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Fractional CFO for Amazon FBA Sellers

Fractional CFO services for UK Amazon FBA sellers. Decode settlement reports, close fee leakage, tie PPC to contribution, and know which ASINs actually make money.

The Amazon settlement report is not a P&L

Most Amazon FBA brands run their finance off the totals at the top of the settlement report. That number is misleading. The settlement report aggregates dozens of fee categories, returns, reimbursements, PPC, and credits. It nets them out at the catalogue level. The result is a single number that tells you nothing about which ASIN is making money, which is funding the catalogue, and which is silently bleeding through long-term storage and inbound transport.

The first job of an Amazon FBA fractional CFO is to rebuild the report. SKU by SKU. Fee by fee. PPC tied to incremental contribution rather than ACoS. Returns priced into margin. Storage and disposal allocated to the units that incurred them. The output is a P&L that lets you make decisions.

What is in scope

  • Settlement-report rebuild. Every fee category mapped to ASIN. Returns, reimbursements, refund admin, FBA fees, FBA inbound, long-term storage, removals.
  • SKU-level contribution margin. Daily monitoring via SellerBoard or equivalent; monthly truth from the raw settlement file.
  • PPC economics. Tied to incremental contribution, not ACoS. Brand defence versus category acquisition modelled separately.
  • Inventory health. Inbound, days of cover, ageing, and the working capital tied up in stranded ASINs.
  • Multi-marketplace consolidation. UK, EU, US. FX, VAT, and duty in one view.
  • Cash forecast. Including the Amazon reserve, the fortnightly payout cadence, and the impact of inventory buys.
  • Aggregator exit preparation. TTM SDE, clean inventory, defensible projections, due diligence pack.

The three quiet contribution killers

On almost every Amazon FBA brand we work with, three line items are larger than the founder believed. The first is long-term storage fees, which compound quietly on ASINs that have aged past the relevant threshold. The second is inbound transport and FBA inbound placement, which is rarely allocated to the SKUs that actually incurred it. The third is returns and refund admin, which is netted against revenue but rarely re-allocated against the ASIN with the return rate. Each of these on its own is small. Together they routinely take five to ten points out of category-level contribution margin.

Cadence and price

Retainers run from £3,500 to £6,500 per month. The driver is catalogue breadth, number of marketplaces, and whether we are running an active operational rhythm (weekly) or a strategic rhythm (monthly with a quarterly board).

16+
Distinct data sources required to reconstruct a true Amazon FBA P&L at SKU level.
5–10 pts
Typical contribution margin gap between the catalogue-level settlement total and a rebuilt SKU-level view.
£3.5k–£6.5k
Indicative monthly retainer for an Amazon FBA fractional CFO engagement with Oro.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Amazon FBA finance so much harder than D2C?
Because Amazon is the merchant of record for its share of your business. The data you need is in settlement reports, FBA fee schedules, long-term storage fees, removal and disposal fees, return reimbursements, refund administration fees, PPC reports, and brand registry. Sixteen distinct data sources. None of them natively reconcile into a P&L.
Do you cover both Seller Central and Vendor Central?
Yes. Vendor Central economics are closer to traditional retail — accruals, chargebacks, allowances — and benefit from the same rebuild approach as FMCG retailer P&Ls. Seller Central is the more common Oro engagement.
What about multi-marketplace sellers?
We routinely work with brands selling across Amazon UK, DE, FR, IT, ES and the US. Pan-European FBA, EFN, and the post-Brexit duty and VAT implications are all in scope.
Do you use a specific stack?
Yes. A2X is the backbone for clean accounting; SellerBoard or Helium 10 Profits for daily ASIN-level monitoring; the raw settlement file for the monthly truth; and a custom Google Sheets or Excel model for the integrated view.
How much does it cost?
Retainers £3,500 to £6,500 per month for an Amazon FBA fractional CFO engagement. The driver is catalogue breadth and number of marketplaces. A single-marketplace brand with 40 ASINs sits at the lower end; multi-marketplace, multi-brand catalogues at the upper.
Can you help with an Aggregator exit?
Yes. Aggregator buyer diligence is now sharper than it was in 2021. The numbers that matter are TTM SDE, true SKU-level margin, and inventory health. We prepare brands for the diligence pack and the buyer call.
Written by William Smithwhite, Founder and Fractional CFO.
Last updated 2026-05-22.