Building a System-Driven Finance Function for a Pennsylvania Packaging Materials Supplier

The Challenge

When Global Insights KPO (GIK) took on this Pennsylvania-based packaging materials supplier, the finance function was running on systems but very messy and CFO was outgoing with undocumented processes. Inventory and COGS balances were inaccurate, sales tax was managed on a platform the client was moving away from, and day-to-day accounting depended heavily on individual staff knowledge rather than documented workflows - leaving the owner with limited visibility into the business's true financial position.

What We Did

• Systems & Data: Migrated the client's full accounting history from legacy Zoho Books to a new Zoho Books environment
• Managed the transition from TaxJar to Avalara for sales tax compliance
• Collaborated with the client's IT team to integrate Magento, ShipStation, Stripe, and Avalara with Zoho
• Automated operational and financial workflows across the entire Zoho ecosystem
• Process & Governance: Designed and documented SOPs for AR/AP, sales reconciliation, drop shipments, and the P2P cycle - moving the finance function from person-dependent to system-driven
• Set up a structured month-end close process, supported by clear SOPs
• Ran weekly AR/AP review meetings and bi-weekly financial overview calls with the owner
• Provided ongoing mentorship to the client's internal accounting staff to improve accuracy and efficiency
• Inventory, COGS & Reporting: Rebuilt inventory and COGS calculations from the ground up, resolving longstanding balance discrepancies that had been a major concern for the owner at onboarding
• Used AI tools (OpenAI/Claude) to deliver accurate, SKU-level stock reconciliation
• Delivered strategic insights, cash-flow visibility, and financial controls to support the owner's decision-making
• Building the Team - GIK's In-House People Model: To support this scope reliably, GIK built and staffed a dedicated in-house accounting team with clear lines of accountability, reporting directly into the client:
• Senior certified Accountant (V-CFO): owns the accounts end-to-end: financial analysis and reporting, budgeting and forecasting, sales tax compliance, and IT coordination for automation. Single point of contact for finance-level queries.
• AR/AP Lead - Certified Accountant (front-end): single point of contact for all AR/AP matters: customer and vendor communications, monthly AR/AP calls, and review and submission of final AR/AP reports. Reviews the backend team's work and approves budgets on Ramp.
• Two Junior Accountants (AR Clerk & AP Clerk): handle day-to-day data entry and backend processing for 375+ bills and invoices, weekly reporting, and vendor/customer communication.

Results

This structure gave the client a scalable, non-person-dependent finance team - with a clear escalation path from data entry up to CFO-level oversight.

• Finance operations shifted from person-dependent to system- and process-driven, reducing key-person risk
• Accurate, real-time inventory and COGS visibility replaced longstanding balance uncertainty
• Seamless multi-platform integration (Magento, ShipStation, Stripe, Avalara) within Zoho
• Reliable month-end close and full sales tax compliance via Avalara
• A consistent cadence of reviews and calls gave the owner ongoing visibility into cash flow and financial performance