Outsourced CFO & Accounting Services in Houston
Financial leadership built for the Energy Capital of the World. Expert outsourced finance for oilfield services companies, energy engineering firms, healthcare practices, and manufacturers navigating commodity cycles, project-based revenue, and the Texas franchise tax environment while scaling from $5M to $50M.
The Houston Business Landscape
Houston is the energy capital of the world, and that title is not ceremonial. More than 4,600 energy-related firms operate within the Houston metropolitan area, including the headquarters of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and hundreds of oilfield services, midstream, and energy engineering companies that form the backbone of the global petroleum industry. But Houston's economy has diversified well beyond the oil patch. The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex on the planet, occupying over 1,300 acres and employing more than 120,000 people across 60 member institutions. The Port of Houston handles more foreign waterborne tonnage than any other U.S. port, anchoring a logistics and manufacturing corridor that stretches along the Ship Channel. NASA's Johnson Space Center drives an aerospace ecosystem, and a growing technology sector has taken root in the Midtown and EaDo neighborhoods.
The scale of Houston's economy is staggering. If the Houston metro area were its own country, its GDP of approximately $500 billion would rank among the top 25 national economies in the world. For business owners managing $5M to $50M in revenue, this means operating in a market with enormous opportunity but equally intense competition. A $15M oilfield services company in Houston is competing against hundreds of similar firms for the same contracts. A $10M healthcare practice is recruiting physicians from the same talent pool as MD Anderson, Houston Methodist, and Baylor St. Luke's. A $20M manufacturer is bidding on the same supply chain opportunities as companies with ten times its resources.
What separates the companies that grow from the ones that stall in Houston is almost always the quality of their financial management. In a city where commodity prices can shift revenue projections by 30% in a single quarter, where project-based work creates lumpy cash flows, and where the Texas franchise tax catches unprepared business owners with unexpected liabilities, having finance leadership that understands Houston's specific dynamics is not a luxury—it is a survival requirement.
4,600+ Energy Firms
World Energy Capital
Global petroleum industry epicenter
Texas Medical Center
120,000+ Employees
Largest medical complex on Earth
Port of Houston
#1 Foreign Tonnage
Largest U.S. port by foreign cargo
Oilfield Services: Managing Through Commodity Cycles
The financial management of an oilfield services company is fundamentally different from almost any other business category, and the reason comes down to one word: volatility. When crude oil prices drop from $80 to $50 per barrel—as they have multiple times in the past decade—exploration and production companies slash their capital expenditure budgets, and the effect cascades immediately through the oilfield services supply chain. A well completion company that was running six crews and generating $3M per month can find itself running two crews and generating $800K within a single quarter. When prices recover, the ramp-up is equally dramatic but creates its own financial strain as the company must hire and train crew members, purchase or refurbish equipment, and extend credit to customers who may themselves be cash-constrained.
For an oilfield services company managing $5M to $50M in revenue, the cash flow management requirements during these cycles are intense. Equipment fleets worth millions of dollars sit idle during downturns but still carry depreciation, insurance, and storage costs. Debt covenants on equipment loans and revolving credit facilities may include minimum revenue or EBITDA thresholds that are nearly impossible to meet when utilization drops by 50%. Customer payment terms stretch from net-30 to net-60 or net-90 during downturns as E&P companies conserve their own cash. Meanwhile, the best field crews—the people who generate revenue—will leave for competitors or other industries if you lay them off, so there is enormous pressure to keep key personnel on payroll even when work is slow.
An outsourced finance team serving this sector needs to build financial models that scenario-plan across a range of commodity prices, maintain rolling cash flow forecasts that update weekly rather than monthly, negotiate proactively with lenders on covenant modifications before violations occur, and manage working capital with the precision of a company that cannot afford a single misstep. This is not work that a general-purpose bookkeeper can do. It requires energy-sector financial expertise combined with the strategic thinking of a CFO who has seen these cycles before and knows how to navigate them.
