Accounting for CPG Startups & eCommerce Brands
We have a deep expertise in CPG, DTC & eCommerce Accounting, from bookkeeping to inventory management to sales tax and more.
Why the best eCommerce & CPG startups are investing in accounting
Maintaining clean financials for CPG companies with Shopify/Amazon/retail, 3PLs and inventory management systems is an uncommon skill for a typical bookkeeping firm. Let alone being able to understand CAC and cohorts. That is why most CPG founders and startups decide to work with the CPG team at Graphite.
Cash is king for eComm & CPG, especially when you are early on, and startups must have a tight outlook on cash flow, cohorts, retention, CAC vs LTV, and more in order to succeed. Be among the best growing startups and utilize Graphite’s startup accounting services.
🔥 Startup Program: Special pricing for early-stage startups. Apply →
Our Services for eComm and CPG Brands
Your CPG focused Graphite accounting team will be made up of experienced CFOs, Accountants and Bookkeepers who understand your business and work with you to develop accounting processes that fit your needs. Our CPG accounting services are unmatched in the industry.
Bookkeeping Made For CPG & eComm
Always-on bookkeeping so your books are accurate, GAAP compliant and ready to use for operating & growth.
Operational Accounting
Your one stop shop for everything: We can pay your bills, invoice clients, run payroll, file your taxes and a lot more.
Financial Reporting
We provide some of the most robust financial reporting in our industry, so founder & operators can focus on using data, not mining it.
Inventory Management
We’ve built & maintained hundreds of scalable CPG tech stacks, from inventory software to sales tax systems and more.
CFO & Fundraising
Every Graphite client has access to an experienced CFO, whether it’s ad hoc or long-term support.
Expense Detail Reports
We keep a tight eye on your expenses each month and flag any variances or oddities.
Chart of Accounts Refinement
We help you develop a chart of accounts that provides your startup critical operating insights.
Tax Compliance
We create a proactive compliance calendar and manage all of your tax deadlines and requirements.
“Graphite has been instrumental in building up the finance function at Caraway. They provided a ton of fundraising advice, helped us model out scenarios, and helped deeply on the accounting side.”
— Jordan Nathan, Founder & CEO of Caraway
Why CPG & eComm Startups Prefer Us
Simple: Our track record with brands & our CPG talent. We are your long-term CPG accounting partner, and the US-based team we allocate to you will only be working with a handful of clients at a time, so they can be high-touch, embedded in your business, and feel like an in-house team. Below are the key reasons why startups prefer us.
01 Scalability
We support from seed to exit. No more hopping from firm to firm.
02 A Full Stack
Each startup gets a team (not just a single accountant) that matches their needs.
03 Track Record
Our experience speaks for itself. 7+ years. 250+ startups.
04 Reporting
Startups receive robust and accurate financials each month.
05 Top Talent
Talent that has worked with hundreds of startups, at your fingertips.
06 Cost
A flexible, fractional & affordable engagement structures.
🔥 Startup Program: Special pricing for early-stage & growth startups. Apply →
The New Wave of Startup Accounting
Other Firms
Hourly pricing, large random bills
Six months to get up to speed
One accountant on many accounts
Firm only handles bookkeeping
Use whatever tools you use today
Fixed monthly pricing given up front
Dedicated onboarding team for speed
Modern tech stacks and software
FAQs
Why do most growing startups work with Graphite?
The main reasons startups choose to work with us are:
Our track record: We’ve helped countless startups grow from a few team members to hundreds of employees, and for many, we've scaled with them through their exits.
In-House Feel: With other firms, you’ll likely get a team from a service center that is working with 15 or 20 clients at a time. We are the opposite side of the spectrum. We are your long-term partner, and the US-based team we allocate to you will only be working with a handful of clients at a time, so they can be high-touch, embedded in your business, and feel like an in-house team.
Scalability: Hopping from accounting firm to accounting firm as you scale is not fun. That’s why startups prefer Graphite. We are a one-stop-shop. We handle everything (bookkeeping, operational accounting, CFO, FP&A, tax, etc.) and have yet to meet our match in terms of scale.
Robust Reporting: The clients that work with us receive some of the most insightful business reporting in the industry. Here is an example of our financial health dashboard that we set up for our clients. We help our operators keep a tight understanding of unit economics, growth and capital needs.
Top Talent: Our team members have worked with hundreds of startups, and have a wealth of knowledge about your specific industry.
For a quick quote, click here.
How much does it cost?
