Accounts Payable Services & AP Automation Providers in Hilton Head Island, SC

Carey & Company P.A. is a certified public accounting practice in southern Beaufort County, South Carolina. It works with business owners, executives, independent professionals and individuals. The firm has a main office on Hilton Head Island and a second location in Bluffton. It has served the Lowcountry since 1991 and is licensed in South Carolina.

Buyers looking for help with payables will find that the firm handles them as part of its general bookkeeping and accounting work. It does not sell a separate AP automation platform.

Services relevant to payables and finance operations

For accounts payable, the firm's bookkeeping service is the most relevant. Its staff can take on routine record-keeping, which keeps the books orderly and helps a business run smoothly. Clients can use this support for a short period, such as covering a staffing gap, or as an ongoing arrangement. The firm also offers these related services:

• Bookkeeping and day-to-day record maintenance
• Tax planning and tax return preparation for individuals, corporations and partnerships
• Audits performed under generally accepted auditing standards, including testing of internal controls
• Reviews, which give limited assurance, and compilations prepared mainly for internal management use
• Management advisory work to find what is holding back profitability and growth

Because the firm audits and examines internal controls, it also understands how a company's disbursement and record-keeping procedures hold up when outsiders review them.

How the firm works with clients

The practice treats each client relationship as a long-term partnership rather than a one-time job. Its stated aim is to learn a client's business well enough to improve its tax standing, capital position, entity structure, benefits and readiness for an acquisition. On the advisory side, partners act as a sounding board for management and suggest practical fixes for operational problems.

The firm says client referrals have driven much of its recent growth. It also stresses three principles: professionalism, responsiveness and quality.

Team and credentials

The firm has about fifteen staff, including CPAs, enrolled agents, staff accountants, bookkeepers and administrative personnel. Founding partner Patrick P. Carey, Jr., CPA, graduated from Notre Dame and has more than four decades of experience in tax and audit work.

He is a former board member of the state CPA society and a past president of the local Sea Island chapter. Principals Dean A. Cochenour, MBA, CPA, and John Britschge, CPA, both led CPA firms elsewhere before joining, in Ohio and in Syracuse, New York. Cochenour has served clients in manufacturing, construction, distribution, retail and professional services.

The team also includes an audit manager licensed in South Carolina and Kentucky, a senior accountant with over thirty years of public and private experience, and an enrolled agent who focuses on tax.

What sets the firm apart

Buyers comparing local providers may value a mid-sized firm where partners stay closely involved. The firm also offers audit, tax and bookkeeping under one roof and has a long history in the Hilton Head Island and Bluffton business community. Staff are active in civic groups such as Rotary, Kiwanis and the regional chamber leadership program. The firm also puts weight on ongoing professional education for its staff.

Cassidy Advisors and Accountants, LLC, known locally as Cassidy CPA, is an accounting and advisory practice working from an office on Hilton Head Island that serves the wider Bluffton area. The firm's staff of accountants and bookkeepers works with clients in the Lowcountry, elsewhere in the United States and abroad. For buyers looking at outsourced payables help, its relevant work falls under general bookkeeping and business accounting rather than a separate accounts payable department or software product.

Services relevant to finance operations

For businesses and organizations, the firm brings ongoing record-keeping together with tax work and strategic planning. It treats the books as one part of a broader plan for the owner's financial health, rather than as a standalone task. Its published business offerings include:

• Bookkeeping and general ledger support
• Payroll processing
• Preparation of financial statements
• Multi-state sales tax and income tax compliance
• Entity structuring and formation of LLCs, S-Corps, C-Corps and partnerships
• Management consulting and advisory support

The site does not describe a dedicated AP automation platform, invoice-capture tool or vendor payment product. Companies that mainly want software should keep this in mind. Those that would rather hand day-to-day accounting to a CPA-led team may find the firm a better fit.

Clients and industries

Cassidy works with domestic and foreign partnerships, corporations and LLCs, including companies owned by non-US individuals and businesses with cross-border investments. Industry pages cover hospitality, retail (both storefront and e-commerce), health care practices and clinics, and membership organizations and associations that depend on recurring dues. The firm also does bookkeeping, financial reporting and state filings for nonprofits. Separately, it advises individuals, estates and trusts on tax, retirement and asset protection.

Background and credentials

The practice is led by principal Christine E. Cassidy, who holds CPA, JD and LLM credentials. She is authorized to represent clients before the IRS and the U.S. Tax Court. Her team includes several CPAs working as tax managers and senior tax accountants, plus a group of accounting services associates, an operations staff and a billing and receivables specialist.

The firm lists memberships in the American Institute of CPAs, the South Carolina Association of CPAs, the American Bar Association and the State Bar of California. It also supports local causes such as the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry and Hospice Care of the Lowcountry.

Cassidy Advisors and Accountants is a subsidiary of Archer Lewis, LLC and operates under the Archer Lewis brand in an alternative practice structure. In that structure, the Archer Lewis entities provide bookkeeping, tax and advisory work, while an affiliated licensed CPA firm, Jarrard, Nowell & Russell, LLC, handles attest engagements.

What sets the firm apart for buyers is this mix of legal and tax training at the top with in-house bookkeeping staff. It suits owners who want their routine accounting tied directly to tax planning and entity strategy.

Operating from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, the accounting practice David E. Williams C.P.A., LLC serves private clients as well as companies. Anyone shopping for accounts payable assistance should be aware that the practice does not promote a dedicated AP outsourcing offering or any automation software. Instead, help with payables comes bundled into a broader menu of CPA-directed services covering bookkeeping, small business accounting, cash flow and QuickBooks.

