Keaton Trager, CPA, CMA, CFE

Keaton Trager is a CPA, CMA, and CFE who helps small and mid‑sized business leaders turn disconnected financial data into clear, actionable decisions. He has served as a CFO, controller, and advisor, and he specializes in building practical KPI frameworks, forecasting models, and operating rhythms that give owners meaningful visibility into cash flow, profitability, and risk.

Keaton’s work starts with the financials but is always grounded in how the business actually operates. He helps leadership teams understand the specific drivers that move their results, from pricing and mix to utilization and capacity, and how those levers show up in the numbers. He designs reporting that is simple to understand and easy to act on, and he works with clients to establish a consistent cadence of reviews that keeps everyone aligned on the same metrics. His goal is to help businesses clearly understand where they stand today and where they are headed, so they can make confident, data‑driven decisions about growth, investment, and staffing.

Many of the clients Keaton serves are at important inflection points. They may be preparing to grow, facing increased regulatory, operating, and financial complexity, or evaluating acquisitions, recapitalizations, or ownership transitions. M&A readiness, financial due diligence, and post‑close integration are part of his toolkit, but always in service of a deeper question: how will this change the way the business runs and the value it can create over time. At the same time, he helps clients tighten financial systems, strengthen internal controls, and stay ahead of requirements so they are not surprised by the numbers.

Before joining Dark Horse, Keaton built and led finance functions in private companies. Now he is focused on bringing that operator mindset to a wider group of entrepreneurs. His approach pairs rigorous financial discipline with scalable systems. He focuses on getting the books clean, establishing consistent reporting, and setting clear operating rhythms so that insights about financial drivers translate directly into day‑to‑day decisions. Clients appreciate that his recommendations come from real experience implementing processes that work in practice, not just from theoretical best practices.

Keaton is a U.S. Army Reserve veteran and brings that background of service, accountability, and clear communication into every engagement. He believes the best advisory relationships are built on honesty and follow‑through, which means telling clients what they need to hear and then working alongside them to execute the plan. When he is not refining a forecast or mapping the levers that drive a client’s results, he enjoys watching basketball, collecting comic books, playing chess, and spending time with his family in his soon‑to‑be home of Cincinnati.