Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Valdosta, GA

Buescher and Company, LLC is a CPA practice serving the region on both sides of the Georgia-Florida line, with locations in Valdosta, Georgia, and Madison, Florida. The firm is headed by Mark Buescher, CPA, who works with a second certified public accountant, Collin Jones. Five support staff members, Muriel Corbin among them, assist the two CPAs.

Holding a Georgia license, the practice counts business owners, corporate leaders, independent professionals and individual households among its clientele. Organizations weighing whether to hand off payables and related administrative tasks will find a hometown accounting firm with a wide service menu, not a company built around accounts payable software.

Help with payables and recordkeeping

No dedicated AP product appears in the firm's lineup. Instead, payables tasks are handled as part of its bookkeeping and accounting service for smaller companies, in which the staff maintains the client's financial records and frees management to concentrate on running the business. QuickBooks sits at the center of much of this work.

Companies that already enter supplier invoices in QuickBooks can engage the firm to install it, teach staff how to use it, resolve problems and conduct regular checkups on the file. The practice is also an authorized seller of QuickBooks licenses and provides an internet-based data backup option.

On the compliance side, its payroll staff produces Forms 1099 and 1096, a useful service for any business that compensates outside contractors.

Oversight and internal safeguards

Expanding businesses that want high-level financial direction but are not ready to employ a full-time executive can retain the firm as a part-time chief financial officer, a role that extends supervision into how bills are approved and paid. Such arrangements may involve putting protections in place to discourage staff embezzlement and drafting written accounting policies tailored to the company.

They may further include coaching and overseeing internal bookkeeping personnel, managing cash, preparing budgets and serving as the company's liaison with suppliers, banks, attorneys and insurance carriers. The firm also lists internal control work and cash flow management as standalone offerings.

Offerings of interest to companies evaluating this category:

• Bookkeeping and accounting for smaller businesses
• QuickBooks installation, instruction, assistance and periodic checkups
• Preparation of Forms 1099 and 1096
• Design of internal control systems
• Managing cash flow
• Controller and part-time CFO services
• Payroll handled on a full-service basis, after the fact or online
• Compilations, reviews and audits

Wider range of services

In addition to routine accounting, the firm prepares tax returns and advises on tax strategy. It speaks for clients in dealings with the IRS involving tax liens, levies, returns that were never filed and delinquent payroll taxes. Further business offerings cover company valuations, assistance securing bank loans, strategy and succession planning, formation of new entities and engagements for nonprofit groups.

For individuals, the practice provides personal financial planning along with estate and elder care planning. Its payroll operation prints paychecks, sets up direct deposit, makes EFTPS tax payments, submits new hire reports and handles government matters including workers' compensation audits and unemployment claims.

What distinguishes the firm for payables buyers is that a single compact local staff covers recordkeeping, QuickBooks assistance, control design and executive-level financial counsel. Clients share files through a protected online portal and transfer utility, and an initial consultation is provided at no charge to define the scope of work. Businesses seeking automated invoice scanning or a purpose-built AP system should be aware that the firm's published materials make no mention of such technology.

Hughes & Associates operates as a CPA practice in Valdosta, Georgia, that serves individual clients, small businesses and larger companies in the city and throughout the surrounding South Georgia region. The firm combines general accounting, tax, retirement plan administration and business advisory work under one roof.

Buyers looking for accounts payable help should know that it does not market a standalone AP product. Its site does not name accounts payable as a separate service, so any payables support would come through its bookkeeping, data processing and small business accounting engagements.

Accounts payable and bookkeeping support

For companies that want to hand off routine transaction work, the firm provides bookkeeping and data processing on a monthly, quarterly or yearly cycle, along with what it describes as automated bookkeeping. Several related services deal with vendor and compliance obligations that sit close to the payables function:

• Recurring bookkeeping and data processing on a schedule set by the client
• Automated bookkeeping services for small businesses
• Preparation of year-end 1099 and W-2 forms
• Payroll tax filings each quarter
• Sales tax and motor fuel tax returns
• Depreciation and amortization schedules

Businesses that would rather keep their books in-house can use the firm's QuickBooks consulting. This covers configuring the software to fit the company, teaching staff to use it correctly and helping them enter and record transactions. That makes it an option for owners who want to run payables internally with a CPA available for support. Clients send documents through an online client portal on the firm's website.

Broader accounting, attestation and retirement services

In addition to bookkeeping, the practice advises small businesses on entity selection, employee benefits and the sale or exchange of business property. Its attestation work includes reviews and compilations of financial statements, personal financial statements, forecasts and projections, and audits of employee benefit plans.

