FranchiseVerdict
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FV-00109·MODERATEExcellent86

AltoCFO

Business Services - Tax & FinancialFranchising since 2022Website
Investment
$77K – $116K
82nd pct Tax & Financi…
Avg revenue
$993K
38th pct Tax & Financi…
Royalty
10.0%
9th pct Tax & Financi…
Units
1
0th pct Tax & Financi…
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $77K – $116K including a $50K franchise fee, 10.0% ongoing royalty.
  • Average unit revenue of $993K/year. Estimated payback in 0.3 years.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 62/100.
  • Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
CAG FRANCHISE SERVICE, LLC
Parent company
Crown Advisory Group, Inc.
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
2034 E. Lincoln Avenue, #125, Anaheim, CA 92806
Auditor
Lavine, Lofgren, Morris & Engelberg, LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$0
Most recent fiscal year
⚠ Going-concern note
Disclosed in FDD 2023
Status as of 2023; may have been resolved in a later filing we don't yet have.

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one AltoCFO unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $992,981
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $77K–$116K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $11K–$30K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

85%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$99K
EBITDA margin
10.0%
Total invested
$117K
Payback
14 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 AltoCFO units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

49.9%

7.57× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

1.88×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$596K

on $3.0M purchase

Total debt

$2.4M

SBA $1.5M + senior + seller note

Overview

About

AltoCFO franchisees provide fractional chief financial officer services to small and mid-market businesses, handling financial strategy, reporting, cash flow management, and controller-level functions. Franchisees typically operate as solo practitioners or small teams delivering remote/hybrid advisory services on a part-time basis to multiple client engagements. Revenue is generated through monthly retainers, project fees, or hybrid engagement models.

CEO
Denny Kon
Founded
2022
FDD year
2023
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$77K – $116K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$11K – $30K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
10.0%
Gross Revenue · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
Currently 3% of Gross Revenue
Total fee load
13.0%
vs 9–13% typical
Payback period
0.3 yrs
From v3 / Item 19

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$993K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Historical
Sample size
1 units
vs category median 112 · small
Range (low → high)
$305K$993K
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
8 / 5
vs category median 0 / 5 · above
Revenue rank38th
vs Business Services - Tax & Financial peers
Investment cost rank82th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank9th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank0th
vs Business Services - Tax & Financial peers
Risk score rank41th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
1
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
1
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
0%
vs corporate-owned
2021
0±0
Franchised units
2022
0
Franchised units
2023
0
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 16 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 16 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

62
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE62 / 100

Nascent single-unit franchise with unproven scalability, unprotected territory, and insufficient operating history to validate claimed financial performance.

Score breakdown · what drove the 62 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORSingle unit franchise system with unknown growth trajectory and no expansion visibility
  2. 02MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk and limits franchisee exclusivity
  3. 03MINOR10% royalty on gross revenue ($99,298 annually on average unit) is substantial drag on 38.6% net margin
  4. 04MINORHigh initial investment ($77K-$116K) relative to single operating unit provides no system maturity proof
  5. 05MEDOnly 1 disclosed unit makes financial averages statistically meaningless and impossible to validate
  6. 06MINOR5-year term is short for ROI recovery given $50K franchise fee + startup costs

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Non-exclusive geographic area
Protected territory
No
Initial term
5 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
California

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
15 hrs
On-the-job training
25 hrs
POS system
Quickbook Online Accountants
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

16 numbers

Locked
(605) 773-••••
SD
(503) 378-••••
OR
(517) 373-••••
MI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

AltoCFO · FDD (2023) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above