Elective
Financial Acumen
The rigorous P&L course for cannabis operators who want to run their stores like CFOs. The 280E arc starts with fundamentals, walks the case law (CHAMP, Olive, Harborside, Alterman), covers COGS allocation under 471-11 versus 471-3, and decides entity structure for tax efficiency. The accounting arc establishes the cannabis chart of accounts, inventory accounting tied to Metrc batches, indirect cost allocation, and state tax conformity. The KPI arc treats financial, sales, inventory, and customer KPIs as one integrated decision-making system. Banking covers the cannabis banking landscape, payment processing, and capital access through specialist lenders, private credit, and equity. Pricing strategy, the math behind markup and margin, behavioral pricing psychology, vertical-integration trade-offs, and labor cost economics close the course before the capstone: building the financial model for a new store.
22 lessons10.5 hours0 section quizzes7 chapters
Begin courseFree during early access
What you'll master
Outcomes you can defend.
- Operate the dispensary P&L through the 280E lens with the rigor of the case law that defined it
- Build a cannabis chart of accounts and inventory accounting system that ties cleanly to Metrc
- Read every category of KPI (financial, sales, inventory, customer) as one integrated scorecard
- Choose payment processing, banking, and capital paths with eyes-open trade-off analysis
- Set pricing tiers and category contribution targets that maximize margin without losing customers
- Build a defensible financial model for a new store from market sizing through year-three profitability
Curriculum
The full syllabus.
Every lesson, in the order we recommend you take them. Click any lesson to begin. Your progress saves automatically.
Part 01
4 lessons • 110 min280E and Tax
- 01280E Fundamentals: Why Cannabis Pays Tax on Revenue, Not ProfitWhy a single sentence in the federal tax code roughly doubles cannabis effective tax rates for adult-use and recreational operators, how it warps every reported margin you read, and the structural levers operators use to claw back the cash 280E takes off the table. For state-licensed medical cannabis, a partial exemption took effect April 22, 2026.30 min
- 02280E Case Law: CHAMP, Olive, Harborside, AltermanHow four Tax Court opinions built the operating envelope for cannabis tax planning under IRC 280E, what each case actually held, and how to read any 280E strategy through a four-filter test before a CPA spends an hour on it. Note: As of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is Schedule III; adult-use remains Schedule I; 280E relief applies to the medical portion going forward; full rescheduling is pending a June 29, 2026 hearing.27 min
- 03COGS Allocation: Producer (471-11) vs Reseller (471-3) MechanicsHow to read and structure cannabis COGS so it survives a 280E audit, including the producer vs reseller distinction, IRC 471-11 indirect allocation mechanics, the defensible-vs-overreach line, and the documentation discipline that separates a $339K-per-year planning win from a Tax Court loss. Note: As of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is Schedule III; adult-use remains Schedule I; 280E applies only to Schedule I cannabis businesses.24 min
- 04Entity Structuring for Tax EfficiencyHow cannabis operators use C-corp, LLC, S-corp, management-company, and holding-company structures to limit 280E exposure on plant-touching revenue, when each archetype actually pays for itself, and how to tell a defensible structure from a paper one that collapses in audit. Note: as of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is Schedule III; adult-use remains Schedule I; full rescheduling is pending a June 29, 2026 hearing.29 min
Part 02
4 lessons • 109 minCannabis Accounting
- 05Cannabis Accounting: Chart of Accounts and Month-End CloseHow to design a chart of accounts that segregates Schedule III medical and Schedule I recreational cannabis costs, run a seven-step monthly close that produces audit-defensible documentation in the period it occurred, and manage 280E relief for medical operations going forward.26 min
- 06Inventory Accounting: FIFO, LIFO, and Metrc-Tied Batch CostingHow to value cannabis inventory under current federal law: FIFO is the retail default in deflationary wholesale markets; Metrc batch IDs are the cost-accounting foundation that separates audit-survivable books from audit-risk books; IRC 280E applies only to recreational cannabis and unlicensed bulk marijuana, while state-licensed medical cannabis is now Schedule III and eligible for ordinary business-expense deductions going forward; and the shrink and writedown discipline that protects COGS and the license operates identically regardless of scheduling status.31 min
- 07Indirect Cost Allocation and Audit-Ready DocumentationHow to allocate shared production costs into COGS in a way that survives 280E audit, including allocation-base discipline, the three IRS-accepted methods, and the documentation archive that turns a defensible policy into a survivable one. Note: as of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis operations may deduct ordinary business expenses going forward; recreational cannabis remains subject to 280E.30 min
