As consumer brands continue to grow and evolve, it’s more critical than ever to build a finance function that creates value for the business. From managing cash flow to optimizing tech integrations, building a modern finance stack is crucial for companies that want to keep pace with the market while setting themselves up for sustained success.
At Drivepoint, we’re constantly exploring the best ways to align financial infrastructure with business strategy, so we recently did a deep dive into what it really takes to build a finance stack that works for consumer brands. Here are the seven key steps to creating a modern finance stack that can help drive growth, efficiency, and resilience, all learned directly from our experience working with some of the very best operators in the consumer goods industry.
Table of contents
- 1. Make Real-Time Decision-Making a Priority
- 2. Automate to Free Up Time and Minimize Errors
- 3. Create Standardized Metrics for Alignment Across Teams
- 4. Prioritize Working Capital Optimization
- 5. Use Financial Models That Scale as the Business Grows
- 6. Engage Financial Partners Who Understand the Consumer Space
- 7. Build Security and Compliance into Your Modern Finance Stack
- Wrapping Up
1. Make Real-Time Decision-Making a Priority
To keep up with the demands of today’s market, consumer brands need finance systems that deliver real-time insights. Gone are the days when monthly or quarterly reports were enough to guide decisions; now, it’s all about real-time data access that helps brands stay agile. By tapping into tools that pull in data from all channels—sales, inventory, and marketing—finance teams can better understand their business’s daily performance and quickly react to any changes in consumer behavior.
With this approach, decisions become not only faster but more data-driven, empowering finance teams to make adjustments that reflect current market conditions rather than relying on outdated reports. If your finance tech doesn’t yet support real-time analysis, it might be time to explore new solutions that do.
2. Automate to Free Up Time and Minimize Errors
If your team spends a lot of time on manual finance tasks, automation can make an immediate difference. Manual processes can lead to slowdowns, bottlenecks, and an increased risk of errors, all of which can drag down the entire finance function. By automating repetitive tasks—think reconciliations, invoice processing, and reporting—you’re freeing up your team to focus on what matters: strategic planning and value-adding insights.
Not only does automation cut down on errors, but it also keeps financial records updated in real-time, so that reporting, forecasting, and budgeting are more accurate. As a brand grows, automating these tasks is a no-brainer, allowing the team to spend more time analyzing data and driving strategic initiatives.
3. Create Standardized Metrics for Alignment Across Teams
Every team in a consumer brand, from marketing to operations, impacts the business’s bottom line, yet these departments often operate on different metrics. Aligning everyone on standardized financial metrics—like customer acquisition cost (CAC) or customer lifetime value (LTV)—is a simple but powerful way to ensure that everyone is working toward the same goals.
Standard metrics create transparency across teams, allowing each department to see how their work contributes to financial outcomes. This alignment improves collaboration and ensures that the finance team isn’t working in a silo but as a collaborative partner in driving the brand’s success.
4. Prioritize Working Capital Optimization
Managing cash flow is the heartbeat of financial health in a consumer brand, and optimizing working capital is essential for both growth and resilience. We talked about several strategies to improve cash flow, from efficient inventory management to optimizing accounts receivable. The bottom line? By freeing up cash flow, brands can reinvest in growth initiatives or maintain a buffer against market fluctuations.
Working capital optimization allows brands to manage cash efficiently and have flexibility when it comes to investing in new opportunities, responding to demand shifts, or navigating unexpected challenges. A modern finance stack that tracks and supports working capital management can give brands a real advantage.
5. Use Financial Models That Scale as the Business Grows
Financial models that worked when the brand was in its early stages often aren’t enough as the business scales. To keep up with the demands of growth, financial models need to evolve, accommodating new product lines, expanded sales channels, and geographic growth.
If a brand’s financial model doesn’t scale with it, then forecasting and budgeting lose accuracy, and growth initiatives become harder to plan effectively. Scalable financial models allow finance teams to measure the impact of different growth strategies accurately and help brands plan for the future with more certainty. Brands should regularly review their models to ensure they align with the business’s scale and complexity.
6. Engage Financial Partners Who Understand the Consumer Space
The consumer sector has unique challenges, and working with advisors or partners who specialize in this field can make a big difference. Whether it’s understanding seasonality, managing inventory turnover, or tracking consumer spending trends, advisors who know the consumer market can offer insights that a generalist might miss.
By bringing in partners with deep industry knowledge, brands benefit from tailored guidance that accounts for the nuances of the consumer space. These experts can help consumer brands navigate the specifics of their market, offering strategic advice on everything from cost management to growth investments.
7. Build Security and Compliance into Your Modern Finance Stack
As consumer brands handle more transactions and data, security and compliance become non-negotiables. A modern finance stack should include robust security features—encryption, secure access controls, and data privacy compliance—to protect both the company and its customers.
Security and compliance can sometimes feel like afterthoughts, but they’re fundamental in finance, especially for consumer brands managing sensitive customer data. A strong finance stack ensures that the brand remains compliant with regulatory requirements, keeping it safe from penalties and helping build trust with consumers.
Wrapping Up
Building a modern finance stack is about more than just technology; it’s about setting up a system that scales, adapts, and supports the brand at every stage of growth. From real-time data access to automated processes and a solid approach to working capital, the steps we uncovered provide a foundation that brands can build on. By focusing on these core areas, consumer brands can develop a finance stack that doesn’t just keep up with the business but actively drives it forward.
If you’re a finance leader in the consumer space, I encourage you to evaluate where your modern finance stack stands today. Is it supporting your team’s goals, or is it holding them back? By building a finance infrastructure that’s both flexible and resilient, brands can set themselves up for long-term success, no matter what the market throws their way.
