Jaime Lyn Soares, president of High Times Accounting, is a veteran accountant, servicing various traditional sectors as a financial services provider. That expertise led to the founding of her venture, alongside collaborator Claire Burkard. What started out as a temporary accounting project with a dispensary led to the founding of High Times Accounting in 2022, providing expert financial management services to the budding cannabis sector, with a primary focus on New England. The venture was launched as a separate entity to keep the plant services separate from their accounting work in other sectors.
The Massachusetts-based venture offers cannabis brands a range of financial services, including bookkeeping and payroll services to tax filing and preparation, with a focus on small to medium companies. The firm handles clients’ taxes, payroll, bookkeeping, and sales tax filings, with a specialty in setting up financial systems so clients can avoid costly fixes down the line.
“It costs them a hell of a lot more money to fix the problem after 12 months than it does if we were to do it right away because we’re doing it properly in the beginning,” Soares said during a recent episode of the “Cannabis Tech Talks” podcast.
High Times Accounting also partners with specialized payroll companies to ensure clients can process payroll smoothly.
Family Inspired
Cannabis proved to be an intriguing sector to Soares, who was influenced by her daughter to enter the space. After seeing her daughter’s firsthand relationship with cannabis, Soares saw an opportunity to launch her business while, more importantly, deepening their connection.
“That was something that brought us together,” she said, adding, “And so that’s how I decided, yeah, let’s go into it.” The move helped the family grow tighter, while benefiting operators in the New England region.
“I’m glad we decided to move into it because they need more accountants in this field,” said Soares.
Rescheduling’s Potential Impact
Like most in the industry, Soares keeps a close eye on federal rescheduling developments. If legislation were to pass, Soares, who operates in Massachusetts where 280e is no longer applied to cannabis, sees a significant impact on the industry.
“It is going to make it so that smaller businesses, other payroll companies, other banks, can now jump in if they want to,” she said, adding, “They don’t have to go through all of those extra provisions to be able to manage it.”
With more banks entering the field, Soares expects bank costs to drop while business revenues increase, saying that cannabis businesses will have increased options to choose from.
Soares said, “It’s going to have a huge impact, and I’m honestly excited to see what the impact is going to be.”
