Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Barrington, IL

Paquette & Company, Ltd is a certified public accounting firm in Deer Park, Illinois, a short drive from Palatine. It works with small businesses, service-based companies, professional service providers and individuals. The firm takes on routine back-office finance work so that owners can spend their time on their businesses. For companies looking at outsourced accounts payable, the most relevant offering is its fixed-fee outsourced accounting program. Under this program, the team acts as the client's in-house accounting department.

Accounts payable and outsourced accounting

Paquette organizes its monthly outsourced accounting into tiers, and accounts payable management is included in the higher ones. The payables-focused tier combines bill handling with a full bookkeeping and tax foundation. The receivables tier adds collections work for companies that send a larger number of customer invoices each year.

For service-based businesses, the firm says it makes sure outgoing payments go out on time and helps manage cash flow. Its client portal links to BILL (formerly Bill.com) for payables, which shows that bills are approved and paid through a cloud AP platform rather than by hand. Services in the payables-oriented package include:

• Accounts payable management and bill payment
• A dedicated bookkeeper assigned to the account
• Monthly general ledger upkeep and bank reconciliations
• Class tracking across multiple segments
• Payroll management with year-end W-2 and 1099 preparation
• Sales tax filings, annual business tax returns and tax planning
• Accounts receivable management

How the firm works with clients

Paquette works with clients mostly online through a secure web platform. As a result, clients can see their financial data in real time instead of waiting for month-end reports. Services are bundled for a fixed monthly fee instead of hourly billing, which makes accounting costs easier to predict.

The firm's technology includes QuickBooks Online for bookkeeping, BILL for payables, TaxCaddy and Onvio for sharing documents, Zoom for meetings and CPACharge for paying invoices. Its website also lists Thomson Reuters, Intuit QuickBooks and BILL among the companies it works with.

Advisory and specialty work

Paquette also offers advisory work beyond day-to-day bookkeeping. For new companies, its business foundation services cover choosing a legal entity, incorporating and setting up an accounting system so that payables and other processes are organized from the start. It also reviews retirement plan options for owners and their staff.

It also offers business management services and handles trusts, estates and private foundations. One specialty is individual tax work for partners at regional, national and multinational law firms. This work covers fiscal year ends, foreign tax credits, multi-state composite filings, withholding and pass-through entity reporting.

Team and credentials

Paquette is a family-founded practice. Rodney J. Paquette, CPA, MBA, is the retired founding partner. Marc C. Paquette, a CPA with a master's degree in taxation who is also a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, is now the partner.

The staff includes a licensed CPA staff accountant, a second staff accountant certified as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a client experience manager and a customer experience specialist. The firm is affiliated with the American Institute of CPAs and the Illinois CPA Society.

Buyers who want CPA oversight of their payables, together with bookkeeping, payroll and tax work under one fixed fee, may find it worth considering.