Success Story: Restoring Financial Confidence
When a fast-growing $4 million importer expanded into new sales channels, including Amazon, its data systems struggled to keep pace with the rapid growth. With inventory sourced from overseas and a new inventory system recently implemented, the company's owner sought help to accurately trust inventory valuation and monthly income. That's when the company turned to Wise Consulting for help.
The Situation: Multiple Systems & Manual Entry
The company had a complex operating structure, with multiple team members entering data into connected systems, including a webstore for ordering, an Amazon account for selling, QuickBooks Online for accounting, and SOS for inventory management. Compounding the issue, manual currency conversions by an inexperienced bookkeeper led to inaccuracies in inventory valuation. These discrepancies led the owner to fear that he was double-booking revenue, which in turn risked overstating his net income and paying excessive taxes.
The solution
Wise Consulting stepped in to unravel the confusion. Starting with a complete review of their financial statements, we zoomed in on the reconciliation of critical areas, including inventory valuation, sales and COGS, and cash and credit cards. During our initial process, we identified the perceived “pain points” and helped provide clarity on how these areas are impacted by data systems and operations.
Furthermore, the team identified inconsistencies in how inventory items were entered and valued, particularly in the handling of Euro-to-USD conversions. A critical discovery was that a team member was entering manual invoices without applying the correct exchange rates, skewing the inventory reports, and triggering misalignments in financial statements.
Wise Consulting implemented a structured monthly close and analytics process, focusing on reconciliation across the entire balance sheet, rather than just cash and credit card accounts. Since all the systems tie to the financial statements, it was important to understand how the data flowed between applications, to avoid duplicate transactions and ghost data. They provided the owner with insight into the root causes of discrepancies, explained accounting treatments in clear terms, and helped him regain confidence in his financials.
Through a mix of financial oversight, strategic advisory, and change management, Wise was able to bring structure to chaos. They aligned accounting practices with the actual flow of transactions, enhanced internal controls, and established a reliable foundation for informed financial decision-making.
A Strategic Partner
Beyond fixing the books, Wise Consulting has become a strategic partner. The owner, now facing challenges such as tariffs, supply chain uncertainty, and succession planning, can turn to our team at Wise Consulting for guidance. Discussions extended to vendor strategy, hiring, and even planning for a transition to his daughters—all backed by data he could finally trust. Additionally, we can introduce new tools to leverage and financial measurement in ways that help the company identify risk, mitigate it, and avoid trouble.
“The owner doesn’t want someone just to crunch numbers,” said Dan Johnson, CEO of Wise Consulting. “He wants a partner who understands the business, helps him think strategically, and tells him the truth.”
With the help of Wise Consulting, the company transformed from uncertainty to clarity, confidence, and control—positioned to continue growing with a firm grip on its financial future.
Get a financial assessment
If your company or client doesn’t trust the numbers, inhibiting your ability to make sound business decisions, speak with one of our team members about our free financial assessment as the first step for you to gain financial clarity.
