internal controls
services & guidance
The dirt
The cannabis industry is young - and with that youth comes a whole wealth of opportunity and excitement. Unfortunately, there are some negative aspects of being the new kid on the block. Most cannabis businesses are still trying to figure out how to effectively comply with federal and state law. This often means leaving internal controls on the back-burner. This can be a fatal risk to companies that are carrying as much debt on their balance sheet as cannabis companies do. A strong set of internal controls can prevent many future headaches. They help to fight against theft, fraud and organizational inefficiency. They also go a long way in establishing credibility in the eyes of potential investors or buyers of your business. Internal controls can and should be encompassing of all parts of your business. A properly run organization will have effective procedures for everything from accounting systems and cash transactions to IT systems and physical transportation of assets.
Specific internal controls services we offer:
+ Developing Internal Controls
For emerging or expanding companies, internal controls are the key to scalability. By leveraging our experience at other industries and imbuing our cannabis industry knowledge, the CPAs at Greenbooks will help you develop a set of internal controls specifically tailored to your company. Some of the key issues we tend to tackle are cash management, product management, IT systems management, and financial record keeping management. One thing is for sure - if your company today lacks any internal controls, the development of them by a professional firm will completely revamp the way you do business. As a CPA firm exclusively focused on cannabis, we believe we are in the best position to our advise our clients on industry best practices.
+ Implementing and Testing
If you have newly developed internal controls, or have used us to develop internal controls, we are happy to implement and test. Often times, this is a discreet hire for our clients - their employees are not aware that we are coming to test the internal controls. This is the optimal environment as the control will truly stand or fall based on its own merit. Greenbooks will give a rating for how the control performed against expectations and whether or not it achieved its goal. As you can imagine, this can be expanded to a number of business applications - regulatory, financial, record keeping, operational efficiency etc.
+ Internal Controls Evaluation
Often, companies have already set up some type of internal controls. They tie out the cash in the register at the end of the day to the sales, or they properly segregate authority from an IT perspective. One of our service lines is an evaluation of existing controls compared to other similar companies in your space. Different from an audit examination, the firm does not provide any opinion about the strength of the controls. Instead, Greenbooks works with our clients to bridge potential gaps and evaluate solutions to current control problems. This is essentially like having your own internal auditor - the firm will come in as a silent partner to evaluate your internal control, make a determination in their effectiveness and give suggestions on potential areas of improvement. This often leads to big savings and efficiency long-term.
+ Why Choose Green Books
The bottom line is an accounting professional is the most qualified to work with you and your organization in developing controls that will protect your businesses' assets. The marijuana industry being mainly cash-based leaves it especially susceptible to fraud, theft and inefficiency. Working with Greenbooks, you will be working with a CPA firm 100% dedicated to the cannabis industry. We help our clients develop, test, implement and constantly reevaluate the internal controls it has in place. Cannabis has its own very unique set of challenges when it comes to asset protection - are you doing everything in your power to keep what you own?
Take a look:
Internal audits are typically an ongoing and continuous process helping you identify the weaknesses in your organization. The below viz is a typical high level snapshot we would provide a client. It gives visibility into the progress we are making on our internal audits, the threats and outcomes as well as which of our concerns are being remediated.
