Averan Advisors helps GovCon leadership teams turn operational performance into enterprise value. Thirty-seven chapters on the finance mechanics behind that translation, rates, compliance, contract economics, and what buyers examine. Written for companies between $5M and $600M in revenue.
What the seat actually does, when to fill it, and how to tell which model fits your stage.
The five core responsibilities of a modern GovCon CFO, and why the role extends far beyond accounting and compliance.
Read chapterWhich financial leadership model fits your stage? A practical decision framework, and what PE firms actually care about.
Read chapterThe difference between accounting leadership and strategic financial leadership, when GovCon companies need each, and why confusing the two costs companies millions.
Read chapterSeven specific signals that your finance function has outgrown its current leadership, and what to do about it.
Read chapterFive stages of finance maturity, from basic compliance to strategic investment function, and how buyers see each level.
Read chapterThe metrics that drive better decisions in government contracting, across growth, profitability, cash flow, and operations.
Read chapterPools, bases, provisional rates, and the incurred cost cycle. The machinery underneath every cost-type contract.
Pools, bases, and the structure decision made in year one that stops working at scale, and what buyers examine in diligence.
Read chapterBilling at an estimate all year and settling at actuals later. The gap is a cash problem and an unquantified liability.
Read chapterThe most binary obligation in government contracting. Filed or not, adequate or not, and permanently visible to buyers.
Read chapterWhich costs the government will not reimburse, why directly associated costs catch contractors out, and why segregation beats reconstruction.
Read chapterThe systems and controls that determine which contracts you can hold and what an auditor finds when they arrive.
What the SF1408 tests, what DFARS 252.242-7006 adds, and why system adequacy gates the contracts you can hold.
Read chapterThe largest cost on most contracts with the thinnest evidence behind it. What a floor check tests and where the line to mischarging sits.
Read chapterSeveral distinct examinations with different triggers, scopes, and consequences, and which one actually has teeth.
Read chapterWhat every government contracting CEO needs to know about DCAA compliance, accounting systems, timekeeping, and how compliance impacts valuation and M&A readiness.
Read chapterContract type, revenue recognition, billing, and backlog (work sold and not yet delivered), how the work converts into reported earnings and cash.
How FFP, cost-type, T&M, and IDIQ differ in risk, margin, and cash, and what buyers pay for each kind of revenue.
Read chapterWhere accounting judgment concentrates under ASC 606, why fixed-price work causes nearly all the trouble, and what unbilled reveals.
Read chapterWhy profitable contractors run out of cash, where the conversion cycle actually stretches, and how to shorten it.
Read chapterThe number most often overstated and most reliably rebuilt by buyers. Funded, unfunded, options, and recompete exposure.
Read chapterHow high-performing GovCon companies predict revenue, cash flow, and growth. The four maturity levels and why forecast discipline drives enterprise value.
Read chapterUnderstanding the economics that drive enterprise value, the five drivers of contract profitability and the profitability hierarchy.
Read chapterSize standards, graduation, and what set-aside status is actually worth when it comes time to sell.
Every successful small business contractor eventually stops being one. The cliff is calculable years ahead of time.
Read chapter8(a), SDVOSB, HUBZone, and WOSB as assets with defined lives, carrying costs, and, mostly, no transferability.
Read chapterWhat a buyer examines before making an offer, and what to fix before they look.
A CEO's guide to maximizing enterprise value, the five drivers of valuation and the 24-month exit readiness timeline.
Read chapterHow sophisticated buyers evaluate risk, revenue quality, financial infrastructure, leadership depth, compliance, and scalability.
Read chapterFive pillars of transaction readiness, score your organization and identify the gaps before buyers do during diligence.
Read chapterWhat buyers review during diligence, the complete checklist across historical performance, revenue quality, and working capital (cash to run the business day to day).
Read chapterHow QoE reviews shape valuation, EBITDA adjustments, contract profitability analysis, and what GovCon companies face in diligence.
Read chapterThe levers that move enterprise value, and the reasons deals land below the number the seller expected.
Why buyers reduce value, customer concentration, founder dependency, forecast misses, and the other risks that accumulate silently.
Read chapterThe operating philosophy that creates enterprise value, and why exit readiness is a business strategy, not a transaction strategy.
Read chapterUnderstanding who is buying and why, advantages, risks, and how to determine which buyer type aligns with your objectives.
Read chapterHow GovCon companies are valued, what expands a multiple, and what quietly compresses one.
Seven levers for maximizing enterprise value before a transaction, revenue quality, pricing, contract profitability, labor utilization, indirect rates (overhead costs spread across contracts), add-backs. Working capital.
Read chapterHow government contractors are valued, current EBITDA multiples by tier, what drives premium valuations. How CEOs can maximize enterprise value before a transaction.
Read chapterWhy buyers discount companies that cannot operate without the founder, the seven warning signs and how to reduce dependency before going to market.
Read chapterHow sponsors evaluate platforms and add-ons, and what makes a company acquirable at all.
The eight characteristics PE firms look for in platform investments and why readiness, not revenue, determines which companies command premium multiples.
Read chapterHow PE firms classify GovCon acquisitions, why the distinction drives valuation, and the four questions every sponsor asks before setting a multiple.
Read chapterWhy private equity firms love GovCon consolidation, how the strategy works, the CFO's integration role, and the five most common integration failures.
Read chapterTake our GovCon CFO Readiness Assessment or M&A Readiness Assessment and get a personalized score in minutes.
The GovCon CFO Resource Center is a library of practical finance leadership intelligence for government contractors, defense companies. PE-backed GovCon businesses, covering DCAA compliance. M&A readiness, CFO deployment, and exit preparation.
GovCon founders, CEOs, CFOs, and PE sponsors managing government contracting businesses between $5M and $600M in revenue who are preparing for a transaction, hiring a CFO, or improving finance function readiness.
If the rate structure, the timekeeping or the incurred cost submission raise a question you cannot answer from the books as they stand, that is the work. Start with the financial readiness diagnostic, or talk it through with us.
Book a consult →The handbook explains the requirement. These pages are the work behind it.
If you want this done for you
Knowing the requirement is one thing. Having a finance function that meets it every month, through an audit and through a sale, is the work.