Brewery Finance Basics: Build the Financial Systems Your Brewery Needs to Succeed

In this episode, I’m introducing my new book, Brewery Finance Basics, a practical financial handbook designed to help brewery owners and managers build a more profitable, sustainable business. 

The book brings together 12 essential areas of brewery finance, from understanding your numbers and managing margins to cash flow, budgeting, benchmarks, and financial operating systems.

I’ll also share lessons from the first chapter: Brewery Financial Standard Operating Procedures. Just as you wouldn’t brew beer without a recipe and a process, you shouldn’t run the financial side of your brewery without one. Financial SOPs create the consistency, accuracy, and accountability you need to produce reliable numbers, and use those numbers to make better decisions.

Key Takeaways

• Why financial systems matter. Great financial management is about creating repeatable processes that produce reliable information and better decisions.
• The 8 essential financial SOPs every brewery should consider: month-end close, monthly financial review, budgeting and forecasting, cash management, revenue and receivables, purchases and payables, inventory management, and tax reporting.
• How to build a financial SOP from scratch. Establish the goal, determine how success will be measured, assign one person to own the process, identify the tools involved, and document the specific steps to follow.
• Turn recurring financial tasks into simple checklists. Define what needs to be done, when it needs to happen, who is responsible, and how completion is documented - especially for critical processes like the month-end close.
• Start small and build your financial playbook over time. Pick one process—cash management, inventory, or month-end close—and document it. Then move on to the next. Each SOP brings you closer to the consistent, accurate financial information you need to improve profitability and cash flow.

Get the Brewery Profit Brief - tips, tactics and strategies to improve cash flow in your business.

Today’s episode is brought to you by BevCap. At Beer Business Finance, we talk a lot about installing systems that improve profitability and health insurance should be no exception. BevCap helps beverage companies apply the same discipline they use across the rest of the P&L to employee benefits, helping create smarter plans, more visibility into costs, and significant savings over time. To learn more visit BevCapManagement.com. 

Ready to transform financial results in your beer business? Learn more about the Beer Business Finance Association, a network of owners and managers working together to build more profitable companies.