A major specialty is 401(k) plan administration, which covers plan design, plan documents, employer contribution calculations, annual participant and employer reports, Form 5500 filings, and participant loans and distributions. Individual clients can get income tax planning and preparation, representation in federal and state examinations, IRA planning and returns for estate and gift taxes.

The firm says advisory and accounting work for small businesses makes up the largest share of its time, followed by retirement plan administration, income tax and bookkeeping.

Background and approach

Thad Hughes, CPA, started the firm in 2017 following a 24-year career as a licensed CPA. He leads a small team that includes an office manager and an administrative assistant. The practice holds membership in both the AICPA and Georgia's state CPA society.

It lists its guiding values as quality, efficiency, dependability, transparency and integrity, and it stresses meeting deadlines set by each client and keeping communication open.

For Valdosta businesses comparing AP providers, Hughes & Associates is best suited to owners who want a local CPA to keep their books as part of full-cycle bookkeeping, tax and retirement plan work, not those looking for a dedicated AP automation platform.

Based in Valdosta, Georgia, Stevens & Keesling, P.C. is a CPA practice holding a Georgia license and serving local companies and private clients. It describes its offering as comprehensive, spanning taxation, accounting and advice on running a business.

Smaller enterprises and family-run operations that would rather hand off their recordkeeping than hire internal finance staff are a natural match for its business work. The practice does not market software for automating vendor bills. Payables-type needs are instead addressed through its outsourced recordkeeping, help with accounting programs and advisory engagements.

Bookkeeping Support Relevant to Vendor Obligations

Through its small business accounting offering, the practice assumes responsibility for an owner's routine ledger maintenance. At smaller firms, that routine work typically covers logging and monitoring amounts due to suppliers. Because the firm's published materials do not break out accounts payable as its own line of service, prospective clients wanting focused invoice handling or bill payment oversight should confirm what an engagement would cover before signing on. Offerings for businesses include:

• Recordkeeping handled off-site on behalf of small companies
• Forecasts of incoming and outgoing cash, aimed at preventing gaps in available funds
• Evaluation of a company's internal safeguards, along with suggestions for streamlining how it operates
• Payroll processing options
• Installation of QuickBooks and instruction on using it
• Compilations, reviews and audits, providing three tiers of assurance for banks, investors and shareholders
• Guidance on launching a new entity and on transition planning for family-held businesses
• Bookkeeping for nonprofits, with attention to how income and spending are categorized in ways that bear on exemption from tax

Businesses seeking firmer oversight of money going out the door may find the forecasting and internal safeguard work most useful. Knowing future cash requirements allows an owner to schedule supplier payments sensibly, while an evaluation of safeguards can expose gaps in the way costs are authorized and booked.

Technology Know-How and Client Resources

Much of the practice's work revolves around QuickBooks, and staff assist clients with getting the program running and becoming comfortable with it. Ginger Keesling, a CPA at the firm, is familiar with a range of accounting programs.

Her background includes consulting on accounting software and troubleshooting technical problems for clients, and her areas of focus extend to building and maintaining accounting systems. The firm gives clients a login-restricted online area where they can keep financial files and download them later. Those who lack login credentials can still send documents via a SecureSend upload page.

Leadership, History and Areas of Focus

Ownership rests with CPA shareholders. Ginger Keesling completed her accounting degree at Valdosta State University in 1997, having already started at the firm in 1996, and she was made a shareholder in 2005. She formerly led the GSCPA's local chapter in Valdosta and holds membership in the AICPA, the national professional body for the CPA field. Her listed specialties also cover bookkeeping for construction businesses and structuring retirement plans. Kristian Keesling, CPA, likewise holds an ownership stake.

According to the firm, three values shape its approach: professionalism, responsiveness and quality, and it places weight on continuing education for its staff. Beyond its business accounting work, it prepares returns, advises on tax strategy and acts for clients before the IRS on matters including examinations, liens, levies, installment arrangements and payroll tax disputes. That capability may prove valuable to companies whose difficulties with paying bills are tangled up with tax obligations.

Stout, Sheffield & Associates, PC is an accounting firm based in Valdosta, Georgia. It does tax, payroll, bookkeeping and advisory work for individuals, entrepreneurs and companies. Buyers looking for outsourced accounts payable support should know that the firm is a full-service local CPA practice. It handles AP as part of its bookkeeping service and does not offer a separate software platform.

