Sarah Magruder: Minimize Stress, Maximize Opportunities

Research shows that women make up around 22% of the oil and gas industry workforce. Traditionally, it’s an industry known to be dominated by men for a long time, mainly at the management level. Moving on to women who understand the nuances of severance tax (levied by oil-producing states on its oil production and deducted from the monthly royalty revenue) in the oil and gas industry, the numbers run even fewer. It is imperative that these companies understand all available tax refunds and exemptions properly due to regular market fluctuations and shifts in government policies. Sarah Magruder, a seasoned Executive Tax Consultant, is helping companies, especially those in the oil and gas industry, with her specialized knowledge to navigate complex tax laws to make substantial gains.      

Experience Galore   

An experienced consulting professional, Sarah earned her bachelor's degree in Finance from LSU and MBA from the University of Houston. She has spent her career, spanning over 20 years, focused on a severance tax, working both directly in oil and gas companies and for them as a consultant. After graduating, Sarah joined a newly acquired severance tax practice and became one of the founding employees of Ryan’s Houston office. She further helped build the firm and was instrumental in transforming it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise in only three years. Sarah loved her work and had found her passion.   

Sarah then went on to work for Swift Energy Company in 2005 and Southwestern Energy in 2019 and learned the nuances of the industry besides founding the severance tax practice of KE Andrews in 2014. With a demonstrated history of working in the oil and gas accounting industry, Sarah used her expertise in Severance Tax, Analytical Skills, Account Reconciliation, and Accounting to fulfill her lifelong dream of starting her own company in 2019.   

Safire Oil and Gas Consulting   

Sarah had been thinking of taking the leap into entrepreneurship for quite some time, and she felt it was the right time to take the risk as her family life was quite settled. After kicking around a lot of ideas centering around women empowerment, Sarah zeroed in on Safire Oil and Gas Consulting (a derivation from the gemstone Sapphire that stands for prosperity and wealth) to denote “safe” and “fiery”. A woman-owned company based out of Houston, Texas, Safire specializes in Severance Tax and Federal and State royalties and works with clients to review, recover, and reset processes to help maintain compliance and maximize savings.    

The services offered are tailored to fit each client’s specific needs. Review (company’s processes, contracts, practices, and recent filings), Recover (money reimbursement as a result of the findings), and Reset (minimize payout for the future and maximize human and financial capital) module gives clients the requisite severance tax tools to lead their company towards growth and financial success. Sarah believes that “the solution does not lie in a severance tax refund, but rather in finding the reason for the refund” and centers her approaches around the same principle in order to increase the benefit of incentives and deductions on assets.   

Calculated Fix   

Sarah faced the brunt of the global COVID-19 pandemic but bounced back in 2021 like any other business. What aided her was the fact that the pandemic created a lot of stir for mergers and acquisitions, creating business opportunities for her company. Sarah suggests always hiring an expert in the severance tax field who can help catch the problem from the beginning to avoid overpaying. And that she thinks is the USP of her company, something that sets it apart. Some of the largest taxes borne by the upstream industry are severance taxes, and Sarah believes her company is a cut above the rest as it helps pave the way to give more, do more, and be more for each client.    

“The others focus on going back and recovering funds that are overpaid and feel like their job is done. My team, with an average of more than two decades of heavy technical experience in the oil and gas industry, digs into the needs of the clients first, is passionate, transparent, and tries to pass on the knowledge so that they know each and every step of what they are getting into,” said Sarah.    

Igniting the Spark   

Besides helping oil and gas companies grow their business and make profits, Sarah actively participates in the activities of the Petroleum Accounting Society, Houston, which includes chairing the golf committee and acting as an education day sponsor and presenter. She speaks at numerous meetings of COPAS (an authoritative organization for accounting professionals in the oil and gas industry who offer education, publications, and other resources) and presents at the (A merican Petroleum Institute) API severance tax forums. Alongside, Sarah is on the Board of Directors for the Houston chapter of the Women’s Energy Network and appears as a guest on podcasts related to her industry. Outside of work, Sarah serves on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Irish Draught Horse Society of North America.    

Sarah advises women not to try to do everything themselves. Inspired by the movement of women at present as they come into their own and being recognized is something that also inspires Sarah. Diversity in the workplace gives everyone a level playing field, so she feels one does not have to go out there and start one's own company to prove anything to anyone. “Whatever you are working on, figure out what you want and ask for it. As women, we are conditioned not to ask and are not as aggressive as men. Ask for that job, that promotion, if you feel you deserve it. Use your voice and do not sit back and wait for the right time,” quipped Sarah.