Outsourced CFO & Accounting Services in Seattle
Financial leadership built for big tech's ecosystem city. Expert outsourced finance for IT services firms, healthcare practices, aerospace suppliers, and maritime companies navigating Washington's unique tax structure and the Puget Sound's high-cost, high-opportunity business environment.
The Seattle Business Landscape
Seattle's economy is defined by a paradox that every local business owner understands: the same corporate giants that make this one of the most prosperous metro areas in the country also create the most challenging operating environment for mid-sized companies trying to scale. Amazon and Microsoft together employ more than 100,000 people in the Puget Sound region, and their combined economic gravity shapes everything from commercial rents to labor costs to the competitive landscape for professional services. When Amazon adds 10,000 employees to its South Lake Union campus, IT staffing firms see a spike in demand. When Microsoft reorganizes a division and cuts headcount, the managed services providers and consulting companies that served those teams feel the reverberations within weeks.
But Seattle's economy runs far deeper than tech. Boeing's Puget Sound operations—despite the company's headquarters relocation to Arlington, Virginia—still employ tens of thousands of workers across Everett, Renton, and Auburn, sustaining a manufacturing supply chain of precision machinists, engineering firms, and aerospace component suppliers that has existed for more than half a century. UW Medicine, Swedish Medical Center (now part of Providence), and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center anchor a healthcare sector that serves the entire Pacific Northwest. The Port of Seattle, combined with the Port of Tacoma under the Northwest Seaport Alliance, ranks as the fourth-largest container port complex in the United States, supporting thousands of maritime logistics, trade services, and international distribution companies. Starbucks, Costco, Nordstrom, and REI all maintain their headquarters in the greater Seattle area, adding retail and consumer operations to the mix.
For business owners managing $5M to $50M in revenue, Seattle rewards companies with strong financial infrastructure and punishes those without it. Operating costs are among the highest on the West Coast—commercial rents in core neighborhoods run $40 to $60 per square foot, the minimum wage is $20.76 per hour (the highest of any major U.S. city), and benefit mandates including paid sick leave and secure scheduling add further labor cost pressure. Washington's unusual tax structure—no state income tax but a gross receipts tax that applies to every dollar of revenue—creates financial planning challenges that trip up even experienced CFOs who have relocated from income-tax states. The companies that thrive here are the ones that understand these dynamics at a structural level and build their financial operations around them.
100,000+ Jobs
Amazon + Microsoft
Local workforce creating ecosystem demand
$0 State Income
Tax Advantage
But B&O gross receipts tax applies
$20.76/hr
Minimum Wage
Highest of any major U.S. city
Washington's B&O Tax: The Gross Receipts Problem
Washington's Business and Occupation tax is the single most misunderstood element of doing business in the state, and it creates financial planning challenges that are genuinely unique. Unlike a corporate income tax, which is levied on profit, the B&O tax applies to gross receipts—every dollar of revenue your business generates, regardless of whether that revenue translates into profit. The standard service and "other activities" rate is 1.5%, retailing is 0.471%, wholesaling is 0.484%, and manufacturing is 0.484%. These rates may sound small, but because they apply to the top line rather than the bottom line, the effective burden is substantial—particularly for businesses with thin margins or high pass-through costs.
Consider an IT staffing company generating $20M in revenue. If 70% of that revenue is pass-through payroll for placed contractors, the company's actual gross margin might be $6M. But the B&O tax applies to the full $20M, not the $6M margin. At the 1.5% service rate, that is $300,000 in B&O tax—which represents 5% of the company's gross margin, not 1.5% of its revenue. For a professional services firm with strong margins, the impact is less severe. But for any business with significant pass-through costs, contractor payments, or cost-of-goods-sold, the B&O tax can consume a disproportionate share of actual profit.
The complexity deepens for businesses operating across multiple classifications or in multiple cities. Seattle imposes its own city B&O tax on top of the state tax, with rates that vary by business activity and revenue thresholds. Bellevue, Tacoma, and Everett have their own local B&O taxes as well, each with different rates, filing requirements, and exemption thresholds. A company with operations or employees in multiple Puget Sound cities may file B&O returns with the state and three or four municipalities, each requiring separate apportionment calculations. Finance leadership that can manage this compliance burden while also optimizing business structure to minimize the total tax load is essential for any growing Seattle company.
