Because Blake’s runs with a lean team and outsources most functions, Blake engaged The Accountrepreneur as an embedded finance department. Out of the gate, the team rebuilt the chart of accounts around CPG-specific revenue and cost streams. They also implemented expert accounting conventions that generalists often skip, such as capitalizing inbound freight, tracking inventory shrinkage separately, and more.

With this structure in place, The Accountrepreneur plugged into the brand’s finance tech stack and took on daily bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounts receivable, financial reporting, and month-end close. Within a few weeks of onboarding, Blake had achieved a level of financial visibility he’d never thought possible with his previous accounting partners.

Today, The Accountrepreneur accrues trade spend for retailers as promotions run, and applies deductions and fees against invoices, so Blake has an accurate, real-time view of revenue, costs, and margins. The team also uses their CPG expertise to show him the P&L impact of new retail partners’ fee structures and terms before he commits. This P&L accuracy ultimately enables Blake to tightly manage account-level contribution margin and profitability.

Whenever margin pressure mounts, the team helps him pinpoint the specific products and retailers that are no longer generating an adequate return. That way, Blake can exit those retailers, cut the product lines that aren’t working, and prioritize the parts of the portfolio generating enough profit to fund the rest of the business. Gross margin has climbed 23 points as a result of The Accountrepreneur’s guidance. Beyond keeping the P&L disciplined, The Accountrepreneur manages collections directly.

The team tracks which customers are paying to terms and follows up as balances age, while keeping payables similarly current. Although The Accountrepreneur does all the heavy lifting, Blake checks in on where the brand stands every week in a dashboard covering receivables, payables, and anything the team has flagged. Since engaging The Accountrepreneur, Blake’s has eliminated write-offs, reduced its accounts receivable balance even as sales have grown, and lowered DSO by 44%.

The working capital freed up by these rigorous AP and AR processes has since funded new product launches and channel expansion. With a robust close process, accurate financials, and The Accountrepreneur’s end-to-end diligence support, Blake’s raised a successful Series A. As the brand keeps growing, Blake continues to lean on The Accountrepreneur’s support. Their team models the P&L and cash-flow impact of each growth decision he makes, helping him protect contribution margin at every step.