Industries //
// Food and beverage
Inventory and accounting for food and beverage businesses
Your lots are tracked. Your expiry dates are entered. The margin on last month’s batch still does not match the books. Fiskal builds the financial operations behind food and beverage inventory businesses from $1M to $100M in revenue.
01 // The reality gap
Three beliefs we hear first
Most food and beverage owners come to us with one of three beliefs.
- “We need better inventory software.”Most of them already own it. The software tracks lots, expiry dates, and bills of materials. The setup around it no longer matches how the business makes, stores, and sells product.
- “The accountant will clean it up at month end.”Accountants adjust outcomes. They cannot see why a batch costed the way it did. A manual journal closes the gap and hides the cause.
- “Traceability is a compliance project for later.”The FDA moved the FSMA 204 compliance date to July 20, 2028. Some retailers and distributors are already writing traceability into supplier terms. The data you need in 2028 is the data you create at receiving today.
02 // What is happening inside the system
Food and beverage inventory has a shelf life
Your system has to know that, and so does your ledger.
Lot and expiry data that stops at the warehouse door
Cin7 tracks batch numbers and expiry dates natively. The value depends on setup. Expiry dates have to be captured at receiving, carried through transfers, adjustments, and production jobs, and respected when stock is picked.
A costing method that does not match how you sell
Cin7 offers FIFO by batch, first expired first out (FEFO) by batch, and special batch costing. If you sell the oldest expiry first but cost by another rule, cost of goods sold lands on the wrong batch.
Bills of materials that ignore real yield
Production jobs consume ingredients and packaging. If the recipe says one thing and the floor does another, variance has nowhere to go but the ledger.
An accounting system that cannot see lots
QuickBooks Online has no native expiration date or lot tracking. Cin7 holds the batch detail and QuickBooks holds the dollars. The sync between them has to be mapped on purpose.
Landed cost sitting in the wrong account
Imported ingredients, freight, duties, and packaging often land in expenses instead of inventory. Margin looks better than it is, until it does not.
Expired stock still counted as an asset
Inventory that cannot be sold should not carry value. Without a write off rhythm, it does.
03 // Operational cause, financial consequence
What happens on the floor shows up in the ledger
A receiving clerk skips an expiry date. A pick ignores the recommended batch. A production job closes without actual quantities.
Nobody sees a problem on the floor. The finance team sees it three weeks later. Cost of goods sold is off. Inventory value does not match the count. A reconciliation difference appears, and it is rarely a reconciliation issue. It usually traces back to a batch, a cost layer, or a mapping rule.
The warehouse and the ledger describe the same product. Fiskal makes sure they tell the same story.
04 // What it costs leadership
What it costs leadership
You are the one who prices the next retailer order. You decide whether a new SKU earns its place. You need to know the margin per product, per channel, per batch.
If lot, cost, and ledger data disagree, those decisions rest on a guess. If a buyer asks which customers received a lot, you want an answer in hours, not a week of spreadsheets. The FSMA 204 rule expects records within 24 hours of request for foods on the FDA’s Food Traceability List.
Calm systems let you grow from 8 figures toward 9 on the same infrastructure.
05 // What Fiskal does
We audit first
We do not advance to the next phase until the current phase’s data is sound.
Audit
We review lot and expiry setup, costing methods, bills of materials, production jobs, and the mapping between Cin7 and QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Align
We configure the system so receiving, production, picking, and the ledger agree. That includes landed cost, inventory accounts, and the integrations to Shopify, Amazon, EDI, and your 3PL or warehouse.
Govern
We set the rhythm that keeps it accurate: reconciliation checks, naming rules, a manual journal policy, and stress tests ahead of your peak season.
From there, the work follows your maturity path: bookkeeping, then controlling, then FP&A. Clean financials come first, then cash control, then foresight.
Related pages //
06 // Who this is for
Who this is for
Food and beverage makers, importers, wholesalers, and distributors. Brands that sell through retail, wholesale, and direct online, often all at once. Teams that have already invested in Cin7 and still cannot trust the numbers.
If your process is complex enough that Cin7 is the wrong tool, the Diagnostic Call will say so.
