Cloud accounting helps power the North Dakota oil boom

FARGO — Carol Rogne’s business is based in Fargo, but its growing customer base is in North Dakota’s Oil Patch.

DFC Consultants, which Rogne founded in Dickinson 24 years ago, offers business software and other services.

Rogne, a Dickinson native, moved the main corporate office to Fargo, but in the past few years she’s watched more and more of her business shift to her home region.

New and expanding companies, particularly oilfield service companies, find that they need more sophisticated software to keep up with the accounting or to track service calls and materials, she said.

Companies also need to be able to compile that information quickly so they can provide an invoice to customers.

“Everything is just so quick-paced out there,” Rogne said.

DFC Consultants, a Microsoft partner, provides the software solutions, as well as installing it and training staff how to use it.

The company also does some accounting and payroll work, particularly for businesses that don’t have enough staff to keep up with it themselves.

“Most of them are expanding much faster than they anticipated,” Rogne said.

In some cases, DFC Consultants will provide cloud accounting so smaller oilfield offices don’t need a computer server.

Other customers are housing entities such as man camps and non-oil-related businesses that are growing as a result of the population influx.

DFC Consultants now has a salesperson dedicated to western North Dakota, and teams will often travel to the Oil Patch for programming or training.

The business has an office in Dickinson, but additional staff who have been added in recent years to keep up with the new customers have primarily been in Fargo, Rogne said.

“It’s difficult to hire people if they’re not already there (Dickinson) because of the high price of housing,” Rogne said.

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