Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Savannah, GA

Overview

Bookkeeping Relief, LLC is a small bookkeeping practice based in Savannah, Georgia, led by its president, Julie Maxwell. Most of its clients are owner-run companies and businesses owned by families. The firm takes over the routine financial and administrative work these companies need to keep running. For buyers comparing accounts payable providers, it is a hands-on bookkeeping service, not a software vendor. It handles payables in QuickBooks Online as part of a wider bookkeeping relationship.

Accounts payable and ongoing bookkeeping

Paying vendor bills is one of the firm's regular monthly tasks. Its other ongoing work includes customer invoicing, inventory tracking, account reconciliations, closing each period and year-end reporting. It also prepares accounts payable reports, along with receivables reports, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, management reports and job costing. A business can hand off paying its vendors and still see clearly what it owes and how that affects its overall results.

• Paying vendor bills
• Accounts payable and accounts receivable reporting
• Bank and account reconciliations
• Monthly and year-end closings
• Inventory tracking and job costing
• Customer invoicing

QuickBooks setup and payroll

Many clients start with setup work. The firm creates new QuickBooks Online files, moves companies off the desktop version and loads their customer, vendor and account lists. It also trains staff to use the software well. Clients on a monthly contract get a discount on their QuickBooks subscription.

The firm also runs payroll: setup, direct deposit, each pay run, payroll tax payments and filings, and year-end W-2 and 1099 forms. That matters for businesses that pay contractors as well as employees.

How engagements work

Engagements are built around each client rather than sold as fixed packages. A business can hire the firm for one specific job, such as cleaning up its books or catching up on overdue reconciliations. It can also sign up for monthly support or add payroll to its bookkeeping.

The firm invites potential clients to talk through custom projects and packages, and it offers a free 15-minute first consultation. It relies on standard good practice and regular review of reports to keep records in order and deadlines met. It presents itself as a long-term partner that frees owners to focus on running their businesses.

Background and credentials

Julie Maxwell has about 25 years of experience doing the books for small businesses. She is certified as a QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor at the advanced level. Client reviews on the site say she brought badly overdue reconciliations up to date, cleaned up a company's books and taught a retired accountant to find his way around QuickBooks.

Reviewers also mention that she is responsive and friendly. The firm may suit buyers who want a personal bookkeeper focused on QuickBooks to take over bill payment and payables reporting, rather than a standalone AP automation platform.

Coastal Consulting Management Group, known as CCMG, is an advisory and accounting firm with its office in downtown Savannah, Georgia. It works mainly with small and mid-sized businesses that want to hand off some or all of their finance work to an outside team. Its core services are outsourced accounting, tax compliance, business valuation, exit planning and litigation support.

Buyers comparing accounts payable providers should know that CCMG does not list a separate AP product or automation platform. Payables work would fall under its broader client accounting services practice.

Outsourced Accounting and Payables Support

Under its client accounting services (CAS) offering, CCMG can take on routine bookkeeping, run a company's whole accounting function or provide a fractional CFO. Engagements are set up as subscriptions. Each client picks a service package that suits its size and needs, and the firm adjusts the scope as the business grows.

For a company thinking about outsourcing vendor payments and other back-office tasks, this works as a full-service option rather than a standalone software tool. Staff bios mention cleaning up clients' books, teaching better accounting habits and keeping accounts in order each month.

• Bookkeeping and general accounting
• Full outsourced accounting department
• Outsourced CFO and controllership support
• Year-round tax planning and preparation
• Business valuation, litigation support and exit planning

Industries and Working Style

CCMG says it focuses on professional services, ports and logistics, construction, manufacturing, restaurants and real estate. Clients pay a monthly retainer, so they work with the firm on an ongoing basis rather than once a year. The firm says this regular contact helps it advise on growth, tax-saving ideas and different financing options. Its tax billing also runs on a subscription, giving clients access to advisors throughout the year instead of only at filing time.

Team and Credentials

The firm reports 11 team members, more than 3,500 tax returns filed and more than 450 businesses valued. Its partners are CPAs with additional titles such as CTRS, CVA and CM&AA. One partner has more than twenty years of consulting experience, including time at Fortune 500 finance and technology companies.

