Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Minneapolis, MN

Overview

Baker Meinz and Associates, Ltd. is a Minnesota-licensed CPA practice with an office on Shelard Parkway in Minneapolis. It works with business owners, executives, independent professionals and nonprofit organizations, and it combines routine accounting work with tax and advisory support. Buyers comparing accounts payable providers should view the firm as a generalist accounting practice.

It is not a dedicated AP automation vendor. Its outsourced bookkeeping, cash planning and control reviews touch the payables side of a company's finances. Its website does not name a standalone payables product or software platform.

Accounting and bookkeeping support

Much of the firm's business work involves keeping client records current so owners can concentrate on running their companies. It offers outsourced books for small companies. It also offers a separate bookkeeping service that it describes as dependable and reasonably priced, with clients across many industries.

Companies that need more senior oversight can engage the firm as a part-time CFO, which gives them an experienced financial manager who helps steer decisions on an ongoing basis. The firm also handles payroll and helps clients meet state and federal payroll requirements as well as sales and use taxes.

Both areas often overlap with how vendor bills and outgoing payments are recorded.

Controls, cash flow and QuickBooks

Several of the firm's offerings relate to how well a business manages the money it owes:

• Internal control reviews that assess operating procedures for efficiency and effectiveness, followed by recommendations for improvement
• Cash flow projections intended to help owners see shortfalls coming before they become a crisis
• QuickBooks setup, training, troubleshooting and periodic tune-ups for existing files
• Preparation support for companies seeking bank loans, so lenders receive organized financial information

For a smaller company that tracks bills in QuickBooks, this mix can tighten the recording and approval of payables without bringing in a separate automation system.

Assurance, tax and advisory work

The firm provides three tiers of assurance: audits, reviews and compilations. Clients can match the level of scrutiny to what their stockholders, lenders or private investors require. Its tax practice prepares business and individual returns and offers tax planning and estate and trust work.

On the advisory side, it covers strategic planning, business valuation, financial planning and analysis, succession planning for family-owned companies, and guidance for people launching a new venture. Nonprofit clients receive help with the revenue and expense classifications the IRS reviews when deciding whether an organization keeps its tax-exempt status.

The firm also lists HUD compliance as one of its areas of focus.

Team and credentials

Partners Brian Baker, CPA, and Nate Meinz, CPA, lead the firm. Rich Passolt, CPA, serves as senior tax advisor. The team also includes several staff accountants and consultants, and the firm states that every CPA on staff holds a current Minnesota certificate. The practice says its work rests on professionalism, responsiveness and quality.

It promotes personal attention and affordable rates, offers a free first consultation, and provides a client portal and online invoice payment. Organizations that want a local accounting partner to oversee bookkeeping, controls and tax together may find it a practical option. Companies looking for high-volume invoice capture or dedicated AP software would need to look for that elsewhere.

OWL Bookkeeping & CFO Services is an outsourced finance firm based in downtown Minneapolis that serves small and mid-sized businesses. Its accountants handle day-to-day bookkeeping, including the vendor payment side of the ledger. The firm does not sell an accounts payable software platform. Instead, it offers a people-led service in which degreed accountants run recurring financial work for clients.

That makes it a good fit for companies that want AP managed as part of a wider bookkeeping relationship rather than buying a standalone automation tool.

Accounts Payable and Core Bookkeeping

Accounts payable is one of the main bookkeeping tasks OWL takes on, alongside payroll and the monthly close. The firm's focus is on getting these recurring jobs done correctly and by their deadlines.

Bills are recorded as part of a complete set of books, so payables flow straight into monthly financial statements and reports that owners can use to manage cash. OWL also helps clients with related compliance work, such as preparing 1099s for vendors and contractors, and it can help clients compare payroll providers.

• Accounts payable processing within ongoing bookkeeping
• Payroll support and help evaluating payroll providers
• Monthly close and regular financial statements
• 1099 preparation support
• Virtual bookkeeping and virtual accounting options
• Financial reporting to support cost control and cash flow planning

How the Firm Works With Clients

OWL presents itself as a middle path between doing the books yourself in a package like QuickBooks and hiring finance staff in-house. Clients work with a team of accountants who help choose and set up the accounting tools that suit their business. Clients can see their current financial records at any time.

Support is provided by staff who know the client's business, and clients can reach them in person, by phone or by email instead of going through a call-center queue. Clients who prefer remote service can choose virtual bookkeeping and accounting, while local businesses can meet with the team in person.

Accounting, CFO and Controller Support

Beyond transaction work, the firm aims to keep books current and ready for lenders, so owners can act quickly when opportunities or problems come up. It also aims to make year-end close and tax season less stressful. OWL offers CFO and controller help on an as-needed basis.

This is meant for occasional, high-stakes projects such as preparing for a business valuation, raising capital or restructuring, which most smaller companies do not face often enough to justify a full-time executive. The firm also has licensed notaries who can witness and verify documents.

Background and Locations

According to its About page, OWL started as a one-woman accounting practice and has grown over roughly three decades into a team-based bookkeeping and CFO firm. Its Minnesota office is on North Washington Avenue in Minneapolis, and it has a second office in Grapevine, Texas. Office hours are weekday business hours.

The firm's name comes from the owl's wide field of vision, which it uses to describe its goal of giving owners a full view of their finances. For AP buyers, the key point is that payables are handled by an accounting team inside a full bookkeeping service, with CFO-level advice available when needed.