Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Bloomington, IL

Overview

Dunbar, Breitweiser & Company, LLP is a certified public accounting practice in Bloomington, Illinois, and holds its license in that state. Its clients include company owners, corporate leaders, self-employed professionals and individual taxpayers. The firm treats accounting as the center of its work. Buyers comparing accounts payable options should see it as a local CPA office that can take on routine financial administration within a wider back-office arrangement. It is not a dedicated AP automation software vendor.

MyBackOffice: outsourced back-office support

The firm's offering most relevant to payables buyers is MyBackOffice. It is a trademarked program the partners created for entrepreneurs who want to hand off the financial chores that pull them away from running their companies. Under this model, the firm shapes its accounting and payroll assistance around each client and takes over the detailed transactional work. It also looks for ways to keep the owner's tax obligations manageable.

An engagement starts with a review of three things:

• the risks facing the business
• the strengths the owner already contributes
• the opportunities the owner could pursue with more free time

After that review, the firm designs a specific support plan. It describes the program as flexible and says it keeps building new tools and structures, with technology playing a prominent role. The website does not list individual payables tasks such as vendor invoice entry, approval routing or payment runs. Prospective clients should confirm which accounts payable functions a given engagement would cover.

Broader services

Beyond back-office support, the practice handles compliance and advisory work that often sits alongside payables management:

• Payroll processing and support
• Tax management and planning for individuals and businesses
• Audit engagements and financial reporting
• Public finance work
• Financial strategy guidance
• QuickBooks assistance for companies using that platform
• Help with IRS problems

Leadership and background

Ben E. Knapp, CPA, leads the firm as managing partner. He is an Illinois State University graduate who came to the firm in 2005, became a partner in 2016 and took on the managing partner role in August 2021. His focus areas are audit, financial reporting and tax work for owner-driven companies and the people behind them. He is also the contact for prospective clients who want a private presentation of MyBackOffice.

What sets the firm apart

The firm's main distinction for payables buyers is that one local team combines audit, tax and payroll expertise with hands-on back-office support. Bookkeeping detail, payroll and tax planning are handled together rather than split across several vendors. The firm stresses individual attention for each client and offers a free initial consultation to assess fit. Existing clients can exchange documents through a secure online portal and settle fees electronically, which suits owners who prefer to work with their accountant remotely.

Striegel Knobloch & Company, LLC is a regional CPA firm in Central Illinois. Its main office is in downtown Bloomington, and it also has offices in Pontiac and Rantoul. It works mostly with businesses and individuals in the region, but it also has clients across the United States.

Companies that want to hand off accounts payable to a local accounting firm, rather than buy a standalone software platform, can get AP help here as part of the firm's wider bookkeeping and reporting work.

Accounts Payable and Accounting Support

The firm's accounting practice covers the daily and recurring record-keeping that many smaller organizations have trouble keeping up with in-house. Accounts payable is one of the services listed on its accounting page. Clients can combine it with other back-office work so that bills, payroll and the general ledger are all handled by one team.

The firm can do the routine bookkeeping and prepare reports monthly, quarterly or once a year, so owners can spend more of their time running the business.

• Accounts payable handling
• Outsourced bookkeeping
• Payroll processing
• Monthly general ledger write-up
• Financial statement preparation
• Sales tax preparation

Since the firm offers AP as a service rather than as a software product, buyers should see it as an outsourced accounting partner. Its value comes from people who know the client's books, not from automated invoice capture. To share information, clients use an online client portal and a separate collaboration site that the firm offers.

Broader Advisory Services

Beyond bookkeeping, the firm offers tax preparation and planning, consulting on personal and business finances, and a range of audit and assurance work for different kinds of organizations. It also helps design, set up and run qualified defined contribution retirement plans, and it provides business valuations for owners who want to know what their company is worth.

For an AP buyer, this means the firm that pays the bills can also handle payroll filings, year-end statements, tax returns and audit support.

Background and Team

The Bloomington office opened in 1963. The firm has seven partners and more than forty professional and support staff. Together the partners have over two centuries of experience in audit, tax, accounting and consulting, and the firm logs more than 50,000 hours of client work each year.

The partners are Certified Public Accountants with accounting degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University, Illinois State University, the University of Illinois and Eastern Illinois University. They belong to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. Several partners have been with the firm for decades, and others came from larger regional and national accounting firms.

The firm's stated mission is personal attention and service that looks ahead to clients' future plans as well as their current needs. It puts particular weight on getting work done on time, thoroughly and accurately. Buyers in Bloomington-Normal and nearby communities who want a long-established local CPA firm to handle accounts payable alongside their other accounting, tax and assurance needs may find it a good fit.