Industries //
// Health & beauty
Health and beauty inventory that matches your books
Lot numbers, expiry dates, case packs, and retailer chargebacks all end up in your financials. Fiskal makes sure they arrive there correctly.
Financial operations for health and beauty brands with $1M to $100M in revenue, on Cin7 or on the way there. Works with Cin7, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Shopify, Amazon, ShipStation, 3PLs, and retailer EDI.
01 // The reality gap
The brand is growing. The numbers are lagging.
A health and beauty brand rarely sells in one place. It starts on Shopify, adds Amazon, picks up wholesale accounts, and then a retailer calls.
Circana puts US beauty retail sales at $50.6 billion for the first half of 2025, with mass up 4% to $34.6 billion and prestige up 2% to $16 billion. Circana also says mass and prestige are converging, which means more brands sell across both. Every new channel brings its own orders, its own receipts, and its own rules.
Then the numbers stop agreeing. The warehouse count tells one story, the books tell another, and Shopify has its own version.
Most owners reach for one of four explanations.
- Inventory is a warehouse problem.Inventory accuracy drives COGS, margin, cash flow, and valuation. The warehouse is where the problem shows up, not where it ends.
- The integration is broken.Data may be moving correctly while mappings, naming rules, and timing are wrong.
- Our accountant will sort it out at month end.Accountants adjust outcomes. They do not fix the operational logic that created the difference.
- Lot tracking is a nice extra.Lots decide write offs, safety stock, and how fast you can trace a product when someone asks.
Each belief sounds reasonable. Each one leaves the cause untouched.
02 // Where it drifts
Where health and beauty inventory drifts
Play Pits is a useful example. Before Cin7, its inventory accuracy sat around 60% to 70%. The drift had specific sources, and most health and beauty brands will recognize them.
Lot numbers that live outside the system
At Play Pits, untracked lots surfaced later as write offs, or pushed the team to hold excess safety stock. Either way, the cost arrived late.
Expiry dates nobody is watching
Stock close to expiry still carries full cost in your inventory value until someone decides to write it off. Shelf life belongs in the system, not in someone’s memory.
Case packs that do not match what is sent
A retailer receives the case pack it expects, or it does not. Play Pits had case pack counts that did not match what went out, along with delivery delays.
Landed cost calculated by hand
Freight, duties, contract manufacturer fees, and packaging belong in inventory cost. When they are expensed instead, COGS looks too low and margin looks better than it is. Fiskal calls this the Landed Cost Leak. Play Pits was calculating landed costs by hand.
Sets, bundles, and components
A gift set is built from parts that each have a cost. If the build is not recorded in the system, the cost of the set is a guess.
Channels that post on different dates
Financial reports follow invoice dates. Inventory reports follow stock movement. Both can be correct and still disagree.
Purchase orders that never fully close
Receipts and orders that do not match leave open items in the books. Play Pits was matching purchase orders by hand.
03 // Operational cause, financial consequence
What happens on the floor shows up in the financials
Inventory is the largest consumer of cash in most inventory businesses, and a major driver of COGS and margin. That makes every floor level habit a financial one.
- Lots are not trackedWrite offs arrive late and in a lump. Safety stock ties up cash.
- Landed cost is expensedCOGS is understated. SKU margin is overstated.
- Receipts and purchase orders do not matchInventory value and the balance sheet drift apart.
- Case pack, SKU, or price mismatchRetailer deductions and chargebacks, booked after the fact.
- A manual journal closes the gapThe balance sheet looks right while inventory reports still disagree. The gap becomes permanent.
- Channels post on different datesMonth end totals differ between systems.
Fiskal traces each difference to its source before anyone touches a journal.
04 // What it costs the owner
What it costs the owner
An owner decides how much to reorder, what deposit to put down with a supplier, whether a retail launch is affordable, and which product earns the shelf space. Those decisions are only as good as the numbers behind them.
When margin by SKU is a guess, pricing is a guess too. When month end closes weeks late, last month’s problems are still in charge of this month’s plan. Retail launches ask for cash before they pay it back, and that is a poor time to be unsure what you hold.