Another serves as contract CFO for several local businesses and family offices. A third partner directs advisory services and prepares compliance reports for bonding, insurance and lender requirements. The day-to-day client accounting staff have many years of experience in banking, bookkeeping, payroll and staff accounting. Their roles include a firm administrator and senior and staff account managers.

CCMG stands out from AP-only vendors because one team handles bookkeeping, tax, valuation and transaction advice. A related company, CCMG Capital Partners, brokers business sales and commercial real estate. The firm says it has worked on more than 300 litigation support cases involving valuation, tax, forensic accounting and lost profits. That may appeal to buyers who want payables handled within a broader outsourced finance relationship rather than through stand-alone automation software.

David R. Dingus CPA, LLC is a certified public accounting practice in downtown Savannah, Georgia. Most of its clients are small businesses and individuals. Besides Savannah, the firm works with clients in Bluffton, Hilton Head and nearby communities. Companies that want to hand off vendor bill handling will find a dedicated accounts payable and receivables offering among its business services.

The firm delivers this work together with bookkeeping, payroll and broader financial advice. It does not sell it as a separate software product.

Accounts payable within a full accounting relationship

The firm treats AP work as one part of its outsourced accounting support. Owners can hand over their entire finance function or pick only certain tasks. A business that wants help tracking and paying supplier invoices can pair that with ledger upkeep, cash flow oversight or payroll.

The staff are QuickBooks ProAdvisors who know both the Desktop and Online editions, and they have also worked with other accounting platforms. That means payables processing can usually run in the system a client already has, without a migration. Buyers who care about approval and payment safeguards may also want the firm's internal controls service.

Business services listed by the firm include:

• Accounts payable and receivables
• Accounting and bookkeeping
• Payroll and help with payroll tax problems
• Cash flow management
• Compilations
• Internal controls
• QuickBooks setup and support
• Help with bank financing, business valuation and strategic planning
• Succession planning and new business formation

Industries and specialties

The firm has industry pages for construction, hospitality, healthcare, law firms, real estate and dental offices, and it also serves non-profit organizations. Its homepage mentions work with local restaurants, tourism businesses and medical practices. On the tax side, it prepares individual and business returns and offers tax planning. It also handles tax resolution cases, including IRS audit representation, liens, levies and payment plans. Individuals can get personal financial planning and estate planning as well.

How the firm works with clients

Clients can meet the team at the West Jones Street office, at their own business, by phone or online. Documents are exchanged through a SecureSend upload page and an Onvio client portal, and clients can sign up for a monthly newsletter. The firm says it tailors its work to each client rather than using a standard package.

It puts weight on explaining accounting concepts so clients understand their own numbers. It also aims to analyze financial results and make projections from them, not just record the figures. A free first consultation is offered.

Background and team

The firm grew out of William D. Cannady, CPA, PC, which David Cannady started in May 1985 and incorporated the next year. In May 2019 he sold the practice to David "Dave" Dingus, who had worked with him for nearly 15 years. Mr. Cannady has stayed on to work with the new firm.

The team is small: two CPAs, five accounting specialists and an administrative assistant. The firm reports serving more than 2,000 businesses and individuals. For AP buyers, the main draw is payables support combined with CPA oversight, tax knowledge and personal attention from a local office.

Buyers looking for a dedicated AP automation platform should note that the firm does not offer one.

Sadowski & Company is a Georgia-licensed CPA firm based in Savannah that supports small and mid-sized companies with accounting, tax and advisory work. For buyers evaluating accounts payable help, the firm is best understood as an outsourced accounting partner rather than a dedicated AP software vendor: payables-related tasks such as tracking business spending and keeping bills from slipping through the cracks are handled within its broader small business accounting engagements.

Accounts payable and bookkeeping support

Through its small business accounting service, the firm keeps detailed records of a client's spending, income and receipts, with the stated aim of helping owners avoid late fees and penalties tied to missed or recurring bill payments.

This work is paired with bank reconciliation, ongoing account upkeep and monthly reporting reviews, and the team offers cloud-based accounting so clients can reach their financial data remotely. Companies that run their books in QuickBooks can also get setup, training, troubleshooting and file tune-ups, and the firm offers the software itself at a discount.

