Outsourced CFO & Accounting Services in Fort Worth, TX
Financial leadership for America's aerospace and defense powerhouse. Expert outsourced finance for Lockheed Martin suppliers, energy companies, healthcare systems, and manufacturers navigating DCAA compliance, commodity price volatility, and the strategic advantages of operating in a no-income-tax state.
The Fort Worth Business Landscape
Fort Worth is home to the most consequential defense manufacturing program in modern history. Lockheed Martin's mile-long facility on the western edge of the city produces the F-35 Lightning II, the world's most advanced multi-role fighter aircraft, under a program with a lifetime value exceeding $400 billion. This single program anchors a massive aerospace supply chain that stretches across Tarrant County and into the broader DFW metroplex, employing thousands of engineers, machinists, and technicians at Lockheed itself and supporting hundreds of smaller suppliers that produce components, assemblies, and subsystems feeding into the final aircraft. Bell Textron's helicopter division is also headquartered in Fort Worth, adding rotary-wing aircraft production to the region's defense manufacturing portfolio.
Beyond aerospace, Fort Worth's economy is remarkably diversified for a city so closely associated with a single industry. The Permian Basin energy corridor extends its influence into Fort Worth, where dozens of oil and gas exploration companies, oilfield services firms, and pipeline operators maintain offices and operations. Texas Health Resources, JPS Health Network, and Cook Children's Medical Center anchor a healthcare sector that serves more than two million residents in Tarrant County. The city's ranching heritage lives on through the Fort Worth Stockyards and a significant agricultural economy, while rapid population growth—Fort Worth has been among the fastest-growing large cities in the country for the past decade—drives construction, real estate development, and commercial services at a pace that shows no sign of slowing.
For business owners managing $5M to $50M in revenue, Fort Worth offers a combination of advantages that few American cities can match. Texas's zero state income tax maximizes after-tax cash flow. The cost of doing business is well below coastal metro averages. The labor pool is deep and growing. And the presence of anchor employers like Lockheed Martin, Bell Textron, and major healthcare systems creates a supply chain ecosystem with enormous opportunities for growing companies. The financial management challenge is matching that opportunity with the sophisticated compliance and analytical capabilities that defense contracting, energy accounting, and healthcare finance demand.
F-35 Lightning II
$400B+ Program
Largest defense contract in history
Zero State
Income Tax
Texas business advantage
Fastest-Growing
Large U.S. City
Top population growth for a decade
Aerospace Supply Chain: DCAA, AS9100, and the F-35 Ecosystem
Supplying the F-35 program—or any major defense aerospace platform—imposes financial compliance requirements that fundamentally change how a manufacturer must operate its accounting and finance functions. Defense Contract Audit Agency compliance requires cost accounting systems that segregate direct labor, direct materials, and subcontract costs by contract and task order, while allocating indirect costs through approved overhead, general and administrative, and material handling rate structures. These indirect rates must be proposed annually, defended during audits, and reconciled through incurred cost submissions that can run hundreds of pages. A single compliance failure can trigger contract modifications, repayment demands, or suspension from future bidding.
Beyond DCAA, aerospace manufacturers in the F-35 supply chain must maintain AS9100 quality management certification, which imposes its own documentation and cost tracking requirements. AS9100 audits evaluate not just quality systems but the financial controls surrounding nonconformance reporting, corrective actions, and continuous improvement investments. ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) compliance adds export control documentation requirements, and the emerging CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) framework is layering additional cybersecurity investment requirements that affect both operating costs and capital planning. For a $10M to $30M aerospace supplier, the cumulative cost of maintaining DCAA, AS9100, ITAR, and CMMC compliance can represent 5% to 10% of revenue—a cost that must be accurately tracked and recovered through contract pricing.
The financial challenge for growing aerospace suppliers is building this compliance infrastructure without making the company uncompetitive on price. Labor rates in Fort Worth, while rising, remain well below those in traditional aerospace corridors like Southern California, Connecticut, and Northern Virginia, giving local suppliers a meaningful cost advantage. But that advantage erodes quickly if compliance costs are not managed efficiently. An outsourced finance team with aerospace defense experience can build and maintain the required systems at a fraction of the cost of a full internal compliance department, allowing companies to preserve their cost advantage while meeting every regulatory requirement.
