QuickBooks Cancels, Reactivates Cannabis Firm’s Account

It’s not uncommon for marijuana-related companies to lose their bank accounts, have problems with advertising, or even get booted from mainstream business competitions. But over the last week, a new hurdle almost amusingly popped up, before shrinking quickly under the glare of journalistic scrutiny.

Evan Nison, a longtime cannabis activist on the East Coast who now has his own consulting and public relations firm, had his account with financial services company QuickBooks closed on Nov. 16. QuickBooks allegedly said it “refuses to do business with companies that have ‘any affiliation’ with medical marijuana,” Nison wrote in an email.

But a week later, QuickBooks changed its tune and re-opened Nison’s account.

“They actually just called me (I think after getting calls from reporters) and apologized and offered to reinstate the account,” Nison wrote in another email to Marijuana Business Daily on Nov. 23.

Nison said an account manager at QuickBooks apologized for the mistake, and clarified that the company doesn’t have a problem working with ancillary marijuana firms that don’t traffic directly in cannabis.

But QuickBooks’ parent company, Intuit, does have a policy against working with “high-risk business types,” according to the Sun Times. Marijuana growers or retailers may fall into that category, as they often do for banks.