Energy Engineering and Construction
Houston is home to the largest concentration of energy engineering and construction firms in the world. Companies that design and build refineries, petrochemical plants, LNG terminals, pipeline systems, and offshore platforms operate from Houston and deploy projects globally. For mid-market firms in this space—the $5M to $50M engineering consultancies, specialty fabricators, and EPC subcontractors—the financial complexity centers on project-based revenue recognition and the multi-year timelines that characterize major energy infrastructure work.
Percentage-of-completion accounting is the industry standard for long-duration construction contracts, and getting it right is both technically demanding and critically important. Revenue must be recognized based on the estimated percentage of work completed, which means the accuracy of the cost estimate drives the accuracy of the income statement. When change orders occur—and they always do in energy construction—the original estimate must be revised and revenue recognition adjusted accordingly. Overbilling creates a liability on the balance sheet that must be managed; underbilling creates an asset that may not convert to cash for months or years. A single large project can distort the financials of a mid-market firm to the point where the income statement is meaningless without project-level analysis.
Retainage compounds the cash flow challenge. On a $10M EPC subcontract with 10% retainage, $1M in earned revenue is withheld until project completion and acceptance—which in energy construction can be 18 to 36 months from project start. For a company running three or four major projects simultaneously, retainage receivables can tie up $2M to $5M in cash that is technically earned but not yet available. Managing this requires a finance function that tracks retainage at the project level, forecasts release timing, and ensures that the company's line of credit and working capital are sufficient to bridge the gap between work performed and cash received.
The Texas Franchise Tax: Not as Simple as "No Income Tax"
Business owners relocating to Houston from income-tax states arrive expecting a tax-free paradise, and in many ways the expectation is justified. Texas has no personal income tax and no corporate income tax in the traditional sense. But the Texas franchise tax—officially the "margin tax"—is a tax on business that catches many growing companies off guard. Every entity doing business in Texas with total revenue exceeding $2.47 million must file a franchise tax return, and the tax is calculated on the entity's "margin," which is total revenue minus the greater of several deduction options: cost of goods sold, total compensation, 30% of total revenue, or $1 million.
The strategic choice of deduction method can produce dramatically different tax liabilities depending on the business model. A capital-intensive oilfield services company with high equipment costs and material expenses will typically benefit from the cost of goods sold deduction. A professional services firm with minimal cost of goods sold but significant payroll will likely minimize its tax by deducting total compensation. A company that has neither high COGS nor high payroll may find the 30% standard deduction produces the best result. For a $20M revenue company, the difference between the optimal and suboptimal deduction method can exceed $50,000 in annual tax—a meaningful number that basic accounting services often miss because they lack the strategic perspective to evaluate alternatives.
The franchise tax also creates complexity for multi-state businesses operating from Houston. Revenue apportionment rules determine how much of a company's total revenue is subject to the Texas franchise tax versus other states' income taxes. Companies with customers, employees, or operations in other states need tax planning that considers the interaction between Texas's margin tax and other states' income tax regimes—particularly California, New York, and other high-tax states where many Houston companies maintain customer relationships. A finance partner that proactively models the franchise tax impact across deduction methods and apportionment scenarios is protecting the bottom line in a way that after-the-fact tax preparation never can.
Healthcare in the Texas Medical Center Ecosystem
The Texas Medical Center creates a healthcare ecosystem unlike any other in the world. MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Methodist, Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, Texas Children's Hospital, Memorial Hermann, and dozens of other institutions operate within a campus that sees more than ten million patient encounters per year. For independent practices and healthcare services companies in the $5M to $50M range, this ecosystem is simultaneously the greatest opportunity and the most demanding competitive environment in American healthcare.
The opportunity is patient volume. Greater Houston has nearly seven million residents and is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country. The population is young, diverse, and increasingly well-insured following Texas's expansion of employer-sponsored coverage in the energy and petrochemical sectors. For specialty practices—orthopedics, cardiology, gastroenterology, dermatology—the referral volume available from the TMC network and the broader primary care community is enormous. A well-positioned specialty group can grow from five providers to fifteen in five years if the financial infrastructure supports the expansion.
