Our Story

AJACENT is a consulting and staffing firm who partners with school districts, local government, nonprofit and private businesses  to provide financial advisory services.  Arthur Jackson (AJ) is the Founder of AJACENT. AJ is a lifelong educator and who brings nearly 14 years of experience navigating complex financial and operational challenges faced by a growing number of urban school districts in America. AJ has a documented track record of improving the financial health of schools both large and small, traditional and charter.

In AJ’s most recent stint, he served as the Deputy CFO at Detroit Public Schools Community District since 2017,  under the newly elected school board and  appointed Superintendent.  In this capacity, he provided strategic executive leadership to the Business Division, which consisted of several key business functions including, General Ledger & Grant Accounting, Treasury Management, Payroll, Accounts Payable, Debt Service, Property Tax Collection, Cash Flow/Investments, Retirement Services, Financial Compliance Reporting & Audit. Ultimately, his role was to re-build each function to ensure sound fiscal management of all financial matters, lead various critical projects, external advocacy, financial audits, and managed cross-functional districtwide initiatives and process improvements.  

Key Results:

• District’s release from State of Michigan (FRC) financial oversight.

• District's release from US Department Of Education federal grant monitoring. 

• Overhaul of district financial policies, and procedures

• Re-established several key teams, General Ledger Accounting, Treasury, Accounts Payable, Retirement Services through talent development, external recruitment, restructuring, and contractor conversion.

• Eliminated 2-month lag in monthly financial reporting allowing for real-time financial data and decision making.

• Restructured banking and investment program resulting in the elimination of banking fees and bringing in $18M in total investment income for FY23.

• Operational Excellence Project - Digitization and automation of Payroll, AP, Retirement Services, Accounting and Financial Reporting. Resulting in significantly reduced AP processing times and payroll errors, the elimination of double-digit audit findings and millions in questioned cost. Most importantly we restored faith in the district’s ability to pay its liabilities timely.

• Launched Central Office Leadership/Management4 Training Program

“Organizations who serve our most vulnerable populations need finance professionals who understand the academic, societal, environmental and financial complexities of K12 education. Here at AJACENT, our mission is to provide competent solutions that meet the very specific need of our clients. We believe that each of our clients  have unique opportunities that require a unique solutions. WE ARE WITH YOU!"