Our pricing structure is really simple and extremely fair...it has to be, as we focus on startups and growing companies. Because we are more of a long-term finance partner (which is what you want) compared to a short term “outsourced” bookkeeping firm, all of our engagements are custom.
Our engagements start at $1,250/mo and grow from there based on a startups goals and needs.
For a quick quote, click here.
How do you handle the transition from our current firm to Graphite?
Most of our clients come to us from a sub par experience with another firm, so we are used to facilitating and managing transitions. Along with your direct Graphite team, every client is also staffed with an onboarding manager who will be the one to manage the transition so you don’t have to.
Who will be my point of contact?
Every client we work with is assigned a dedicated team, usually consisting of two to four team members. Of those team members, we will define a main point of contact. We love Slack, so if you use it, we can create a Slack instance and communicate there. We also will create an email alias so you can simply email one email address that will go to your entire Graphite team.
What is communication cadence like?
We are speaking with most of our clients on a regular basis. Some daily. Others have weekly or bi-weekly standing meetings. Think of it like this: However you would communicate with an internal finance team, that’s how we will communicate.
Do you provide tax filings as a stand alone service?
We do, yes! And we can quickly get you pricing. For a quick quote, click here.
When is the best time to start working with an accounting/finance firm like Graphite?
In reality, the second you start developing your product and spending money is when you need to start keeping clean books. There are always inflection points (for example a company raising money and investors needing them to provide clean financials, or a bank requiring GAAP compliant financials in order to provide a loan) where you don’t want to be scrambling to get those things together.
Yes, you need to have some sort of cash flow (investment dollars, working capital or revenue) to pay for a service like ours, but the earlier you do so, the more money you will save in the long run and the cleaner your books will be in order to fundraise and progress your business.
What does your financial modeling and FP&A service include?
Our financial planning & analysis (FP&A) support, aka Tier 2 in our service tiers, is a fully managed and always on FP&A service. On top of bookkeeping, we also handle building you a financial model and a financial health dashboard (demo here), and updating/maintaining that dashboard over time so we can provide you with full financial insights around your business.
We can also offer you a Fractional CFO to help with things like fundraising, M&A, and driving strategic initiatives.
Contact us here to speak with one of our CFOs.
What stage company is the best fit for Graphite?
Graphite works (and scales) with startups anywhere from a few founders working on their idea all the way to a growing startup with 100s of employees. We have yet to meet our match in terms of a company too large!
Our sweet spot is well capitalized startups who have found product market fit.
How does your pricing compare to a full-time person?
For most startups, you don’t need 40 hrs/wk of work from an internal finance hire or team, especially when you first hire them. Fractional work, like Graphite, provides a much more efficient approach, as you are only paying for the exact effort you need at that moment in time. You also don’t pay us for benefits, downtime or vacations, so our cost tends to be much more efficient than hiring an internal team member.
Where is your team based?
Our hubs are in New York and Florida, but our team is fully remote across the US working in all time zones.
Do you handle sales tax?
Yes, we do handle sales tax! And we can quickly get you pricing. For a quick quote, click here.
How long do clients work with Graphite on average?
Most companies work with Graphite for long periods of time, as our service is extremely scalable and cost-efficient. There are “bandaid” accounting services that are more so quick fixes for short periods of time, and then there is Graphite...one of the few long term partners. Most of our clients work with us for years and years, and we take many through their exits, M&As, etc.
What are your security protocols?
We have an internal security team and take data security very seriously.
Do you help companies set up their software and tech stack?
Yes! We are a “tech-focused” firm and recommend/setup all different types of tools and softwares to our clients. We have standard tools that we prefer and will recommend, but we can also mold to softwares you are using and prefer as well.
Our Leadership
We are a team of CFOs, Accountants, Investors & Entrepreneurs with a vast understanding of startup finance, accounting & tax.
Jocelyn Wilson
COO
15+ years of accounting & operations experience in both public accounting & private startups
Chris Mossa
Chief Strategy Officer
Former Founder & CEO at CPM Advisory, CFO at Advizr, Investor in multiple early-stage startups
Benjamin Friedman
Head of Customer Success
20+ years’ ops & finance experience with fast-growing companies, including five successful M&As
Sean Bies
Managing Director, Client Services
Experienced Controller working with eCommerce startups and fortune 500 companies
Sam Patel
Managing Director, Client Services
Accomplished Controller, 15+ years accounting experience
Heather Stein
Managing Director, Finance
20+ year accounting & finance experience providing business insight in growth environments
Locations: NYC HQ / Clients around the world
With team members across the country and clients worldwide, we cast a wide net.
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