Accounting firms in Houston: 2,857 offices, who prepares the city's tax returns, and what Texas requires of a CPA firm

This report is for Houston businesses and families choosing an accountant or tax preparer, accountants looking at Houston employers, and companies that sell to accounting firms. It covers the Census count, the four kinds of firm, Texas licensing rules and the IRS's preparer data, then how to prospect the market.

Houston's accounting market

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, NAICS 5412 (accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services), Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area (CBSA 26420):

Liberty County's employee total was published but flagged as high-noise: the Census Bureau's confidentiality noise changed it by 5% or more. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not companies, and leaves out the self-employed.

The big offices are all in Harris County

Harris County's own size classes contain all nine offices with 500 or more employees. Outside Harris, offices average about four people. No listed accounting company is headquartered here in SEC EDGAR, which has no accounting industry code; the large firms are private partnerships, and the Big 4 accounting firms are the largest of them.

Tax shops versus CPA firms

Pay per employee is our calculation: annual payroll divided by employees. Tax preparation looks poorly paid because CBP counts employees in the week of March 12, at the height of filing season, while payroll covers the whole year. Those 669 offices do returns only. For audited statements, a bank covenant or advice on a business sale, you want one of the 993 CPA offices.

What Texas requires of a CPA firm

The Texas Public Accountancy Act says a firm may not provide attest services or call itself "CPAs" or a "CPA firm" without a firm license from the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy (TSBPA), and any firm with an office in Texas must hold one. A majority of the firm's ownership, by financial interest and voting rights, must belong to CPAs. Non-CPA owners are allowed only under conditions the act sets, with a Texas-resident CPA responsible for the license.

The board's rules also protect you as a client. A CPA must give back the original documents you provided, such as bank statements and W-2s, promptly and within 10 business days of your request, without charge and even if you haven't paid the bill. Check any firm and the CPA in the TSBPA license lookup.

Who prepares Houston's tax returns

The IRS's August 2026 preparer listing, released under the Freedom of Information Act, has 23,053 preparers with a business address in the metro: 4,632 CPAs, 1,309 enrolled agents and 568 attorneys. Another 15,663 (68%) have no IRS credential and no Annual Filing Season Program record. Inside the city of Houston there are 13,089 preparers, 2,863 of them CPAs.

1. Ask for the credential. Only CPAs, enrolled agents and attorneys have unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS; a preparer with only a PTIN has none for returns filed after 2015.
2. Look them up. Use TSBPA for a CPA and the IRS directory of preparers with credentials for an enrolled agent or a filing season participant.
3. Avoid refund-based fees. The IRS warns against preparers who charge a percentage of your refund.
4. Never sign a blank return, and make sure the preparer signs it and enters a PTIN.

For a public company audit, only a PCAOB-registered firm will do; 194 US firms issued public company audit reports in 2025.

Working at a Houston accounting firm

Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro: 28,400 accountants and auditors at a median of $85,090, 18,570 financial managers at $166,910, 26,090 bookkeeping clerks at $49,460 and 1,280 tax preparers at $47,320.

Prospecting Houston accounting firms

Illustrative example. The company and rates are invented; the counts come from CBP.

Bayou Staffing (bayoustaffing.example) places seasonal tax staff and wants CPA firms large enough to hire a dozen temps but too small for a national contract: 10 to 49 employees. That's 166 + 80 = 246 offices of all types in the metro. It cuts to CPA firms using the TSBPA lookup and each website, about 150 at an illustrative 60%, and writes to the managing partner in early September, when firms plan for January. At an illustrative 8% reply rate, that's 12 conversations.

Subject: [Firm]'s seasonal staff for January

Hi [first name],

Firms your size in Harris County usually add [number] people for filing season, and most of them start looking in November.

We place tax preparers and reviewers who have worked a Texas season before, and we can hold them for [firm] from [date].

Would a 15-minute call next week help you plan?

[Your name]

Researching each firm's size, partners and busy months is the slow part at volume; Bebop finds the matching firms and contacts. For how firms buy and when, see the list of accounting firms; for the IRS file and CPA counts, see how many accountants there are.

Local sources

Next step: if you sell across Texas, compare with accounting firms in Dallas.