Accounts payable and bookkeeping

Through its bookkeeping service, the firm handles clients' day-to-day payables. It records vendor bills as they come in, sets up and sends payments, and keeps organized records of what has been paid. The same team also does related work, so clients have fewer handoffs between outside providers. Related bookkeeping services include:

• Receivables support, including invoicing, customer statements, deposits and collecting payments
• Reconciling bank, loan and brokerage accounts
• Managing inventory and tracking sales of products and services
• Preparing vendor 1099 forms
• Preparing and paying sales tax

Clients who already keep their own books can hire the firm to clean up old records or improve their current accounting procedures. New businesses and startups can have procedures set up from the start. This cleanup and setup work is handled together with the firm's consulting service, which fits its advice to each client's situation and keeps client information confidential.

Payroll and tax

Payroll is a large part of the practice. The firm serves employers with anywhere from one worker to about a hundred. The team runs weekly, biweekly, monthly and quarterly pay cycles and pays staff by direct deposit or paper check. It also handles onboarding, including E-Verify and the new-hire reports the state requires.

It files year-end W-2, W-3, 1099 and 1096 forms and offers after-the-fact payroll processing for tax payments. It also tracks sick, vacation and personal days and handles child support deductions, wage garnishments and unemployment claims.

Because the office is local, clients can reach staff quickly for changes needed the same day, and payroll can be delivered locally if the client prefers.

On the tax side, the firm prepares returns for individuals, estates and trusts. It also prepares returns for corporations, partnerships, nonprofits and farmers. Other tax services include tax planning, sales tax filings, help with business licenses, and representation for clients who get IRS notices or are audited, with the firm dealing with the agency for the client.

Background

The firm says its staff have more than fifty years of tax experience combined and that it has changed along with the accounting profession to keep meeting client needs. It stresses integrity, accuracy and good client service, and it shapes each engagement around the client's goals. Clients can use an online portal, and the website has a tax resource center.

The office is open Monday through Thursday, with shorter hours on Friday mornings. The firm suits Valdosta-area organizations that want a local accountant to enter bills and make payments as well as handle payroll, reconciliations and tax compliance. It is an all-in-one alternative to companies that only sell AP automation software.

Tillman & Tillman, LLP is a certified public accounting and consulting practice based in Valdosta, Georgia, with a history going back to 1954. The firm works with individuals as well as businesses, but for companies looking for outside help with accounts payable, its business bookkeeping practice is the most relevant part. That practice handles payables as one piece of a broader outsourced accounting relationship.

Accounts Payable and Bookkeeping Support

Accounts payable work sits inside the firm's bookkeeping offering. Its staff can enter vendor bills and pay them for the client, and they connect that work to the rest of the books. Owners who hand over payables can also outsource related tasks, including:

• Accounts payable entry and bill payment
• Accounts receivable, including invoicing, deposits and collections
• Bank reconciliations and general ledger maintenance
• Inventory management
• Year-end 1099 and 1096 vendor reporting
• Payroll processing
• Cleanup of disorganized or neglected books

Because vendor payments, 1099 preparation and reconciliations are all done by the same team, clients have one point of contact for their payment records and the tax filings that come out of them. For new businesses, the firm sets up recordkeeping and reporting systems early on. For established companies with messy books, it can tighten up existing processes and put internal checks and balances in place.

Who They Serve

The firm mainly works with small and mid-sized businesses. Its clients range from self-employed people running a business from home to companies with payroll staff. It also lists services for governmental entities and non-profit organizations. It does not advertise a proprietary AP automation platform.

Instead, it works heavily with QuickBooks, offering setup, training and ongoing tips, which suits businesses that want to manage payables in QuickBooks with accountant oversight. Clients can upload and retrieve documents through a secure, password-protected portal and a SecureSend tool.

Broader Capabilities

Beyond bookkeeping, the firm offers small business accounting, cash flow management, reviews and compilations, help with bank financing, business valuation, forensic accounting, litigation support, succession planning, retirement plan administration and new business formation. On the tax side, it prepares business and individual returns, does tax planning and handles tax relief matters such as payroll tax problems and IRS audit representation. This lets clients who start with payables support expand into planning or advisory work later without switching firms.

Team and Credentials

Tillman & Tillman is a family-led partnership with four CPA partners: Joseph H. Tillman, H. Harrison Tillman, Pamela K. Tillman and Eric M. Tillman. Eric Tillman also holds the Accredited in Business Valuation designation. The staff of six includes an additional CPA. The firm is licensed in Georgia, and its CPAs hold Georgia certificates.

It is affiliated with the Georgia Society of CPAs, the AICPA and the AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services section. The firm describes itself as combining the personal attention of a small practice with the range of a larger one. For Valdosta-area buyers, that means hands-on, CPA-supervised payables processing rather than a self-service software product.