05 // What Fiskal does
Audit, align, govern
Fiskal builds financial operations for inventory businesses. Cin7 is where your inventory lives. QuickBooks Online or Xero is where the numbers end up. Fiskal works on both sides of that line.
Audit
The work starts with the Fiskal Score and a review of how your inventory flows into your books. Lots, expiry, landed cost, receipts, channel timing, and retailer documents all get traced to their source.
Align
Cin7 is configured for how your products move: batch and expiry date tracking, bills of materials, and global inventory across locations. Your accounting mapping is set so inventory value, COGS, and cash reporting come out correctly in QuickBooks Online or Xero. Landed cost is capitalized into inventory. Retailer EDI is mapped to the documents each retailer expects.
Govern
Systems drift after go live because nobody owns the discipline. Fiskal sets a reconciliation rhythm, naming rules, sync checks, a policy for manual journals, and a stress test before peak season.
06 // The stack
One stack, connected and checked
Cin7
Inventory, purchasing, bills of materials, and batch and expiry tracking.
QuickBooks Online and Xero
Fiskal works with both. The mapping decides whether inventory value and COGS come out right.
Shopify and Amazon
Sales orders and stock levels. Orders that are authorized but never fulfilled keep holding stock and suppress the quantity your store shows. Fiskal calls this the Allocation Anchor.
ShipStation, 3PLs, and warehouse systems
Where stock moves, and where physical counts can fall out of step with the system.
Retailer EDI and portals, including SPS Commerce
Cin7’s native EDI connects to beauty retailers such as Sephora. Fiskal maps the documents so they match each retailer’s requirements.
POS and HubSpot
Retail counters and wholesale accounts feed the same inventory picture.
Related //
07 // Proof
Play Pits: from a month long spreadsheet scramble to a close in days
Play Pits
Atlanta
Play Pits makes natural deodorant and body wipes for kids and families. The Atlanta cosmetics brand grew from word of mouth into wholesale orders and national retail conversations.
Inventory accuracy sat around 60% to 70%. Month end took three to four weeks, spent untangling Shopify sales, retail purchase order receipts, and warehouse count sheets by hand. The team spent 15 to 20 plus hours a week on spreadsheets, landed costs, and purchase order matching.
Cin7 took over inventory and operations. It feeds inventory and order data into Xero, and Fiskal closes month end inventory in a few business days. Fiskal built 13 week cash flow models that connect inventory lead times with sales and Xero data, and added a team member inside the purchase planning cycle, working in Cin7.
“Built to scale 5x without breaking a sweat.”
09 // Questions
Questions health and beauty brands ask
Does Cin7 track lot numbers and expiry dates for cosmetics and skincare?
Cin7 supports batch and expiry date tracking and bills of materials for manufacturing. Fiskal configures them for how your products move, then checks that they feed correct costs into your books.
Do I need cosmetic inventory software, or is Shopify enough?
Shopify tracks stock quantities by location. It does not hold lot codes or enforce expiry dates the way a system built for batches does. Cosmetic inventory software on its own still leaves the accounting side open. Fiskal connects the two.
Should I use QuickBooks Online or Xero with Cin7?
Both connect to Cin7, and Fiskal works with both. The mapping matters more than the platform. Fiskal sets it for how you sell, so inventory value, COGS, and cash reporting stay correct.
Can Cin7 handle retailers like Sephora, Target, and CVS?
Cin7’s native EDI connects to beauty retailers such as Sephora. Play Pits launched into both Target and CVS, and onboarding a major retailer still takes two to four months because each retailer has its own compliance process. A prepared system removes the delays on your side.
How does MoCRA affect my inventory records?
MoCRA added facility registration, product listing, safety substantiation, and serious adverse event reporting to US cosmetics rules. Requirements vary by company size and product type, so confirm yours with regulatory counsel. Fiskal does not give regulatory advice. It builds inventory records that let you trace a product to its batch and supplier lot when someone asks.
What size of brand does Fiskal work with?
Inventory businesses from about $1M to $100M in annual revenue.