IT Services and the Big Tech Ecosystem
Seattle's IT services sector exists because Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and dozens of other technology companies need an enormous support ecosystem to operate their Puget Sound campuses. IT staffing firms place thousands of contract workers into these companies. Managed services providers handle network infrastructure, cloud migration, and cybersecurity for mid-sized businesses that can't compete with big tech for full-time engineering talent. Software consulting companies build custom applications and integrations. Data analytics firms help smaller companies make sense of their operations using the same tools that the tech giants pioneered.
For IT services companies generating $5M to $30M in revenue, the financial management challenges are specific. Project profitability tracking requires systems that allocate labor costs to individual engagements based on actual hours worked, bill rates achieved, and utilization rates maintained. Contractor payroll—which may represent 60% to 80% of revenue for a staffing firm—creates massive working capital requirements because contractors must be paid on a weekly or biweekly cycle while clients typically pay on net-30 or net-45 terms. A $15M IT staffing company can easily need $1M to $2M in working capital just to bridge the gap between payroll obligations and client collections.
The concentration risk inherent in serving big tech clients is the other major financial challenge. An IT services company that derives 40% or more of its revenue from a single client—whether that is Amazon, Microsoft, or a large enterprise customer—is one reorganization or vendor consolidation decision away from losing a significant portion of its revenue. Financial planning for these companies must include stress testing against client concentration scenarios, building cash reserves sized to absorb the shock of losing a major account, and developing diversification strategies that reduce dependence on any single client or industry vertical. These are strategic finance questions that go well beyond bookkeeping and monthly closes.
Aerospace Supply Chain and Manufacturing Finance
Boeing's Puget Sound operations remain the backbone of Washington state's manufacturing sector, even as the company has diversified its production footprint to South Carolina and other locations. The Everett factory—the largest building by volume in the world—continues to produce widebody aircraft, and the Renton facility builds the 737 MAX. Around these massive operations, hundreds of small and mid-sized suppliers produce everything from machined titanium components and composite panels to electrical wiring harnesses and cabin interior elements. Many of these suppliers have been in the Boeing ecosystem for decades, and their financial structures reflect the long-cycle, contract-driven nature of aerospace manufacturing.
The financial management of a Boeing supplier is governed by realities that most general-practice accountants have never encountered. Production contracts may span three to seven years, with pricing locked in at contract signing and subject to cost escalation clauses that may or may not keep pace with actual input cost increases. Progress billing against long-term contracts requires percentage-of-completion accounting that tracks costs incurred against estimated total costs to determine revenue recognition—a calculation that depends on accurate cost estimates and is audited closely by Boeing's procurement team. Inventory management is complex because aerospace-grade materials carry traceability requirements that extend from raw material certification through final inspection.
Companies that also hold defense contracts—whether through Boeing's military programs or through direct relationships with the Department of Defense—face DCAA compliance requirements that layer on top of commercial accounting obligations. Cost accounting standards mandate specific methods for allocating indirect costs to government contracts, and the annual incurred cost submission must be completed within six months of the contractor's fiscal year end. For a $10M to $30M manufacturer splitting revenue between commercial aerospace and defense work, maintaining two parallel accounting frameworks—one for commercial customers and one for government compliance—is a reality that an outsourced finance team with DCAA expertise can handle far more cost-effectively than building the capability in-house.
Healthcare in the Puget Sound Market
Seattle's healthcare market is dominated by large systems—UW Medicine, Providence Swedish, MultiCare, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health—but the ecosystem of independent practices, specialty clinics, and healthcare services companies that surrounds these systems is substantial and growing. Washington's early adoption of telemedicine reimbursement parity has created opportunities for healthcare companies that blend in-person and virtual care delivery. The state's behavioral health integration mandate requires primary care practices to incorporate behavioral health screening, creating both compliance obligations and revenue opportunities for practices that build the right billing infrastructure.
For healthcare companies generating $5M to $30M in revenue, the Puget Sound market presents a payer mix that requires careful financial management. Washington Apple Health (Medicaid) covers nearly two million state residents, and its reimbursement rates are significantly lower than commercial insurance. Medicare represents a growing share of revenue as the population ages. Commercial payers—Premera Blue Cross, Regence BlueShield, Molina, and Kaiser Permanente—each negotiate different fee schedules and impose different prior authorization requirements. Managing revenue cycle across this fragmented payer landscape while also navigating Washington's Charity Care Act, which requires hospitals and certain providers to offer discounted care to patients below specific income thresholds, demands financial systems that track each encounter from scheduling through final payment.
