Looking for a CFO in Houston, and wondering about the distance? That is a fair thing to wonder about, so here is the honest answer. Steven Palmieri works as a Tax CFO out of a practice in Dallas. We are not on your street, and we would never suggest otherwise. Houston and Dallas sit about 223 miles apart in a straight line, and we work across that gap every week.
The distance matters less than it sounds, because the rules are the same on both ends. The same Comptroller collects your sales tax and your franchise report. The same Central Time clock sets the deadline for a large electronic payment. A Houston owner and a Dallas owner file on the same calendar, and we keep that calendar as our own. Nobody has to translate Texas for us.
The books live online, in QuickBooks Online, and your bank and cards feed into them. We close each month from the shared file, with questions sent to you as short notes. Once a month we meet by video to look at the close, the cash view and the one decision on the table. A calendar link sets the time, so there is no back and forth. Between meetings you can write to us when something comes up, such as a quote from the bank or an offer from a supplier, and we answer in the same file where the numbers already sit.
Think about what a nearby firm used to give you. A place to drop a box of receipts. A table across from you for signing papers. A person who could drive to the bank. Each of those jobs has moved onto a screen. Receipts are photographed. Signatures are collected on a phone. Bank feeds arrive overnight. What "nearby" still gives you is a handshake and a parking spot.
What a nearby firm never gave you was a closed month, a cash plan or a straight answer. Those depend on how well the person knows your numbers and how quickly they answer, and neither depends on distance. If the question is who does your work best and answers fastest, the map is not much help.
Then there is time. A video call fits between a delivery and a supplier visit, and a 30 minute call costs 30 minutes. A trip across town costs the afternoon.
You give up the in-person meeting at your own counter, and we will not pretend that is nothing. Some owners like to see a face across a table, and a video call does not replace that for everyone.
What you gain is regular attention, because a call is easy to hold every month. You gain a person who knows how the Texas rules apply to a business like yours. And you gain a calm routine in which the books are closed before the call, so the time together goes to decisions and not to hunting for receipts.
In the quiet months, the one decision this page asks of you is whether to try a single video meeting before you commit to anything. That is all we ask. You will know quickly whether the distance matters to you.
It is easier, in one way. A Houston storm can close an office, but a cloud file does not close with it. If the power is out at your shop for a week, the books are still there, and so are we. The page on hurricane season and your cash covers the plan in detail.
We prepare statements and returns, and we do not issue reports on financial statements. If a lender or a bond needs that, a licensed firm does it, and we explain the split on the page about what we handle.
Try one video meeting about your own numbers and see whether it works for you. It is free, there is nothing to sign and nothing to pay. If you want the substance of the work first, read about a fractional CFO in Houston.
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.