Energy Sector Finance: Commodity Volatility and Complex Accounting
Fort Worth's connection to the energy industry runs deep. The Barnett Shale, one of the first major shale gas formations developed through hydraulic fracturing, underlies much of Tarrant County, and Fort Worth served as ground zero for the shale revolution that transformed American energy production. Today, while the Barnett Shale itself is a mature play, Fort Worth remains a significant hub for energy company headquarters, oilfield services operations, and midstream companies serving the Permian Basin—the most productive oil formation in the Western Hemisphere, located roughly 300 miles to the west. Companies ranging from exploration and production operators to pipeline companies, equipment manufacturers, and environmental services firms maintain Fort Worth operations that benefit from the city's central Texas location, airport access, and talent pool.
The financial management of energy companies requires specialized expertise that goes well beyond standard commercial accounting. Oil and gas accounting involves choices between successful efforts and full cost methods, each with different implications for how exploration costs are capitalized or expensed. Depletion calculations, which determine how the cost of producing wells is recognized over time, require reserve estimates that must be updated annually. Joint venture accounting—standard in an industry where wells and pipelines are frequently co-owned by multiple parties—creates intercompany billing, revenue allocation, and working interest tracking requirements. And royalty payments to mineral rights owners must be calculated, disbursed, and reported in compliance with Texas Railroad Commission regulations.
For oilfield services companies, the financial challenges center on commodity price volatility. When oil prices are high, drilling activity surges and services companies can barely hire fast enough. When prices drop, rigs stack and revenues can fall 30% to 50% within months. A services company generating $10M to $40M in revenue needs cash flow forecasting that models multiple price scenarios, working capital management that builds reserves during boom periods, and cost structure flexibility that allows the company to scale down without destroying the organizational capability needed to scale back up when activity recovers. This cyclical financial management requires strategic finance capabilities that most small accounting firms simply do not possess.
Texas Tax Strategy: No Income Tax Does Not Mean No Tax Planning
Texas's zero state income tax is one of Fort Worth's most powerful competitive advantages for business owners. A company generating $5M in profit pays nothing to the state on that income, compared to 5% to 13% in many other states. For growing companies and their owners, this tax savings flows directly to the bottom line, providing cash for reinvestment, debt reduction, or owner distributions that would otherwise go to state tax authorities. It is a genuine, quantifiable advantage that influences location decisions for companies across the country.
But the absence of an income tax does not mean Texas is a tax-free environment. The Texas franchise tax (often called the margin tax) applies to most businesses with revenue exceeding $2.47 million, calculated on total revenue minus either cost of goods sold, compensation, or a 30% standard deduction—whichever produces the lowest tax liability. For capital-intensive businesses with high revenues and thin margins, the franchise tax can represent a surprisingly large obligation. Property taxes in Tarrant County are among the highest in Texas, with combined rates (county, city, school district, and special districts) that can exceed 2.5% of assessed value—a significant annual cost for companies owning commercial real estate or carrying large equipment and inventory values. Sales and use tax at 8.25% applies to a broad range of business purchases, and the rules governing manufacturing exemptions, which can reduce sales tax obligations for qualifying equipment, require careful documentation to claim successfully.
Effective tax planning in Fort Worth requires financial leadership that understands how to maximize the Texas advantage while managing the taxes the state does impose. That means structuring the franchise tax calculation to minimize liability, ensuring manufacturing equipment qualifies for sales tax exemptions, managing property tax valuations and protests (which can reduce assessed values significantly with proper documentation), and coordinating federal tax planning to take full advantage of the income tax savings that Texas provides. For business owners who relocated to Texas specifically for the tax environment, the value of getting this planning right extends to their personal financial situation as well.
Healthcare in the Fastest-Growing Large City
Fort Worth's explosive population growth has created surging demand for healthcare services that existing providers are racing to meet. Texas Health Resources, one of the largest faith-based health systems in the country, operates multiple hospitals and outpatient facilities across Tarrant County. JPS Health Network serves as the county's safety-net hospital, providing care to uninsured and underinsured populations. Cook Children's Medical Center is a nationally ranked pediatric hospital. But the growth of Fort Worth's western and southern corridors—areas like Walsh Ranch, Aledo, and Crowley that barely existed a decade ago—has created geographic gaps in healthcare access that independent medical groups, urgent care chains, and specialty practices are expanding to fill.
