Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Palatine, IL

B.T. Bryan Accounting is a small accounting and bookkeeping firm in Palatine, Illinois. It works mainly with small business owners, and it also prepares personal tax returns for individuals and families. Its home market is the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Because most of its work happens remotely in cloud software, it also takes on clients elsewhere in Illinois and in other states. Buyers comparing accounts payable providers should know that this is a general bookkeeping practice, not a dedicated AP automation vendor. Payables work is handled as one part of a wider accounting engagement.

Accounts Payable and Bookkeeping Work

The firm's accounting work includes reviewing both payables and receivables. Each period, it checks what a business owes its vendors and what customers owe the business. This review is part of a regular bookkeeping cycle, and clients can choose to have it done weekly, monthly or quarterly. Most clients don't need a full-time in-house bookkeeper, and this setup lets them pick how often their books are brought up to date.

• Accounts payable and accounts receivable review
• Matching bank, credit card and loan balances against their statements
• Recording fixed assets, depreciation and prepaid expenses
• An end-of-year check of the books for accuracy and reasonableness before business returns are filed
• Payroll and 1099 handling through outside partners, including electronic payments and compliant filings

The 1099 service matters for AP buyers because vendor payments to contractors lead directly to year-end information returns. The firm arranges this filing through partners it trusts and does not run its own payroll platform.

Software and Working Style

The firm's main tool is QuickBooks Online. In its view, a shared cloud file makes remote collaboration easier, cuts out downtime and removes the need to send company files back and forth. It also works with QuickBooks Desktop, provided the client has a current version and can set up remote access.

Businesses that keep their own books can get QuickBooks training for the owner or staff, with follow-up help after the first sessions. This can help a company that wants to handle day-to-day bill entry itself while an outside accountant reviews the results. Clients and the firm exchange documents through a secure online portal.

Tax Coordination

For business returns, the firm first reviews the year-end books. It then reconciles payroll where that applies and passes the work to a CPA partner, who prepares the corporate or partnership return. Personal tax preparation is also offered, so owners can have their business and household filings handled in the same place.

Fit for Buyers

The firm suits owner-managed small businesses that use QuickBooks and want an outside bookkeeper to review payables, reconcile accounts and get the books ready for tax season. It does not advertise its own AP automation software, invoice capture tools or bill-pay platforms. Companies that need high-volume invoice processing or a full outsourced payables department may want to compare it with specialized providers.

Customized Enterprises, LTD. is a certified public accounting firm in Palatine, Illinois, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. It works with individuals and businesses across the Chicagoland area. The firm is licensed in Illinois, may practice in other states, and also takes on audit and accounting work for clients in California.

Buyers looking for help with accounts payable will find that the firm does not sell a standalone AP automation platform. Instead, it handles payables as part of a wider outsourced bookkeeping and accounting service run by CPAs.

Accounts payable within full-charge bookkeeping

The firm's bookkeeping, or write-up, service covers the full set of books. Staff keep the general journal and subsidiary ledgers up to date, reconcile bank statements, and monitor and review both receivables and payables.

The firm says this routine work includes recording payments to vendors and logging customer invoices, so a company's records stay ready for audit and useful for decisions. For businesses that run their books in QuickBooks, the firm also offers QuickBooks services and consulting.

That makes it a reasonable option for smaller companies that want a CPA team to manage vendor-side records in the software they already use, rather than switch to a separate AP tool.

• Full-charge bookkeeping and write-up
• Payables and receivables tracking and analysis
• General journal and subsidiary ledger maintenance
• Bank statement reconciliation
• QuickBooks services and consulting
• Custom financial reporting with trend analysis
• Payroll processing, including payments to independent contractors
• Tax planning, preparation and sales tax filings
• Certified audits, forensic accounting and fraud investigations

Reporting, payroll and tax support

Besides keeping the ledgers, the firm prepares customized financial reports. These go further than a basic balance sheet and income statement by adding trend analysis and written explanations of the figures. Its payroll service calculates federal, state and local payroll taxes, and handles voluntary deductions, garnishments, leave tracking, direct deposit and payments to contractors.

The firm describes its method as automation checked by people. On the tax side, it offers planning throughout the year, prepares returns, represents clients before the IRS and state and local tax agencies, and prepares sales tax filings with audit representation.

Industries and specialties

The firm has dedicated service areas for start-up businesses, truck drivers, mortgage brokers, real estate, non-profit organizations and PCAOB-related engagements. It also lists franchise auditing. For new companies, it compares projections with the owners' tax brackets to help them choose an entity type, such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, C corporation, S corporation or LLC.

It also provides bookkeeping, payroll and reporting that can grow with the business. Its specialty work includes certified audits, litigation support, forensic accounting, and purchase and fraud investigations. These skills can matter to buyers who want an outside check on how money flows through their payables process.

Background and credentials

Allan J. Brachman founded the practice in 1976, and the firm once operated as Allan J. Brachman CPA, LTD. Brachman belongs to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. The firm says its team has more than 35 years of experience drawn from public accounting, private industry, government, the Internal Revenue Service and teaching.

It runs a single office in Palatine. The firm states that it does not consider an engagement finished until the client is satisfied, and it aims to act as a long-term business advisor rather than a transactional vendor.