One financial back office.
Every platform. Day one.
When TurnKey acquires a company, we install a standardized finance stack: one ledger, one card program, one close process, GAAP-ready revenue recognition, and full visibility into WIP, backlog, and margins. No new branding. No AI moonshots. Just clean numbers that make the business worth more.
What we inherit at close
Multiple entities, multiple books
Every company on its own software and chart of accounts.
Card chaos
Some people on corporate cards, some on personal cards, everyone submitting reimbursements.
No WIP visibility
Owners know revenue, not job-level margin or over/under billings.
Cash or billing-based revenue
Earnings swing with invoicing, not with work performed, so no one knows true monthly profit.
Slow close
Month-end takes 30 to 45 days, if it happens at all.
Key-person finance
One bookkeeper or the owner's spouse holds all the knowledge.
Buyer discount
Lenders and future buyers price opacity as risk. Unverifiable numbers kill deals.
Messy books don't just cost time.
They cost multiple.
Platform 01: AIR (Confidential)
Example view for an environmental services platform (abatement, demolition, remediation). Everyone from the operator to the lender sees the same truth.
ASC 606 Percentage-of-Completion Schedule (Illustrative jobs)
WIP / Work in Progress, cost-to-cost method.
| Job | Cust. | Contract Value | Est. Total Cost | Cost to Date | % Comp. | Earned Rev. | Billed | O/(U) Billed | Proj. Margin | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School District Abatement | Public | $1,240,000 | $862,000 | $603,400 | 70% | $868,000 | $806,000 | $62,000 Contract asset | 30.2% | On track |
| Hospital Wing Demo | Private | $3,480,000 | $2,530,000 | $1,265,000 | 50% | $1,740,000 | $1,900,000 | ($160,000) Contract liability | 27.3% | Margin fade |
| Commercial Tower Remediation | Private | $2,150,000 | $1,462,000 | $1,168,000 | 80% | $1,720,000 | $1,680,000 | $40,000 Contract asset | 32% | On track |
| County Mold/Remediation | Public | $860,000 | $618,000 | $247,200 | 40% | $344,000 | $430,000 | ($86,000) Contract liability | 28.1% | Margin fade |
| Industrial Emergency Response | Private | $1,920,000 | $1,306,000 | $783,600 | 60% | $1,152,000 | $1,056,000 | $96,000 Contract asset | 31.9% | On track |
| University Asbestos Abatement | Public | $1,075,000 | $768,000 | $653,000 | 85% | $913,750 | $860,000 | $53,750 Contract asset | 28.6% | On track |
| Plant Decommissioning | Private | $4,200,000 | $3,234,000 | $1,617,000 | 50% | $2,100,000 | $2,200,000 | ($100,000) Contract liability | 23% | Margin fade |
% Complete = Cost to Date / Total Estimated Cost. Earned Revenue = Contract Value x % Complete. Over/(Under) Billings shown as contract liabilities and contract assets on the balance sheet.
Job names and figures are illustrative. AIR KPIs above are from seller financials.
Revenue History
Annual revenue, 2023 to 2026 run-rate
AR Aging
Receivables by bucket
Backlog by Month
Next 6 months, stacked by service line
Gross Margin by Service Line
Blended, current period
Labor Utilization
Crew hours billed
Customer Concentration
Share of revenue
Cash Conversion
EBITDA vs adjusted operating cash flow, FY2025
13-Week Cash Forecast
Consolidated
What TurnKey installs
Proven, off-the-shelf tools and standards. Configured once, rolled out to every add-on.
Multi-Entity Cloud ERP
One general ledger, one chart of accounts, consolidated reporting across every company.
Spend Management + Corporate Cards
Every employee on one card program with receipt capture, auto-coding, and limits. No more reimbursements.
AP Automation
Invoices in, approvals routed, vendors paid on schedule.
Job Costing + WIP
Every job tracked by estimated cost, cost to date, percent complete, billed vs earned.
ASC 606 Revenue Recognition
Percentage-of-completion (cost-to-cost) on every contract. Revenue recognized as work is performed, not when invoiced, so margins reflect reality month to month.
Payroll + Labor Tracking
Crew hours tied to jobs for real labor margin.
Banking + Treasury
Consolidated accounts, 13-week cash forecast, daily cash view.
Controls + Approvals
Segregation of duties, approval thresholds, audit trail.
Executive Dashboard
Owners, operators, lenders, and board see the same live numbers.
The first 90 days
Stabilize
- Take control of bank accounts and cash visibility
- Launch corporate card program, end personal-card spending
- Freeze and document existing chart of accounts
- Inventory all open contracts, change orders, and estimated costs to complete
- Identify current revenue recognition method (cash, billing-based, or completed contract)
- Stand up 13-week cash forecast
- Install finance lead (platform CFO or fractional CFO) and bookkeeper/controller
- First lender reporting package
Standardize
- Migrate to multi-entity cloud ERP with TurnKey chart of accounts
- Turn on AP automation and approval workflows
- Build job costing structure and first true WIP schedule
- Convert to ASC 606 percentage-of-completion (cost-to-cost) and document revenue recognition policy
- Book first contract asset/liability (over/under billings) adjustments
- Tie payroll and crew hours to jobs
- Set approval thresholds and controls
See Everything
- Month-end close by business day 10
- Monthly estimate-to-complete review with project managers on every active job
- Revenue and margin reported on an ASC 606 basis in the board and lender package
- Live executive dashboard for operators, board, and lenders
- Margin fade alerts on every active job
- Integration template documented for the next add-on
Ongoing
What clean numbers are worth
Targets, not guarantees. Measured quarterly.
Why it matters
Higher multiple
Buyers and lenders pay more for verifiable, consolidated financials. Clean books reduce diligence risk and QoE adjustments.
GAAP-ready earnings
ASC 606 percentage-of-completion is what auditors, lenders, and buyers expect for contract businesses. It eliminates lumpy, billing-driven earnings, exposes margin fade early, and avoids painful QoE restatements at exit.
Better decisions
Operators see which jobs, service lines, and customers actually make money, and stop the ones that don't.
Repeatable integration
Every tuck-in plugs into the same stack, so the platform gets easier to grow, not harder.
Roles, not heroes
Platform CFO / Fractional CFO
Owns the stack, the close, revenue recognition policy, the lender relationship, and the integration playbook.
Controller
Runs month-end, WIP and percentage-of-completion schedules, AP/AR, and controls.
Operator (President of Operations)
Owns job margin, backlog, estimates to complete, and the weekly operating cadence. Finance gives them the numbers; they act on them.
606 is only as good as the estimate-to-complete. The monthly project manager review is where the real work happens.
Open questions
This playbook is a working draft. Here is where we want sharp input.
Coming next: TurnKey Growth OS
Marketing, CRM, and automation, standardized the same way.