Deal OS · Quality of Earnings
Quality of earnings software for search funds and SBA buyers.
Deal OS is the first pass before the paid QoE: earnings tied out across the CIM, the statements and the tax returns, every add-back quoted to its page, and the SBA 7(a) coverage test run on the year-ends the lender will use. You learn whether the numbers hold before you pay anyone to confirm them.
Run your first CIM freeWhat changed on 1 October 2026
The SBA rules a buyer now has to clear.
Quoted from SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, Appendix 15, the SBA's procedure for 7(a) changes of ownership, effective 1 October 2026.
A QoE is now required at $3 million and above.
For an Initial Acquisition or a Business Expansion with a purchase price of $3 million or more, measured before buyer equity, seller debt or other financing, the lender needs a Quality of Earnings report. It cannot be prepared by or for the seller, and the lender uses the QoE earnings in its coverage calculation.
Coverage is tested on historical year-ends, not on the forecast.
The debt service coverage ratio "must be satisfied using either the last fiscal year-end or an average of the last two fiscal year-end statements on either a historical or adjusted basis". The minimum is 1.25 for an Initial Acquisition, an Owner Buyout and an ESOP or cooperative, and 1.15 for a Business Expansion.
Twelve-month projections do not count for a change of ownership.
A story that only works on the trailing twelve months or on next year's plan does not carry the loan. If the last fiscal year cannot cover the debt, the deal has a financing problem before it has a valuation problem.
What the software does
Four checks before the QoE engagement.
01 · EBITDA tie-out across documents
The same earnings figure is reconciled across the CIM, the financial statements and the tax returns. Every disagreement is listed with the page each number came from, so you see the gap before the QoE provider bills hours to find it.
02 · Add-back audit, quoted
Each add-back the seller claims is listed with the sentence that supports it and a read on whether it survives a change of owner. An add-back with no support in the documents is flagged as unsupported, not smoothed over.
03 · SBA 7(a) coverage check
You enter the loan terms; the check computes coverage on the last fiscal year and on the two-year average against the minimum for your transaction type, flags when only the trailing twelve months clear it, and tells you when the purchase price triggers the QoE requirement. Pure arithmetic from the rules above, no AI in the calculation.
04 · Export for your lender and your QoE firm
The coverage check and the tie-out export to PDF and Excel, so the conversation with the lender and the scoping call with the QoE provider start from the same organized numbers.
What it is not
It does not replace the independent QoE.
The SBA requires an independent report, and the lender makes the credit decision. What software changes is the order of work: you find the unsupported add-back, the EBITDA that differs between the CIM and the tax return, or the coverage that only clears on the trailing twelve months, before the engagement letter rather than in week three of it. If you want the background first, read quality of earnings explained, QoE versus an audit and how to audit add-backs.
Security & data
How we handle your data
Confidential deal documents deserve real care. Every workspace can sign a mutual NDA in-app, and every plan includes encryption at rest, recoverable deletes, and GDPR-aligned data handling.
Mutual NDA, self-serve
Sign a mutual NDA with Devaland from inside your workspace in a couple of clicks. Our side is pre-signed, so it executes immediately, and you get a downloadable signed PDF plus an electronic-signature audit trail (signatory, timestamp, IP, and a hash of the exact document signed).
Encrypted at rest
Uploaded documents are encrypted on disk, on EU infrastructure in France.
Isolated per workspace
Each client's workspace is separated at the database and file level, and your documents are not shared or used to train models.
Recoverable deletes
Deleting a document moves it to a recoverable trash first, so an accidental delete can be undone. It is permanently removed after a grace period.
Retention you control
Keep documents for the life of the deal, or set them to expire automatically.
Cited briefs you can export
Each claim carries a verbatim quote checked against your source page, and you can download the finished brief or IC memo as a PDF.
Encrypted backups
Backups run nightly, encrypted and off-site, with periodic restore checks.
GDPR-aligned
EU hosting, a Data Processing Agreement under Standard Contractual Clauses, and self-serve data export and deletion.
Questions
Quality of earnings software FAQs.
Is Deal OS a Quality of Earnings provider?
No. The SBA requires an independent QoE report, and software cannot sign one. Deal OS is the first pass before it: it reconciles the numbers, audits the add-backs and runs the coverage test, so you decide whether a deal is worth a paid QoE engagement and the engagement starts from an organized position.
What is quality of earnings software, then?
Software that reads the seller's documents and tests whether the earnings are real and repeatable: whether EBITDA agrees across the CIM, the statements and the tax returns, whether each add-back is supported, and whether the business can carry its debt. It narrows which deals deserve an accountant's time. It does not replace the accountant.
Who is this for?
Search funders, independent sponsors and small acquisition teams buying businesses in the SBA 7(a) range, especially deals at or near the $3 million purchase price where the QoE requirement now applies.
Where does the coverage rule come from?
SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, effective 1 October 2026, Appendix 15 on changes of ownership, paragraph C.2.b. The minimums and the year-end basis on this page are quoted from that document. Your lender applies the rule and makes the credit decision; the check is a screening aid.
Are my documents used to train a model?
No. Each deal lives in an isolated, encrypted workspace, documents are never used for training, and they are deleted on request. A mutual NDA is available before any upload.
What does it cost?
The first CIM check is free, with no card and no sales call. After that you pay per deal or choose a monthly plan; current prices are on the pricing page.
Test the earnings before you pay to confirm them.
Upload one CIM and get the tie-out, the add-back audit and the question list, each figure quoted from its page.
No card, no subscription, no sales call. Per-deal and monthly pricing →