Why Multi-Location Owners Struggle With Financial Clarity — and How We Solved It

See how a Houston CPA helped a franchise owner with 5 LLCs gain financial clarity, track cash flow, and plan confident growth.

The Problem:

A franchise owner came to us with a familiar challenge:

“We’re growing, but I can’t tell which store is actually making money.”

He runs five locations — each under a separate LLC.

The structure made sense legally. But financially?

The complexity was starting to break things.

• Each entity had its own bank account

• Payroll was run separately for each store

• Vendor invoices came from all directions

• Some staff and marketing were shared

• Rent was split across locations

The business was profitable — but the owner couldn’t see the numbers clearly.

Financials were delayed. Cash was hard to track.

And without clarity, planning for store #6 felt risky.

That’s when he turned to our team at TDACPA — a trusted Houston CPA firm serving business owners who need more than just bookkeeping.

The Hidden Cost

This isn’t just about accounting. It’s about growth.

When the numbers aren’t clear:

• Decisions get delayed

• Cash flow becomes a guess

• Profitable stores carry underperformers

• Expansion stalls

The owner wasn’t looking for fluff reports or theoretical analysis.

He needed accurate numbers, faster — and structured in a way that matched how the business actually ran.

For situations like this, having the right CPA in Houston makes all the difference.

Our Solution

We came in as the fractional CFO, working alongside his internal team.

Here’s what we put in place:

✅ Standard Chart of Accounts

We unified the chart of accounts across all five entities, so reports could be compared, consolidated, and understood at a glance.

✅ Clean Intercompany Tracking

Shared expenses — rent, payroll, marketing — were properly allocated between stores. No more undocumented transfers or guesswork.

✅ Consolidated Monthly Reporting

We automated roll-ups so the owner could see:

• Profit & loss by store

• Company-wide margins

• Where cash was flowing

✅ Actionable Dashboards

Instead of PDFs or spreadsheets, we built live dashboards that gave him answers — fast.

This is where working with a small business CPA in Houston becomes invaluable — you don’t just get compliance, you get clarity.

The Result

By the second month:

• Financials were ready by the 5th of each month

• Store-level profit was clear

• Cash flow was reliable

• The owner could confidently plan his next location

He told us:

“For the first time, I can actually see what’s working — and where we need to fix things.”

That’s the kind of transformation a dedicated Houston CPA delivers.

You Might Be in the Same Spot

This kind of setup isn’t rare.

If you run a multi-entity business — franchises, shops, separate service lines — you’ve likely felt the same pain:

• You're growing, but your books feel messy

• Reports are slow or don’t make sense

• You rely on gut feel instead of numbers

You don’t need a new bookkeeper.

You need a financial structure that matches how you operate — and grows with you. That’s where a partner like us step in.

What To Do Next

We help business owners build clean, scalable financial systems —

without hiring a full-time CFO or rebuilding everything from scratch.

If you’re running multiple entities and struggling to see the numbers clearly, let’s talk.

📩 Reach out for a quick call.

We’ll walk through your setup and show you how we’d clean it up.

Whether you’re searching for a CPA near me, need payroll services in Houston, or want an experienced partner for Houston bookkeeping, TDACPA is here to help.