Marko Glisic on How Cannabis Rescheduling is Reshaping the Finance Industry | Affiliate Links

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A million dollars vanished into thin air, or so it seemed at a California cannabis company where $1,148,320 separated actual cash from accounting records. This financial nightmare required a seasoned expert to resolve, someone who understood both traditional accounting and the unique complexities that cannabis businesses face in navigating crushing tax regulations. Enter Marko Glisic, who implemented financial controls that eliminated such discrepancies while steering another cannabis client from $4 million in revenues with negative EBITDA to $50 million with 25% profitability, culminating in a $60 million exit.

With potential rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III on the horizon, Marko Glisic leverages his dual background, eight years at Deloitte & Touche LLP, followed by pioneering work at GreenGrowth CPAs, to map out how this regulatory shift would transform every aspect of cannabis finance. “Cannabis businesses have faced effective tax rates exceeding 60% due to their inability to deduct ordinary business expenses,” Glisic explains, highlighting the core financial hardship Section 280E imposes on the industry.

The accounting & finance strategist who leads a 50+-person professional services team serving public and private cannabis companies has educated operators nationwide through hundreds of videos and articles produced with his team. Now, Marko Glisic turns his attention to how rescheduling would remake the financial structures underpinning the entire industry.

Financial Straitjacket Removal

Cannabis companies have twisted themselves into unnatural organizational shapes, attempting to survive 280E restrictions. Many built elaborate operational structures that maximize the cost of goods sold while artificially minimizing non-deductible expenses, creating operational inefficiencies that stifle growth potential.

Tax Strategy

“Companies that have structured their operations to maximize cost of goods sold while minimizing non-deductible expenses will need to fundamentally rethink their strategies,” Marko Glisic notes. His firm successfully implemented a 471 tax strategy, yielding $4,500,000 in tax deductions for a single client. “The post-280E landscape will require entirely new tax planning approaches. Rather than focusing on COGS maximization, businesses will need to reevaluate entity structures, compensation plans, and capital expenditure timing.”

These adjustments extend far beyond theoretical tax planning. Glisic recalls resolving $1,150,000 in cash discrepancies and $875,000 in inventory discrepancies through proper financial controls, inefficiencies created directly from operating in a distorted regulatory environment where normal business practices remained unavailable to cannabis operators.

Cash Management Transformation

The tactical financial approach Marko Glisic employs includes setting up “a process for filling Form 8300 for $10,000 in cash taken in, thus reducing the risk of penalties that can add up to $3,000,000.” Such attention to regulatory detail demonstrates the multilayered tax complexity cannabis businesses face, and how rescheduling would simplify operational finance considerably.

When cash management procedures are combined with proper inventory tracking, the results can be transformative. Glisic’s team “set up controls around inventory purchasing, intake/receiving, cycle counts, and sales, resulting in no inventory discrepancies, thus removing over $872,640 in unaccounted inventory discrepancies that would occur each year.” The elimination of 280E restrictions would allow cannabis companies to focus resources on these operational efficiencies rather than tax avoidance strategies.

Banking Barriers Dismantled

Rescheduling effects will echo most dramatically through banking access improvements. Marko Glisic’s experience guiding cannabis operators through financing arrangements while developing specialized cash management frameworks offers a valuable perspective on this critical shift.

Reduced Financial Institution Risk

“Banking access represents another significant shift on the horizon. Though rescheduling won’t immediately solve all banking challenges, it will substantially reduce financial institutions’ perceived risk in servicing cannabis businesses,” explains the CPA who designed “cannabis-specific cash internal control frameworks” reflecting his understanding of operational burdens created by limited banking access. “This could dramatically lower operational costs for companies currently paying premium fees for basic banking services or functioning primarily in cash.”

Capital Markets Acceleration

The monthly market reports Marko Glisic oversees consistently track cannabis investment trends, documenting the industry’s difficulty attracting institutional capital despite substantial growth potential. The January 2023 GreenGrowth Cannabis Market Report analyzed how macroeconomic factors influence cannabis stock performance, noting that “in the first two quarters of 2022 the volume of M&A transactions dropped” due partly to “lack of progress in federal legalization of cannabis in the US.” Rescheduling addresses this fundamental barrier, accelerating investment timelines for expansion and innovation.

According to data Glisic compiled, “EUR/USD has shown a path of rebound, placing the parity around 1.05:1/1.09:1 level,” demonstrating how macroeconomic factors continue influencing cannabis capital markets. His expertise in tracking financial indicators allows cannabis businesses to position themselves advantageously ahead of regulatory changes, a crucial skill during rescheduling.

Regulatory Compliance Expertise

The banking transformation would parallel Glisic’s experience at Deloitte, where he directed complex cross-border audits for multi-billion-dollar international companies and maintained a perfect inspection record during internal PCAOB inspections. For example, Glisic’s work coordinating audit teams across multiple countries for a $4 billion revenue business demonstrates the level of regulatory expertise that will prove invaluable for cannabis operators navigating the transitional banking landscape post-rescheduling.

Valuations Surge Imminent

New financial conditions following rescheduling would accelerate market consolidation, a trend apparent in recent cannabis history but hampered by valuation challenges tied to 280E’s impact on EBITDA calculations.

EBITDA Enhancement

“We’ve already seen how properly structured cannabis businesses can achieve impressive valuations despite regulatory headwinds,” says Marko Glisic, referencing his work helping a vertically integrated operator grow “from $4 million in revenues with negative EBITDA to $50 million in revenues with 25% EBITDA, ultimately achieving a $60 million exit at 1.2x revenues.” “Post-rescheduling, these valuations could increase substantially as improved cash flow and normalized tax situations make cannabis businesses more comparable to companies in other industries.”

The elimination of 280E would dramatically enhance EBITDA for most operators, triggering widespread revaluation throughout the industry. “We identified $1,250,000 in add-backs to EBITDA, which at a 5x multiple resulted in $6,250,000 in added value,” the financial expert explains. Tax normalization alone could substantially increase valuations industry-wide.

M&A Multiple Stabilization

Glisic’s analysis of industry-specific valuation multiples found that “median enterprise value (EV) to revenue multiple in the chosen sample of M&A transactions is 2.48x. Targets with lower revenue (and higher growth prospects) receive higher valuation.” This data suggests smaller cannabis businesses might benefit disproportionately from rescheduling-driven valuation improvements.

His market research also revealed that “revenue multiple fluctuates between 0 and 10x, and sporadically jumps outside of this band in the covered period of analysis.” Marko Glisic predicts these valuation metrics will stabilize post-rescheduling as cannabis businesses operate more like traditional retail and agricultural enterprises.

Post-Rescheduling Preparation

While rescheduling represents a major advancement, complications will persist. “State-level taxation adds another layer of complexity, as the elimination of 280E at the federal level doesn’t automatically resolve state restrictions,” warns the cannabis finance veteran. Multi-state operators must continue adapting to regulatory inconsistencies across different markets.

Cannabis businesses preparing for this watershed moment should implement comprehensive readiness strategies: financial audits, post-rescheduling scenario modeling, capital strategy development, and state-specific impact analysis. Marko Glisic’s integration of both traditional accounting rigor and cannabis-specific expertise offers an authoritative roadmap for operators preparing to capitalize on a fundamentally transformed financial landscape in one of America’s fastest-expanding sectors.