When tariffs change, most suppliers focus on landed costs, sourcing, and whether retailers will accept higher prices. These are real concerns. But there is another issue that often gets overlooked: deductions usually have a bigger impact when tariffs are causing stress.

The first two weeks of January are when finance teams do something heroic. They take a year of real-world chaos—short shipments, pricing updates, promotions, returns, compliance issues—and force it into clean financial statements.