Accounting & Fractional CFO for Product and Ecommerce Brands
Accounting, controller and fractional CFO services for manufacturers and product brands selling wholesale, direct-to-consumer and on marketplaces — landed cost, channel margins and inventory cash flow.
The short answer
Most ecommerce accountants understand marketplaces and payment processors but not production costs. Most manufacturing accountants understand costing but not channels. Accounovation works with manufacturers and product companies that do both — making or sourcing physical products and selling them wholesale, direct-to-consumer, on Shopify or on Amazon. We handle landed cost and inventory accounting, product- and channel-level profitability, the working capital that inventory growth consumes, and the month-end close and CFO work that sit on top.
Who this is for
- Manufacturers adding a direct-to-consumer channel alongside distributors or OEM customers.
- Product brands that import or contract-manufacture and sell through their own site, marketplaces and retail partners.
- Companies running B2B and D2C in one set of books and unable to tell which line is actually making money.
- Growing brands where cash is tight despite rising sales, because inventory is bought months before it sells.
What makes product-company accounting different
Landed cost, not invoice cost
The factory invoice is only part of what a product costs. Freight, duty, tariffs, inbound logistics and packaging all belong in cost of goods sold. When they sit in overhead instead, every product looks more profitable than it is — and pricing decisions get made on the wrong number.
Margin by product and by channel
A D2C order and a wholesale order for the same product have completely different economics: price, payment processing and marketplace fees, advertising, fulfillment, returns and payment terms. We build reporting that shows profitability by product and by channel, net of those costs, so you can see which part of your growth is worth having.
Inventory is where the cash goes
In a product business, growth consumes cash. You pay for inventory long before customers pay you, so tripling revenue roughly triples the inventory you have to finance. We model the full cash cycle — deposits, production, transit, warehousing, sell-through and collection — so inventory commitments are sized against a forecast instead of optimism.
Two businesses, one ledger
B2B and D2C differ in margin structure, acquisition cost, working capital cycle and the multiple a buyer would pay. Reporting them as one business hides both. When it makes sense, we help separate them into distinct segments or even separate entities with standalone financials.
Proof: NUU Mobile
NUU Mobile, a consumer electronics brand in Irving, Texas selling both to businesses and direct to consumers, worked with Accounovation for five years. Over that time revenue grew from roughly $20 million to over $60 million without drawing on its line of credit. We replaced an oversized SAP implementation with Zoho, built product- and channel-level profitability, funded inventory growth through negotiated customer prepayments, separated the B2B and D2C lines into two entities, carried the company to audited financials and handed the function to an in-house finance team. Read the full NUU Mobile case study.
MPS Acoustics shows the import side of the same problem: prepaid inventory, ocean freight that belongs in product cost, and a long operating cash cycle that has to be forecast months ahead.
What we do
- Bookkeeping — accrual books with inventory, landed cost and channel revenue recorded correctly.
- Controller services — month-end close, inventory reconciliation, reserves for returns and warranty, and audit-ready reporting.
- Fractional CFO — product and channel profitability, pricing, cash forecasting, inventory funding, capital raises and lender relationships.
- Cash flow management — 13-week and longer-range forecasts tied to purchasing and production plans.
Frequently asked questions
Do you work with ecommerce-only brands?
Our sweet spot is companies with real inventory and product-cost complexity — manufacturers, importers and product brands — whether they sell online, wholesale or both. If you design, make or source physical products, we're likely a fit.
Can you account for Shopify and Amazon sales?
Yes. We record marketplace and storefront sales, fees, refunds and payouts so that revenue, fees and cost of goods sold land in the right places, and we report profitability by channel.
How do you calculate landed cost?
Landed cost adds freight, duty, tariffs, insurance, inbound handling and similar costs to the supplier price, then allocates them across the units received. That figure — not the invoice price — becomes your inventory value and cost of goods sold.
Why is my product business profitable but short of cash?
Because inventory is paid for months before it's sold, so growth ties up more and more cash in stock. A profitable company can still be unable to fund its next purchase order. A cash forecast built around the inventory cycle shows the gap before it becomes a crisis, and options like customer deposits, supplier terms and faster inventory turns can close it without debt.
Should B2B and D2C be separate entities?
Separate reporting is essential. Separate legal entities make sense when you may raise capital for, sell or spin off one line, or when the operations have genuinely diverged. Separating early is far cheaper than separating under deal pressure.
Do you handle sales tax filing?
Accounovation is not a CPA firm and doesn't file tax returns. We keep the records and reports your sales tax provider or CPA needs and help you understand where you may have nexus.
Get clear on your numbers
Book a free 30-minute call to talk through your cash flow, margins and growth plans with a manufacturing finance expert.