Daaxit, a provider of fractional CFO services for contractors, has published a new educational resource focused on construction key performance indicators (KPIs) and CFO accountability. The guide outlines how contractor leadership teams can use a defined scorecard to connect company goals with measurable financial and operational results, addressing a common challenge where data is collected but not consistently reviewed or acted upon.
The resource is designed for construction businesses that have financial and project data but lack a structured process for reviewing it, assigning responsibility, and responding to changes. It covers categories of information used to monitor profitability, cash flow, active jobs, backlog, labor performance, and monthly financial position. The scorecard starts with financial indicators such as revenue, gross profit, gross-margin percentage, net profit, EBITDA, cash flow, accounts receivable, debt, and working capital. It then addresses job-level indicators like estimated margin, current margin, labor productivity, work in progress, underbilling, overbilling, change orders, and cost to complete. Reviewing these measures while projects are active gives leadership teams a more current view than waiting until jobs are closed.
“I don’t believe in creating extra layers of reporting. That’s why a scorecard should make responsibility clearer, reducing the need for more reporting,” said Aaron Mills, Founder and CEO of Daaxit. “The purpose is to show what changed, who owns the result, and what action needs to follow during the next review cycle.”
Daaxit treats cash flow as distinct from reported profit, identifying cash forecasts, receivables aging, retainage, payroll requirements, vendor obligations, debt payments, and billing position as measures that can explain why a profitable contractor may still face liquidity pressure. Backlog is also evaluated separately from total contracted work, with attention to expected margin, labor availability, project timing, customer payment terms, material exposure, and capacity to perform the work. This structure helps leadership teams distinguish between activity and financial strength, as a growing backlog may support future revenue but can also increase working-capital demands and operational risk if assumptions are not reviewed.
The full framework is available at Daaxit. Mills recommends assigning an owner to each major KPI and reviewing results on a regular monthly schedule. Financial indicators may be owned by the CFO or finance lead, while labor productivity, change-order status, billing, collections, and project performance may involve operations, project management, accounting, or department leaders. Daaxit also recommends tracking targets, current results, prior-period results, and required follow-up actions. This format helps identify trends and document responsibility without expanding the scorecard beyond decision-making measures.
Mills describes the process as a management routine rather than a one-time dashboard project. The value depends on consistent data, regular review, clear explanations of variances, and follow-through on assigned actions. The KPI categories can be adapted for general contractors, builders, and specialty trades. Service contractors may emphasize technician productivity, dispatch performance, service agreements, and fleet use, while project-based contractors may focus on work in progress, cost to complete, underbilling, retainage, and backlog margin. The resource also addresses the need to separate performance by division, location, project type, estimator, project manager, or crew when company structure requires more detailed analysis.
