Firewire Surfboards is an eco-conscious surfboard company that uses cutting-edge materials and processes to create better-performing boards that are better for the planet. Based in Carlsbad, California, and with a manufacturing facility in Thailand, the company has reduced waste by 95% per board while attracting surfing luminaries such as Kelly Slater to its ownership group.
Acumatica has played an important role in the company’s expansion, helping Firewire gain modern business tools for accounting and reporting while containing costs, freeing employees from manually creating financial and operational reports, and integrating with critical third-party applications.
Some of those key applications are from Avalara, a longtime leader in automated sales tax compliance — because as Firewire Surfboards grew, using direct-to-consumer and wholesale distribution to expand its market presence across various states and countries, its tax obligations grew as well.
New modes of selling, new nexus exposure
A surge of ecommerce activity stemming from the pandemic was a substantial factor contributing to Firewire’s expanded tax obligations; its consignment model posed additional challenges. Both helped trigger nexus in many states — that is, meeting the threshold that subsequently requires a company to collect and remit sales tax on its transactions in those states.
This was a significant burden for Firewire’s lean accounting operation, which now needed to manage sales tax collection and remittance in many more jurisdictions than before, each with its own ever-evolving set of rates and rules.
Enter Avalara
“We needed to find a scalable, single-source-of-truth solution” to manage this new complexity, says Firewire CFO Franklin Shiraki. Not only would a cloud-based system offer scalability, automation would help the company enhance accuracy and reduce risk while navigating the complex tax landscape.
Fortunately, Avalara was a perfect fit — both for the company’s needs and for its Acumatica cloud-based ERP. A prebuilt connection meant implementing Avalara sales tax solutions was seamless: Within a month, Firewire was automating sales tax calculation, registration, and other tasks, right in the system the company was already using.
“Avalara made it possible for us to add on sales tax compliance to our day-to-day roles without adding headcount,” Shiraki explains. “Partnering with Avalara allows us to operate with enterprise-level sophistication while preserving small- to-medium-sized business agility.”
Solutions and tools
Perhaps the most vital solution for Firewire is Avalara AvaTax, which delivers end-to-end tax compliance that evolves along with the company. In addition to providing accurate calculations in thousands of jurisdictions, along with capabilities that include filing and remitting, Avalara’s flagship solution also alerts Firewire to potential nexus exposure in new states or countries, helping ensure the company stays on top of its obligations as it continues to expand.
Firewire also uses Avalara Exemption Certificate Management to streamline its process for tax-exempt sales. Now, instead of manually collecting, validating, and organizing certificates, the team saves time and effort through automation and can more easily find the files they need when they need them.
Add it all up, and Firewire can scale and sell anywhere with confidence, Shiraki says. “Our customers can trust the information we provide because of our trust in Avalara. We can reach customers anywhere there is an internet connection.”
Results
The truth is in the numbers — and since partnering with Avalara, Firewire has been able to expand its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business in the United States, driving astonishing ROI by reaching new markets without having to bring on new personnel. The company plans to continue this DTC push, while at the same time maintaining its wholesale volumes.
Ultimately, a holistic unified commerce solution will leverage Firewire’s operating model, Acumatica’s ERP, and Avalara’s automated compliance capabilities to create even more opportunities. And Avalara will be there with cross-border solutions as the company’s reach extends to more countries around the world, because just like the best surfers, the best businesses don’t stand still for long — they’re always looking for the biggest waves.
Want to learn more?
Schedule a meeting today to see how the powerful combination of Avalara and Acumatica can help your business.