Labor costs for clinical staff in Seattle are among the highest in the country, driven by both the general cost of living and competition from the major health systems for nurses, medical assistants, and administrative staff. A growing practice that needs to hire ten clinical employees may find itself offering signing bonuses, relocation assistance, and compensation packages that are 15% to 20% above national benchmarks. Modeling these elevated labor costs into growth plans, staffing ratios, and breakeven analyses is essential for healthcare companies that want to expand in the Puget Sound market without overextending their financial resources.
Maritime Trade and Port Operations Finance
The Northwest Seaport Alliance—the combined operations of the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma—handles more than 3.5 million TEUs annually and serves as the primary gateway for trans-Pacific trade between Asia and the Pacific Northwest, Intermountain West, and Upper Midwest markets. This maritime infrastructure supports thousands of businesses: freight forwarders, customs brokers, container drayage operators, warehousing companies, trade compliance consultants, and marine terminal operators. For these companies, the financial management requirements reflect the global, multi-party, and highly regulated nature of international trade.
Working capital management in maritime logistics is notoriously challenging. A customs brokerage firm may advance duties and fees on behalf of importers, creating receivables that must be collected before the firm can recover its own cash outlay. A drayage company must pay drivers, maintain trucks, and cover fuel costs on a weekly basis while waiting 30 to 60 days for payment from steamship lines or beneficial cargo owners. Container demurrage and detention charges—fees for holding containers beyond their free time at the terminal or at the customer's facility—create disputed receivables that can tie up significant cash if not managed aggressively. A maritime logistics company generating $10M to $25M in revenue may need $2M to $4M in available working capital just to manage the timing mismatch between expenses and collections.
International trade also creates currency and regulatory exposure that domestic businesses never face. While most transactions are denominated in U.S. dollars, companies that deal directly with Asian manufacturers or shipping lines may have payables in Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, or Korean won. Customs compliance requires accurate Harmonized Tariff Schedule classifications, country-of-origin documentation, and adherence to trade agreement requirements (USMCA for Canadian and Mexican trade, various bilateral agreements for Asian partners). Anti-dumping and countervailing duties on specific product categories add further complexity. A finance team that understands these trade-specific requirements can ensure compliance while also identifying duty drawback opportunities, foreign trade zone benefits, and other mechanisms that reduce the total cost of imported goods.
What Growing Seattle Businesses Need from a Finance Partner
The unifying challenge for mid-sized businesses in Seattle is operating in a high-cost environment where the margin for financial error is thin. Commercial rents, labor costs, benefit mandates, and the B&O tax all compress margins compared to what a similar business would experience in a lower-cost market. This means that financial discipline—precise cost tracking, aggressive cash flow management, and strategic pricing—is not just good practice in Seattle; it is a survival requirement. The companies that grow successfully in this market are the ones that know exactly where their money goes, can forecast cash needs with accuracy, and make investment decisions based on data rather than instinct.
A finance partner serving Seattle businesses must understand Washington's tax structure at a detailed level—not just the B&O tax, but the sales and use tax implications for companies that sell or lease tangible goods, the commercial property tax environment in King County, and the city-specific business taxes that apply in Seattle, Bellevue, and other Puget Sound municipalities. Beyond tax, the finance partner needs to understand the specific industries that drive Seattle's economy: how IT staffing firms manage contractor payroll and utilization, how aerospace suppliers handle long-term contract accounting, how healthcare practices navigate Washington's payer landscape, and how maritime companies manage international trade finance.
It also means being prepared for the cyclicality that comes with Seattle's economic concentration. When tech hiring accelerates, the entire regional economy benefits—but when tech companies retrench, the ripple effects touch every sector. A finance partner that can help Seattle businesses build countercyclical financial models, maintain adequate cash reserves, diversify revenue streams, and structure operations to flex with demand is providing strategic value that goes far beyond accounting compliance. That is the difference between an outsourced finance function and a bookkeeper.
Scale Your Seattle Business with Confidence
Get finance leadership that understands Washington's B&O tax, big tech ecosystem dynamics, aerospace contract accounting, and Puget Sound's high-cost operating environment. We work with Seattle businesses from $5M to $50M in revenue.