- 08State Tax Conformity: Where 280E Does and Doesn't ApplyHow state income tax conformity to federal 280E reshapes after-tax cash for medical cannabis operators and why recreational operators in different states face different burdens, and how to plan around state-by-state rules without overpaying or under-reserving.22 min
Part 03
4 lessons • 114 minKPI Architecture
- 09Financial KPI Fundamentals: Revenue, Gross Margin, Contribution, Operating LeverageHow to read the four foundational dispensary financial numbers (revenue, gross margin, contribution margin, operating leverage) as a single connected system. Note: State-licensed medical cannabis became Schedule III effective April 22, 2026, changing 280E application going forward; recreational cannabis remains Schedule I. Every reported financial KPI depends on understanding both the scheduling regime and the 280E tax mechanics that still apply.30 min
- 10Sales KPIs: Conversion, UPT, AOV, Attach RateHow to read the four sales KPIs that actually move dispensary revenue, why they trade off against each other, and how to set 90-day targets that survive contact with cannabis margin reality. Medical cannabis operators can now deduct ordinary business expenses going forward, but recreational remains under 280E.25 min
- 11Inventory KPIs: Turns, GMROI, Shrink, Category ContributionHow to read the four inventory KPIs that decide whether your working capital is working, why each one lies in a different way when read alone, and how to set 90-day targets that move turns and GMROI without crashing service levels.29 min
- 12Customer KPIs: Frequency, LTV, CAC, RetentionHow to read the four customer-side numbers that compound dispensary revenue, why retention is the only one that durably moves the rest, and how to set 90-day targets that survive cannabis margin reality.30 min
Part 04
3 lessons • 84 minBanking and Capital
- 13The Cannabis Banking LandscapeHow cannabis operators actually get a bank account, what it costs, why the institutional universe is small and fragile, and how a CFO builds treasury resilience in a vertical where a 30-day closure letter can land at any time.31 min
- 14Payment Processing: PIN Debit, Cashless ATM, ACH, and the 280E TreatmentHow the four cannabis consumer payment rails actually work behind the scenes, what each one costs after 280E disallowance for medical operators and non-deductibility for recreational, and how to run a rail-mix strategy that converts six and seven figures of fee drag into retained cash.26 min
- 15Capital Access: Specialist Lenders, Private Credit, EquityHow cannabis operators actually raise capital when traditional banks will not lend, what specialist lenders charge, when sale-leaseback unlocks trapped equity, and how to choose between debt, sale-leaseback, and equity using a clean break-even and ROA lens.27 min
Part 05
3 lessons • 83 minPricing
- 16Pricing in Cannabis: Market Maturity Tiers and the Margin Pressure CurveHow market maturity, category dynamics, and elasticity together determine what a cannabis product can actually be priced at, and how operators read every pricing decision through the federal tax filter that bends the math against them.27 min
- 17Markup, Margin, and the Category Contribution OptimizationThe pricing math that separates operators who run their store from operators whose store runs them: markup vs margin, initial vs maintained, GMROI as the category-contribution scorecard, and how to read every number through the 280E lens that bends the cash result.24 min
- 18Pricing Psychology: What Behavioral Economics Says About Cannabis MenusHow anchoring, decoy framing, Goldilocks tiering, and charm pricing actually behave on a cannabis menu, where tax stacking and deal-seeker culture break the QSR playbook, and how to design the architecture that captures the middle tier instead of training every shopper down to the deal price. As of April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is now Schedule III, which affects 280E treatment going forward for medical operators only.32 min
Part 06
3 lessons • 91 minStrategy and Operations
- 19Vertical Integration: When It Wins, When It Traps CapitalHow to read a vertical integration decision as a capital allocation problem rather than an identity choice, with the per-state, per-tier math that separates VI bets that compound from VI bets that strand cash in a depreciating grow facility. As of April 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis moved to Schedule III, eliminating 280E relief for medical operators going forward; recreational cannabis remains Schedule I.28 min
- 20MSO Economics: Curaleaf, Trulieve, Green Thumb Case StudiesHow three of the largest US cannabis MSOs build durable cash flow on three completely different theses (scale, brand, state depth), and how to read each one's unit economics through the 280E filter and post-April 2026 federal rescheduling landscape so you can borrow the right playbook for your own operation.32 min
- 21Labor Cost as % of Revenue and the Retention MathHow to read labor cost percent through the cannabis cash filter, schedule against the demand curve, and decide whether the next dollar of payroll spend should go to wages, benefits, or retention infrastructure.31 min
Ready when you are
Financial Acumen starts with one lesson.
280E Fundamentals: Why Cannabis Pays Tax on Revenue, Not Profit, 30 minutes. Pick it up here whenever you have time.
Start lesson 1