Anatomy of a Compliance Failure
How a 0.3% inventory variance became a $47,000 problem. A breakdown of what happens when data systems don't align.
The Scenario
A Virginia cannabis retailer completed their first full year of operations. Sales were strong. The POS system showed $2.1 million in revenue. The bank deposits matched. Everything looked clean.
Then the state reconciliation request arrived.
The Problem: Two Types of "Missing"
When regulators compare your Metrc inventory ledger against your POS sales records, discrepancies fall into two categories. Understanding the difference is critical.
MISSING REVENUE
Metrc shows product sold. POS has no matching sale.
This looks like diversion. Product left the tracked system but no revenue was recorded. Regulators assume the worst: cash sales, unreported income, potential license revocation.
UNREPORTED SALES
POS shows a sale. Metrc has no matching transfer.
This looks like untracked inventory entering the supply chain. Where did this product come from? Was it grown legally? This triggers seed-to-sale audit concerns.
What Actually Happened
The retailer's variance was 0.3%. In dollar terms, about $6,300 in "missing" product over 12 months. The causes were mundane:
- Manual entry errors during busy periods
- Voided transactions not synced back to Metrc
- Sample/promo products logged inconsistently
- Package weight rounding discrepancies
None of it was intentional. All of it was preventable.
The $47,000 Cost
The state penalty was the smallest line item. The real cost was proving the errors were accidental, not fraudulent.
The Prevention Framework
Monthly reconciliation catches these issues when they're small. The process is straightforward:
- Export Metrc transfer data for the period.
- Export POS transaction data for the same period.
- Run automated matching on package IDs and timestamps.
- Flag discrepancies immediately while context is fresh.
- Document resolution with supporting records.
When done monthly, variance investigations take hours. When done annually under regulatory scrutiny, they take months and lawyers.
The Yield Advisory Approach
We run reconciliation checks monthly using automated tools. Discrepancies are flagged, investigated, and documented before they compound. When the state asks questions, you have answers ready.
Request Compliance Review