As of October 1, 2026, $3M+ SBA acquisitions trigger a mandatory Quality of Earnings report. An independent firm reconstructs what the business truly earns — reconciling statements, tax returns, internal books, and IRS transcripts into one normalized figure, with a Cash Proof tracing bank activity.
Qualified borrowers can now combine SBA 7(a) and 504 financing up to $10 million. Here’s what I would prepare before applying—from a borrower whose $2.6M 504 startup was approved 13–0.
Chapter 5 of The Quiet Years by Dilia Wood identifies centralized record-keeping as the architectural condition that makes information asymmetry and interpretation authority possible — and introduces six design principles of verification architecture that eliminate those vulnerabilities by design rather than by trust. Drawn from forensic accountant Marie McDonnell 's
Chapter 4 of The Quiet Years by Dilia Wood identifies interpretation authority as the mechanism that determines which institutional reality becomes enforceable — showing why forensic proof, legal representation, and perfect documentation cannot protect builders when a single party controls what evidence is allowed to mean. Drawn from forensic accountant Marie
The most dangerous information asymmetry isn't when one party knows something the other doesn't. It's when one party controls what multiple parties see—and no mechanism requires those parties to compare versions. Merit can't protect you in systems where your performance can be redefined.
Collapse teaches you to see architecture. Documentation translates that vision into protective knowledge for others. Stories and systems share design principles—both can be built to protect or expose the builder.
Every system looks neutral until you watch how it behaves under pressure. Between 2013 and 2016, the middle space after collapse taught me to see the architecture I'd been building inside—how interpretation overrides evidence, how information asymmetry enables extraction.
What happens when your life's work disappears? Discover the six frameworks for understanding power and recovery, born from a confrontation at Arizona Avenue and Boston Street. This is the prologue to The Quiet Years.
Court-ordered discovery in Inspirador v. Southwestern Business Finance Corp. revealed CDC President Robert D. McGee coordinated false SBA certifications understating loan amounts by $250,000, enabling $1M+ equity extraction from a profitable business cleared by federal investigators.
A first-person account of an SBA 504 financed project—from acquisition and development through operations—and the lived experience of losing ownership.