CASE STUDY
Hubman & Chubgirl
- E-Commerce (Shopify)
- Multi-Currency
- CA / US / EU
The Impact
About the Client
Hubman & Chubgirl started in 2018 when Chris Chan (Hubman) convinced his wife Rebecca (Chubgirl) to turn her Instagram journaling community into a business. Rebecca had built 600,000 followers sharing journal spreads and hand-drawn doodles. Chris saw the opportunity. Together they started designing stickers, sourcing from China, and selling through Shopify.
Sales started at around $5,000 a month. Within a few years they were at $300,000 a month, selling into Canada, the US, and Europe. The product line had grown from stickers to planners, washi tapes, sticky notes, and memo pads. Some products were now printed in-house. The team had grown from two people to sixteen.
The business was thriving. The financial side was not keeping up
The Situation
When you grow that fast across three countries, the accounting complexity grows with you. Hubman & Chubgirl were managing sales in multiple currencies, VAT obligations in the EU and UK, GST/HST filing in Canada, and sales tax tracking requirements in the US. On top of that, they had over 2,000 SKUs to track, with COGS that varied depending on whether a product was printed in-house or shipped from China.
Payroll was being handled manually as the team grew. Receipts and paperwork were not being managed in any systematic way. Chris and Rebecca had no real-time view of their margins, cash position, or what they owed in tax. They were running a $300K-a-month business on gut feel
The Core Problem
The books were not built for the business they had become. Multi-currency sales, complex inventory, cross-border tax obligations, and a growing payroll all needed proper systems. Without them, Chris and Rebecca were flying blind.
Challenges
Hubman & Chubgirl is the kind of business that looks like a success story from the outside. And it is. But behind the growth were financial problems that were getting harder to ignore:
- Sales across Canada, the US, and the EU meant three different tax regimes, multiple currencies, and no clean way to consolidate the numbers.
- Tracking COGS and inventory across more than 2,000 SKUs was difficult enough. With some products printed in-house and others sourced from China, the landed cost calculations were a constant problem.
- The team was growing fast, but payroll was being handled manually, with no automated tax remittances in place.
- VAT obligations in the EU and UK, GST/HST filing in Canada, and sales tax tracking in the US each needed separate attention. None of it was set up.
- Chris and Rebecca had no real-time view of cash flow, margins, or what they owed in tax at any given point
The Transcounts Approach
Transcounts took on the full accounting function and built the systems Hubman & Chubgirl needed to run a global e-commerce business cleanly. The work covered three areas:
1. Getting the Numbers Right
- Configured QuickBooks Online with automatic currency conversion and revaluation so multi-currency sales settled cleanly every month
- Implemented A2X to automate Shopify sales recording and reconciliation, replacing a manual process that was not scaling.
- Set up COGS and inventory tracking across all 2,000+ SKUs, including landed cost calculations for China-sourced goods
2. Sorting Out Tax Across Three Countries
- Integrated Avalara for EU and UK VAT compliance, removing the manual effort and reducing the risk of missed obligations.
- Handled GST/HST filing for Canada and set up sales tax tracking for the US.
- Filed GST/HST refund claims properly for 2021, 2022, and 2023, recovering $10K, $30K, and $40K respectively.
3. Building the Infrastructure to Scale
- Set up automated payroll with tax remittances as the team grew from 2 to 16, including T4 and ROE filings.
- Digitized all paperwork through DEXT, replacing a manual receipts process that could not keep up with the volume.
- Built a custom KPI dashboard giving Chris and Rebecca real-time visibility into profitability, cash, and tax liabilities.
The Results
Hubman & Chubgirl now runs on clean, automated financials. Chris and Rebecca have full visibility into the business and the tax compliance is handled. The growth story continued without the financial chaos that usually comes with it.
- Monthly revenue grew from $5,000 to $300,000
- The business expanded from Canada-only to active sales across the US and EU
- Sales recording and reconciliation are fully automated through A2X and Avalara.
- Receipts and paperwork are digitized through DEXT. Nothing gets lost
- GST/HST refunds of $10K (2021), $30K (2022), and $40K (2023). Over $80,000 recovered in three years.
- The team grew from two people to 16, with payroll, T4s, and ROE filings running automatically.
- Chris and Rebecca have real-time visibility into sales, profit and loss, cash flow, and inventory at all times
- Year-ends are clean. Tax liabilities are understood well in advance.
Services Provided
- Bookkeeping
- GST/HST Returns & Refunds
- USA Sales Tax Tracking
- DEXT Setup
- Payroll, T4 & ROE Filings
- EU/UK VAT (Avalara)
- A2X Implementation
- Year-End Support
Growing fast? Your books need to keep up.
Whether you’re selling in one country or three, Transcounts keeps your books clean, your tax filings current, and your financials ready by the 15th every month.