More branches, more inventory, more working capital tied up across sites no consolidated statement can untangle. A part-time, senior CFO looks for duplicate stock, trapped working capital, or a branch quietly losing money — and proves what it finds on your own numbers before a dollar moves.
A fractional (or outsourced) CFO gives you a seasoned chief financial officer a few days a month. The person in your data is a 35-year CFO who came up through capital-intensive, multi-location businesses.
Margin by branch, product line, and customer — so you can see the location that’s bleeding while the average covers it.
The same SKU reordered at different prices across sites, stock piled in the wrong building, freight shuffled between your own branches — found, costed, and freed.
Clean, defensible numbers for a covenant renewal, a raise, or an exit — so the buyer or lender doesn’t find what you can’t explain.
Every one of these is the same story: a multi-location operation that couldn’t see itself until it saw the whole network at once.
A fractional CFO is worth most for a distributor when a few of these are true:
One low-risk first step, then proof, then a relationship — we don’t hand over a report and leave.
A focused call about where the pressure is. If there’s a fit, we scope a short, defined piece of work on your own data under NDA — and agree a fixed fee before you commit. If there’s likely nothing there, we’ll tell you that too. No obligation.
If there’s something worth chasing, that scoped work is built and tested on your own data — so what we recommend is grounded in your numbers, not a pitch.
The part that matters most. We take the fractional CFO seat — board reporting, cash and margin, the risks that matter — until the improvement is real and your team can hold it.
How does a fractional CFO help a distribution business?
A fractional CFO gives a multi-branch distributor a senior finance hand a few days a month to produce trustworthy branch-level profit, free up working capital trapped in duplicate and misplaced inventory, and prepare numbers a bank or buyer will trust — without a full-time hire.
How do I free up working capital in my business?
We go into your operational data branch by branch and find where cash is parked: the same SKU reordered across sites at different prices, stock in the wrong building, inventory bought months early. It’s common to find inventory piled well beyond what the business needs. Freeing even part of it puts real cash back on the balance sheet.
How much does a fractional CFO cost?
AJM Solutions’ fractional CFO engagements are far less than a full-time CFO, scoped to what you need. Most start with a short call, so you see the value before you commit.
Can you tell which branch is actually profitable?
Yes — that’s the core of the first look. The consolidated P&L blends everything; we rebuild margin by branch so the location that’s losing money stops hiding behind the average.
A 20-minute call about your situation. If it’s a fit, we scope a short, defined piece of work on your own data — and if you’re already tight, we’ll tell you that too.
Book a call →If there’s nothing there, we’ll say so — that’s the point.
AJM Solutions is a Calgary-based fractional CFO firm working with owner-led fuel & industrial distribution, trucking, and oil & gas services businesses across Alberta and Saskatchewan. See our fractional CFO services →