07 // Proof
Other Clients Who Love Us
"Fiskal strategically designed the Cin7 setup that best serves our specific operational needs as a rapidly growing CPG startup. They took a measured approach to help our team incorporate the platform to our daily operations without disruptions. Fiskal has been instrumental in training our team on Cin7 best practices and utilizing its many tools. Ongoing consultation with Fiskal has helped us build resilient and flexible accounting practices that have allowed us to incorporate multiple channels."
Sesh"Working with Fiskal feels like working with a friend, the workflow is very easy. One of my favorite things to do daily is working with Fiskal to set up our Cin7. Whenever we have a question, it's either easily answered on the spot or there's a week at most and then we have a resolution. Great turnaround time for a complex system set up like ours. It's been a great addition!"
Blazy Susan"Working with Fiskal has been extremely deliberate and structured. They are very well organized. It sometimes feels slow, but at the same time, that slow is the nemesis of deliberate — you can’t have speed and be incredibly deliberate at the same time. I think it’s a good change of pace for us, it truly is. It is a very refreshing change of pace. I do truly enjoy working with them which is why I’m entertaining the concept of really making this a more permanent, long-lasting engagement."
Low Temp Industries"Fiskal have helped us so much over the past six months that I would without hesitation jump in all over again. They were a blessing in disguise for us. It's exactly what we needed to bring this across the line and I see a partnership with Fiskal as we both evolve."
High to Low Voltage"The experience thus far has been very professional and informative. Each touch point from initial discovery call through to onboarding and task completion has been handled very well. The communication is clear and informative and has provided me with a high level of confidence to move forward with Fiskal in solving our operational and financial complexities."
First Class Hampers"Overall, we truly appreciate the support and guidance from the Fiskal team. It has been very helpful in improving our processes."
SoHa Brands"Our experience working with your team has been really incredible. The degree of attention to detail is impressive and has really helped us and has been inspiring to us to work on systems outside what we do with Fiskal to support all of this. We're telling other providers to be like the Fiskal team. There there's a lot of rigor, a lot of follow through, a lot of care that goes into all of it. It's frankly inspiring. We're pleased to be working with your people. We are not driving everything."
August Uncommon Tea"Working with Fiskal feels like working with a friend, the workflow is very easy. One of my favorite things to do daily is working with Fiskal to set up our Cin7. Whenever we have a question, it's either easily answered on the spot or there's a week at most and then we have a resolution. Great turnaround time for a complex system set up like ours. It's been a great addition!"
US Cones"I can sleep much easier at night knowing that we have accurate numbers across all my software."
Davids USA"Fiskal is like an internal team member with super capabilities. We have a single point of contact, but the capabilities of a full finance team at a fraction of the price."
Planet of the Vapes"Yesterday I got off a call with Fiskal feeling both excited and melancholy. I am incredibly impressed with their efficiency, communication, thorough work ethic, and professionalism. The excitement comes from seeing what's possible with the right expertise. The sadness comes from realizing what we didn't know we didn't know. We've learned so much along the way, but it's been since working with you and your team that I truly understand how much we could have benefited from your guidance 3years ago"
Play Pits"I've done system implementations before, some bigger, some smaller, and it can easily go sideways quickly. But as far as implementations go, this one was relatively smooth. In the overall scheme of things, Fiskal did great. They have a really, really good team and a good process. These guys are very impressive."
Brutus BrothFiskal won Cin7 Accounting Partner of the Year in 2025 and 2026.
09 // Questions
Questions we hear
Does Cin7 track lot numbers and expiry dates?
Yes. Batch and expiry tracking is native, with FIFO and FEFO costing. Accuracy depends on how receiving, production, and picking are configured.
Does QuickBooks Online track lots or expiration dates?
No. Intuit’s own community pages confirm it has no native expiration date option. Lot detail lives in your inventory system and the dollars sync to QuickBooks.
What is FSMA 204 and does it apply to me?
It is the FDA food traceability rule. It applies to businesses that make, process, pack, or hold foods on the FDA’s Food Traceability List. The compliance date is July 20, 2028. Check the list for your products. Fiskal does not certify compliance.
Which costing method suits perishable stock?
It depends on how you pick and sell. FEFO suits many perishable businesses. We confirm it during the audit.
Is Cin7 right for food manufacturing?
Cin7 Core supports multilevel bills of materials and production jobs. Very complex process manufacturing can outgrow it. We tell you which situation you are in.