• Expenditure and receipt tracking with attention to bill due dates
• Bank reconciliation and account maintenance
• Monthly financial reporting reviews
• Cloud accounting access
• QuickBooks setup, training, support and resale
• Payroll and payroll tax problem resolution
• Internal controls and cash flow management
• Outsourced CFO services, audits and reviews

Advisory and tax services

Beyond day-to-day bookkeeping, Sadowski & Company provides business consulting focused on financial analysis, cash-flow projections and putting internal controls in place, which can be relevant for companies trying to tighten approval and disbursement processes. Other offerings include business and individual tax planning and preparation, business valuation, bank financing assistance, acquisition support, succession and strategic planning, new entity formation, and estate and elder care planning for individuals.

Industries and clients

The firm works across many sectors and highlights construction, healthcare and trucking in particular, with dedicated pages for contractors and dental practices. It describes tailoring its approach to each industry, for example tracking job materials for builders or guiding trucking businesses through purchases of other companies. Partner biographies also reference experience with manufacturing, retail, real estate, restaurants, law firms, nonprofits and local government.

Team and background

Managing partner C. Clinton Fonseca, Jr., CPA, who has led the firm since 2017, previously spent nine years at Price Waterhouse and six years as a chief financial officer in industry. The wider staff includes roughly ten CPAs along with accountants, client excellence coordinators and administrative personnel, and several senior members bring prior CFO, tax director or government audit backgrounds.

The firm belongs to the BDO Alliance USA network, its main office is in South Savannah, and it also lists a Bluffton, South Carolina presence. It reports serving Chatham County communities such as Garden City, Tybee Island and the Southside in addition to Savannah proper.

Buyers seeking hands-on, CPA-led handling of payables inside a full accounting relationship may find it a fit, while those wanting standalone AP automation software should note that the firm does not advertise such a platform.

Xel Advisors is a CPA and advisory firm with an office in downtown Savannah. It brings accounting, tax, wealth management and insurance together under one roof. The firm mainly works with small and mid-sized businesses and their owners. Its pitch is simple: instead of hiring a separate bookkeeper, tax preparer, financial planner and insurance broker who rarely talk to each other, a company can work with one coordinated team that sees all of its finances.

Back-office and accounting support

Companies looking at accounts payable support should know that Xel does not sell standalone AP automation software. Payables work falls under its outsourced business services, where the firm can take over a company's back office. That includes keeping the monthly books and running payroll and HR administration.

For larger finance needs, Xel offers a fractional CFO service that adds forecasting, management dashboards and financial reports prepared to the standard lenders expect. The idea is to give a growing company the output of an in-house finance department without the cost of full-time staff.

Because the same team handles both the bookkeeping and the tax returns, records stay consistent throughout the year and there is no scramble to hand over paperwork at filing time.

• Monthly accounting and bookkeeping
• Fractional CFO reporting, forecasts and dashboards
• Payroll processing and HR support
• Business entity formation, registered agent and virtual office services
• Business and individual tax returns, credits and deductions
• Quarterly tax planning
• Business valuation and financial due diligence
• Commercial and personal insurance brokerage

How the firm works with clients

Xel's approach depends on keeping its specialists in regular contact with one another. Tax planning happens on a quarterly schedule rather than only at year end, and it is coordinated with each client's investment and cash strategy. Wealth management is provided on a fiduciary basis, and the firm says it does not depend on hidden commissions.

Insurance coverage is reviewed by advisors who can see the client's full balance sheet. New clients can start with a free 30-minute consultation, and the firm offers to review up to three years of past tax returns. Clients log in to online portals to access their information.

Industries and locations

The firm serves a range of industries, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, professional services, real estate and hospitality, transportation and logistics, retail and e-commerce, construction, and non-profit and social service organizations. It says it has worked with more than 3,000 clients.

Besides Savannah, Xel has offices in Eugene and Salem, Oregon; Ontario, California; and Orlando, Florida. Each office has its own partner, and the firm also works virtually with clients in all 50 states. Xel is a good fit for Savannah-area businesses that want payables and other bookkeeping handled as part of a full outsourced accounting service, with tax, CFO-level reporting and risk management included. It is less suited to companies looking only for a dedicated AP automation platform.