406 Consulting Group
Free · Oilfield Service Companies

The Oilfield Operator's Toolkit

In the oilfield, the busy companies are the ones that go under — cash goes out now, the operator pays in 90 days. These free tools show you the crunch before it hits, which jobs actually pay, and whether you're lender-ready. No email required — get your answer right now.

See the tools

Free tools — no wall, no catch

Built by a team that's actually run oilfield operations. Use any of them right now; results are yours, email optional.

Cash-Flow Runway

How many weeks of cash you actually have before it gets tight.

Break-Even Calculator

The revenue you need to cover fixed costs through the cycle.

Cost Per Mile

Your true cost per mile — the number hauling & hotshot margins live or die on.

Job Costing

Whether a job actually made money after mobilization, standby, rentals & fuel.

Job-Costing Health Check

How reliable your job numbers really are — in about two minutes.

Overhead Rate

The real hourly cost of running your crews and your iron.

Loan / DSCR Check

Whether your numbers are lender- and bonding-ready before you apply.

Profit Leak Finder

Where margin is quietly draining out of the business.

Why oilfield finance breaks normal accounting

In the oilfield, cash decides who survives — not profit. Costs hit now (fuel, crews, rentals, mobilization) while the operator pays in 60–90 days. Growth widens the gap, which is why the busy companies are the ones that go under in a boom. These tools are built around the three things that actually keep a service company alive:

Cash, not profit

A company can be profitable on paper and still miss payroll when receivables stretch past 90 days. Watch the timing of cash, not just the bottom line.

Cost per job, not per month

Mobilization, standby, rentals, and fuel decide whether a job made money. A monthly P&L blends them together and hides the jobs that are bleeding.

Lender-ready, early

Working-capital lines and equipment loans get approved on clean books and a real DSCR — set up before the crunch, not during it.

The next level

A live 13-week cash forecast — wired to your books

The tools above give you the answer today. Our software and our team give you a living 13-week forecastconnected to your real numbers and updated as the work comes in — so you see every tight week a full quarter out. That's not a spreadsheet you'll never open again. That's running cash on purpose. We don't just hand it over — we set it up with you.

Talk to a Founder

Who You’re Actually Working With

Two founders who’ve sat on both sides of your financials

We've worked oil & gas operations — and sat on the lender's side of the desk. We build your numbers the way an operator and a banker both read them. You aren’t handed off to a junior bookkeeper. You work directly with the people whose names are on the door — and their backgrounds are exactly the ones a growing business needs in its corner.

Carrie Anderson, Co-Founder of 406 Consulting Group

Carrie Anderson

Co-Founder · The Lender’s Eye

A former corporate controller and the contracted commercial loan analysta Montana community bank relies on — she has spread, packaged, and recommended 300+ commercial loans. She knows exactly how a bank reads your financials to decide what you can borrow — because she’s the one doing that analysis. That’s why our clients’ books come out lender-ready, not just tax-ready.

Jason Anderson, Co-Founder of 406 Consulting Group

Jason Anderson

Co-Founder · The Operator’s Eye

A degreed accountant with 10+ years in tax and a decade of enterprise operations and accounting at BP, with a lifelong discipline for process, efficiency, and Six Sigma— made practical, not academic. He builds the job costing, tax strategy, and systems that let a company actually see where its money goes and scale without the wheels coming off.

Both spent years in the oil & gas industry, and both design financial systems from a whole-company view— not just an accounting lens. You get a firm that reads your numbers like a lender and builds systems like an operator.

Meet the team

Go deeper on oilfield finance

From the Permian and the DJ Basin to the Williston and the Powder River — the same cash-and-costing playbook that keeps service companies alive through the cycle.

Our services

Oilfield Services Accounting

Bookkeeping, controller, and CFO support built for oilfield service companies — by a team that's run operations and read the loan from the bank's side.

Field guide

Why Service Companies Go Broke in a Boom

Growth eats cash — job costing, 1099 crews, equipment, and lender-ready books.

Field guide

Managing Cash Flow Through the Cycle

The four moves: a 13-week forecast, working capital set up early, fast billing, real job costing.

Oilfield finance questions, answered

Why do profitable oilfield service companies run out of cash?▾
Because in the oilfield, cost and payment are out of sync. You pay for fuel, crews, rentals, and mobilization now, but the operator often pays your invoice 60–90 days later. The faster you grow, the wider that gap gets — so a company can be profitable on every job and still miss payroll. Managing the timing of cash, not just the profit on the P&L, is what keeps service companies alive through the cycle.
How much working capital does an oilfield service company need?▾
Enough to cover the gap between when you spend and when you get paid — usually 60–90 days of operating costs for a growing crew-and-equipment operation. The exact number depends on your payment terms, how fast you bill, and how much equipment you run. A 13-week cash forecast is the cleanest way to size it; the Cash-Flow Runway tool above gives you a fast first read.
What is a 13-week cash flow forecast, and why does it matter in the oilfield?▾
It's a rolling, week-by-week projection of cash in and cash out for the next quarter. In the oilfield it matters more than almost anywhere else, because a single slow-paying operator or a stacked rig can swing your cash position hard. A living 13-week forecast shows every tight week far enough ahead that you can act — draw on a line, delay a purchase, or push collections — instead of finding out on payday.
How do I know if an oilfield job actually made money?▾
By costing it at the job level, not the month. A job's real margin depends on mobilization, standby and wait time, rentals, fuel, and crew hours — costs a monthly P&L blends together and hides. Proper job costing tells you which jobs, operators, and basins actually pay, so you bid and chase the right work. The Job Costing and Job-Costing Health Check tools above show you where you stand.
What DSCR do lenders want for oilfield equipment and working-capital loans?▾
Most banks look for a Debt Service Coverage Ratio of at least 1.25x — meaning your cash flow is 25% more than the loan payment. Some SBA and community-bank deals go as low as 1.15x with strong collateral. Oilfield borrowers often get extra scrutiny because revenue is cyclical, so clean, lender-ready books and a documented forecast matter even more. The Loan / DSCR Check tool gives you your number before you apply.
Do you work with oilfield service companies outside Montana?▾
Yes. We work with oilfield service companies across the energy basins — the Permian, the DJ and Powder River, the Bakken/Williston, and the Mid-Continent — remotely, the same way we work with clients down the road. A strong remote finance team that actually understands oilfield operations beats an okay local bookkeeper who's never seen a field ticket. We've operated in the field and sat on the lender's side of the desk.

Build for the next boom.

Run the tools, see where you really stand, then talk to a team that's operated in the field and read the loan from the lender's side.

Start with your cash runway Talk to a Founder

General financial education, not advice for your specific situation.