For healthcare companies growing past $5M in revenue in the Fort Worth market, the financial management challenges revolve around expansion planning and payer mix management. Texas did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which means a higher proportion of the population is uninsured compared to expansion states. This creates a payer mix where self-pay and charity care represent a larger share of patient encounters, directly affecting collections rates and revenue per visit. Commercial insurance negotiations, particularly with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and UnitedHealthcare (which together cover a large share of the commercially insured population), require data-driven analysis to support rate requests and contract renewals.
Growth planning in Fort Worth's healthcare market also requires understanding the demographic profile of the city's expansion areas. New residential developments in western Tarrant County tend to attract younger families, creating demand for pediatric, obstetric, and family medicine services. The aging population in more established neighborhoods drives demand for cardiology, orthopedics, and chronic disease management. Financial modeling for new practice locations must account for the demographic differences between these areas, the revenue ramp-up timeline for new providers, and the capital requirements for tenant improvements and medical equipment. A finance partner that can build these models helps healthcare business owners expand strategically rather than chasing growth without understanding its financial implications.
Construction and Real Estate in a Boom Market
Fort Worth's construction industry operates at a scale and pace that reflects the city's status as one of America's fastest-growing large metros. Residential subdivisions are expanding rapidly across western and southern Tarrant County. Commercial developments—retail centers, office buildings, medical facilities, and warehouse space—follow the rooftops. And institutional construction for hospitals, schools, and transportation infrastructure adds billions in project value. The city's $1.2 billion TEXRail commuter rail extension and continued expansion of DFW Airport infrastructure create additional public works opportunities for general contractors and specialty trades.
For construction companies managing $5M to $50M in revenue, the financial management demands are significant. Job costing must be granular enough to identify margin erosion on individual projects before it compounds into a company-wide problem. Bonding capacity—the surety company's assessment of how much work a contractor can safely carry simultaneously—is directly tied to the quality and timeliness of financial statements, working capital position, and management track record. Cash flow management in construction is particularly challenging because the timing of material purchases, subcontractor payments, and progress billing receipts rarely aligns, creating periods where working capital demands spike dramatically even on profitable projects.
Fort Worth's hot construction market also creates pricing pressure that requires disciplined financial analysis. When every contractor in the market is busy, subcontractor rates rise, material suppliers extend longer lead times, and the temptation to chase revenue by accepting low-margin projects increases. A strong finance function provides the project-level profitability analysis needed to distinguish between projects that are truly profitable and projects that keep people busy without contributing to the bottom line. For companies pursuing public works projects—school construction, road work, or municipal facilities—Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage compliance adds another layer of accounting complexity that must be managed accurately to avoid audit findings and penalties.
What Growing Fort Worth Businesses Need from a Finance Partner
Fort Worth's business environment combines the scale and sophistication of a major metro with the accessibility and cost advantages of a mid-market city. An aerospace supplier here can compete with companies in Los Angeles or Connecticut while paying 30% to 40% less for labor and facilities. An energy services company can operate from Fort Worth rather than Houston with essentially the same market access at lower overhead. A healthcare practice can build a profitable multi-location operation in a growth market without the saturated competition of older, more established cities. But capturing these advantages requires financial infrastructure that matches the complexity of the industries driving the local economy.
A finance partner serving Fort Worth businesses needs deep familiarity with DCAA compliance for aerospace suppliers, oil and gas accounting for energy companies, Texas franchise and property tax planning, and healthcare revenue cycle management. It also means understanding the financial dynamics of high-growth markets—where the risk of overextension is just as real as the risk of missing opportunity. Companies that grow revenue at 30% per year while their finance infrastructure remains sized for last year's business are accumulating risk, whether in the form of cash flow shortfalls, compliance gaps, or pricing errors that remain invisible until margins collapse.
Many Fort Worth business owners operate multiple entities across related industries. A defense contractor may also own a commercial machine shop and a real estate holding company. An energy company owner may have interests in multiple wells, a services company, and a pipeline operation. A construction company may operate a materials supply business and a property development arm. These multi-entity structures are common in Texas's entrepreneurial business culture, and they require consolidated financial reporting, intercompany transaction management, and strategic planning that optimizes across the entire portfolio rather than treating each entity as a standalone operation.
Scale Your Fort Worth Business with Confidence
Get finance leadership that understands aerospace defense contracting, energy sector accounting, Texas tax strategy, and building profitable operations in one of America's fastest-growing cities. We work with Fort Worth businesses from $5M to $50M in revenue.