FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES, WHO OWNS WHAT.
Most subcontractor financial problems aren't discovered when they happen. They're discovered when they're too far gone to fix: a job that has been losing money for three months before the cost-to-complete catches it, or AR sitting at 75 days with no follow up because nobody owns collections. The common thread is missing accountability, where no one person owned the specific financial outcome that became the problem.
Ownership is the whole mechanism. The PM owns the job-level cost outcome, the CFO function owns cash and AR, and the owner owns the strategic financial decisions. When those assignments are clear and the cadence is defined, financial problems surface early, while the options are still open. When they're undefined, problems surface late, when the options are gone. None of this requires more reporting than a $3M subcontractor already produces. It requires that each report have one person attached to it who is answerable for the number.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Financial accountability in a construction company is about ownership rather than blame: one person owns each financial outcome, at a defined cadence.
THE THREE MOST COMMON ACCOUNTABILITY FAILURES.
Nobody owns AR collections
The bookkeeper records invoices. The owner assumes somebody is following up. Nobody is. AR ages to 75 to 90 days on 30-day invoices, which costs $50,000 to $200,000 in delayed cash on a $4M revenue book.
PMs own schedule but not cost
PMs are evaluated on whether the project finishes on time and whether the GC is happy. Nobody evaluates them on whether the job closed at estimated margin. So jobs finish on time and lose money, and nobody ties the operational decisions back to the PM who made them.
The owner makes financial decisions reactively
The owner responds to financial crises instead of preventing them. The LOC draw happens because payroll is due Friday, six weeks after a 13-week forecast would have flagged the shortfall. That's reactive borrowing at the worst possible time, and it costs more than the same money would have cost on a planned draw.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
AR that ages to 75 to 90 days on 30-day invoices costs $50,000 to $200,000 in delayed cash on a $4M revenue book. That's not a write off. It's money that exists and is sitting in somebody else's account, and nobody owning the follow up is the entire reason it's still there.
WHO OWNS EACH FINANCIAL OUTCOME, AND AT WHAT CADENCE.
The PM owns the cost-to-complete on their projects. That means knowing, not guessing, whether labor is running ahead or behind estimate on the current phase, whether any change orders are outstanding that should be submitted before leverage is lost, and whether the project is on track to close at or above estimated margin. Weekly, the PM reviews actual against estimated labor on the current phase. Monthly, the PM sits in the job review meeting with the CFO-produced cost-to-complete and owns the action items that come out of it.
The CFO function owns the cash picture and the financial reporting infrastructure. Weekly, AR aging gets reviewed, collections calls go out on anything past 45 days, and the bank balance gets reconciled against the 13-week forecast. Monthly, books close by the 10th, cost-to-complete is produced by the 12th, the CEO Report goes out, and the monthly meeting runs with action items assigned. These aren't aspirational targets. They're the minimum for a financial control system that controls anything, because when the monthly close slips to the 20th every downstream output is two weeks stale before it gets used.
The owner owns which projects to bid, whether the LOC needs to be increased before the next mobilization cycle, whether a GC relationship is worth maintaining at current margins, and how to allocate bonus and profit sharing. Those decisions require the CEO Report and the monthly strategic meeting to be worth making correctly. An owner making strategic financial decisions without the CEO Report is making them from incomplete information, and the business absorbs the consequences on every project that follows.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing, no payroll, and no add-ons.
Pricing
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually |
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions rather than a report.
Your bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Nobody in your office is answering coding questions or chasing a reconciliation at month end.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it's still running.
Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.
We do the job costing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