The challenge is talent and overhead. Recruiting physicians in Houston means competing with institutions that can offer academic appointments, research funding, and brand prestige that no independent practice can match. Compensation guarantees for newly recruited specialists routinely exceed $500,000 in competitive specialties, with full productivity not expected for 12 to 18 months. Real estate costs in the TMC area are among the highest in Houston, and practices that choose less expensive locations must weigh the savings against reduced referral access. For a growing practice, every provider addition is a six-figure bet on future revenue that requires careful financial modeling—payer mix analysis, productivity ramp curves, overhead absorption calculations, and break-even timelines—before the recruitment letter is signed.
Port, Logistics, and Manufacturing
The Port of Houston handles approximately 247 million tons of cargo annually, making it the largest port in the United States by foreign waterborne tonnage and the second-largest by total tonnage. The Houston Ship Channel stretches 52 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Turning Basin in east Houston, lined with refineries, petrochemical plants, steel mills, and container terminals. For the mid-market manufacturers, logistics companies, and distributors that operate along this corridor, the port creates access to global supply chains that would be prohibitively expensive from an inland location.
Financial management for port-dependent businesses centers on inventory optimization and trade compliance. A steel distributor importing product from Brazil and Turkey must manage ocean freight costs, customs duties, anti-dumping tariffs that can change with trade policy, and inventory carrying costs for product that spends weeks on the water before reaching the warehouse. A chemical manufacturer exporting specialty products to Asia must track export compliance costs, foreign trade zone benefits, and the cash flow impact of international payment terms that frequently stretch to net-60 or net-90 days. A food importer must manage perishable inventory timelines, USDA compliance costs, and cold chain logistics expenses that add significant complexity to standard working capital management.
Tariff management has become particularly critical in recent years. Changes in trade policy can alter the landed cost of imported goods by 10% to 25% with little advance notice, which means pricing models and margin projections must be flexible enough to absorb tariff changes without destroying profitability. Companies that maintain bonded warehouse operations or utilize Foreign Trade Zone designations gain tariff management advantages, but the accounting and compliance requirements for these programs add complexity that requires dedicated financial expertise. An outsourced finance team that understands trade compliance accounting can help Houston-area importers and exporters protect margins in an unpredictable trade policy environment.
What Growing Houston Businesses Need from a Finance Partner
Houston's economy is characterized by scale, cyclicality, and complexity—and the financial management required to navigate it must match all three. An oilfield services company needs a finance team that has lived through commodity downturns and knows how to preserve cash and maintain lender relationships when revenue drops by half. An energy engineering firm needs percentage-of-completion expertise and project-level profitability tracking that generic accounting software and general-practice bookkeepers cannot provide. A healthcare practice needs payer mix modeling and provider compensation analysis that accounts for the uniquely competitive TMC talent market.
The Texas franchise tax adds a layer of strategic tax planning that every Houston business needs but few receive from their current accounting provider. The difference between the right and wrong deduction method is real money, and the multi-state implications for companies with operations or customers outside Texas can multiply that impact. A finance partner that treats the franchise tax as a strategic planning exercise rather than a compliance afterthought is adding value from day one.
Houston rewards companies that combine operational excellence with financial discipline. The market is big enough to support significant growth for well-managed mid-market companies, but it is competitive enough that poor financial management—missed cash flow projections, inaccurate job costing, suboptimal tax planning, or inadequate reporting for lenders and bonding companies—will hold a company back or, in a downturn, put it at risk of failure. The companies that scale from $5M to $20M to $50M in Houston are the ones that invested in their finance function before they outgrew their existing infrastructure.
Scale Your Houston Business with Confidence
Get finance leadership that understands energy cycles, oilfield services economics, percentage-of-completion accounting, and the Texas franchise tax. We work with Houston businesses from $5M to $50M in revenue.