Cannabis manufacturers face unique compliance challenges as the industry continues its evolution. By navigating constantly shifting regulations to a number of regulatory bodies who demand accountability, cannabis operators can easily lose track of new and changing guidelines.
With so many agencies concerned with how cannabis manufacturers operate, cannabis is quickly becoming one of the most aggressively regulated industries in the United States. These regulatory agencies include, but are not necessarily limited to:
State and Municipal Agencies:
- Department of Public Health
- Department of Food and Agriculture
- Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Department of Pesticide Regulation
Federal Agencies:
- United States Department of Justice
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Internal Revenue Service
- Consumer Protection Act
As a cannabis manufacturer, you should have intricate knowledge of each agency’s expectations and how to adhere to their respective requirements. Tracking not only existing guidelines, but also remaining aware of emerging regulations will go a long way to help you understand what lies ahead since compliance is not an option.
State and federal laws dictate that you be able to account for your cannabis products at all times from seed to sale. On top of tracking your products throughout their entire lifecycle, the additional regulations placed upon nearly every component of your cannabusiness can be daunting. Some cannabis manufacturers attempt a manual approach to compliance, but should they?
Unfortunately, manual processes lack the capabilities of keeping up with changing regulations and pose a particular risk for cannabis manufacturers. Evolving requirements and the volume of data prone to human error alone puts your operation at risk for non-compliance and can have catastrophic consequences.
With specific regulations regarding strains, potency, geographical area of operation, license type, and because cannabis is presently only legal on a state-to-state basis, it is vital that your manufacturing operation remain aware of all laws and regulations. This applies to compliance among state agencies, but it will also keep the weight of the federal government from coming down on your business.
As your cannabusiness grows, the business data you’re required to manage and report to the various agencies becomes impossible to track manually.
Fortunately, there are technologies available to the cannabis industry that make coming up to and remaining in total compliance considerably easier. Now, more than ever, cannabis manufacturing companies need to abandon manual spreadsheet processes in favor of a specialized cloud-based platform designed to handle high-volume data and reporting every cannabis manufacturer requires.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a fixture in traditional manufacturing and now the same benefits can be applied to the cannabis industry. Because ERP systems were developed specifically for manufacturing, robust accounting options for maintaining audit trails and remaining in compliance are built-in.
In addition to existing industry data, ERP systems give you the flexibility to change with the industry as new advancements, products, and regulations arise. Better still, ERP systems are built to scale, which means that the right cannabis accounting solution will be able to keep up with your organization’s growth while remaining compliant in this rapidly changing business environment.
With all data collected, management can then gain much easier business insights based upon factors like organizational cash flows, inventory tracking, accounting and financials, and more.
As cannabis legalization becomes more widespread, more jurisdictions develop their own guidelines to which you need to adhere. Unfortunately, this often creates confusion and leaves cannabis compliance open to interpretation.
Without the systems in place to track and document multiple aspects of the cannabis industry, operators risk considerable fines for non-compliance. Sage Intacct brings all of your cannabis operational data under a single umbrella by collecting all it into a unified location. As a result, organization insight is far easier to check, cross-reference, and compare from comprehensive dashboards.
A best-in-class solution allows your cannabis businesses to stay up to date with regulatory guidelines. Amid the cannabis industry’s whirlwind growth, new regulatory requirements and compliance issues come into play and cannabis operators are looking for ways to gain a competitive edge. Contact us to learn more about how to grow your cannabusiness.
