to many.
ReadCannabis Retail Financial Health Assessment
Ten questions about your dispensary operation that reveal where your financial infrastructure needs improvement.
Try ItTake the First Step
Let's talk about your dispensary operation.
We'll walk through your locations, transaction volume, and cash management challenges. If we're a fit, we'll show you the pod model and pricing. If not, we'll tell you.
Or call us directly: 888.999.0280
Schedule a Cannabis Finance Consultation
Tell us about your business and we'll reach out within 24 hours.