Accounting for companies, including payables work

Business clients can draw on a wide assortment of services. Organizations that want up-to-date records, properly entered supplier invoices and reliable ledgers can turn to the bookkeeping and small business accounting function. Owners hoping to align when money leaves the business with when revenue arrives can take advantage of cash flow management. Other offerings the practice lists include:

• Small business accounting and bookkeeping
• Handling of payroll
• Fractional CFO assistance
• Managing cash flow and assistance securing bank loans
• Evaluation of internal controls
• Compilations, reviews and audits
• Litigation support and forensic accounting
• Launching new businesses, succession planning and business valuation

The controls evaluation has special relevance to payables. Well-defined sign-off procedures and a division of responsibilities over outgoing payments help limit mistakes and lower exposure to fraud.

Specialized QuickBooks help

A large share of companies track invoices and pay suppliers through their bookkeeping software. For those organizations, the practice provides focused QuickBooks assistance: getting the program set up, teaching employees to use it, resolving questions from users and cleaning up company files already in use. According to the practice, QuickBooks works well for smaller and medium-sized businesses.

That makes the practice a sensible fit for owners who prefer to run payables internally with expert backing rather than bring in a standalone AP automation product.

Sectors served, tax matters and personal services

Areas of industry experience the practice points to include contractors and construction firms, dentists, medical and healthcare organizations, hotels and hospitality operators, legal practices, manufacturing companies, real estate clients and nonprofits. On the tax side, it prepares returns for both people and companies and assists with planning, trust and estate matters, and the accounting of cryptocurrency.

It also advocates for taxpayers dealing with IRS examinations, levies, liens, unpaid balances, payroll tax difficulties and offers in compromise. For private clients, available services cover personal financial, estate and retirement planning, along with elder care and wealth management.

Leadership and philosophy

David E. Williams heads the practice. His credentials include an MBA plus the CPA, CMA and CGMA designations, and his career as a certified public accountant spans over 35 years.

In addition, he has held the roles of CEO, president and CFO at both privately held and publicly traded businesses ranging from early-stage ventures to mid-sized enterprises, giving him a background in shaping plans as well as executing them. Professionalism, responsiveness and quality form the three pillars the practice cites as the basis of its work.

New prospects can schedule an initial consultation at no charge. A secure portal and file-transfer system allow clients to share documents safely, and the practice's site offers a monthly newsletter, tax forms and financial calculators.

Buyers who would rather have a CPA supervising their books, payables workflows and controls, as opposed to engaging a large-scale AP outsourcing provider, may find the practice a good match.

Island Financial is a Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, practice offering bookkeeping, payroll processing and human resources support, including outsourced handling of payables and receivables for area businesses. Partners Tammy Novak and Cassie Carstens launched the company roughly a decade ago and have led it together ever since.

Their motivation came from a need they noticed locally: businesses and organizations, whether small or large, preferred a nearby, personally involved team for core finance and personnel administration rather than a remote vendor.

Companies evaluating payables providers will find that Island Financial treats AP as one component of a broader administrative offering. On the payables and receivables front, the team concentrates on logging costs correctly and generating customer bills from routine business activity, so incoming and outgoing money is tracked in one unified ledger. A number of complementary services support dependable supplier payments and account balances:

• Processing of both payables and receivables
• Matching bank records against the books to confirm deposits and withdrawals
• Oversight of the general ledger, with transactions examined and sorted into the proper categories
• Cash flow reporting that traces the sources of incoming money and the amount currently available
• Budgeting to map out expenditures and the future deployment of resources
• Preparation of financial statements detailing what a business owns, what it owes, its revenue and its expenses

In addition to bookkeeping, Island Financial manages payroll on its clients' behalf. That work covers cutting paychecks, remitting payroll taxes, submitting quarterly filings and generating W-2 forms when the year closes. The team also completes sales tax paperwork at the state, county and municipal levels.

Once the year wraps up, staff assemble each client's documentation and deliver it to the outside CPA, helping the annual tax return proceed without friction. For human resources, the firm maintains personnel records and administers benefit programs such as medical coverage and retirement plans.

According to the company, its people stay current on Affordable Care Act requirements as well as shifts in payroll taxation and labor regulations, which could suit employers looking to consolidate AP, payroll and HR under a single provider.

The practice's stated intent is to lift repetitive financial tasks from business owners completely. Novak and Carstens describe their purpose as supplying leaders with usable numbers for sound decision-making, freeing them to focus on activities that generate more revenue. Each engagement is customized, and reporting is delivered in the layout an individual company prefers.

Island Financial also notes that it configures integrated payroll software for specific clients and emphasizes that the financial options it suggests are unbiased. Payment by credit card or ACH transfer is available through the company's website.

Background and team

Co-founder Tammy Novak brings over 19 years in bookkeeping and payroll. Earlier in her career she was a staff accountant for the Virginia Department of Transportation, filled accounting positions at Sea Pines Plantation and Marriott Vacation Club, and acted as CFO for a property management firm.

Her partner, Cassie Carstens, earned her degree at Pennsylvania State University and got her professional start with an architecture and land planning firm on Hilton Head Island. She subsequently delivered in-house accounting and HR support to a local company engaged in property rentals and sales. Carstens also belongs to AIPB, a national organization serving the bookkeeping profession.

Island Financial operates from its own office on Hilton Head Island, making it a convenient option for nearby companies seeking a local AP and bookkeeping provider, particularly those in hospitality, property management and real estate, sectors in which both partners have hands-on backgrounds.

Raymond Holohan CPA is a certified public accounting practice on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, offering tax, accounting and business consulting to both private individuals and companies. For buyers looking for help with accounts payable, the firm is a general accounting provider rather than a dedicated AP automation vendor.

Its business offering centers on bookkeeping, small business accounting, payroll and QuickBooks support, and these are the areas where vendor bill handling and payables recordkeeping would normally sit. The website does not list accounts payable outsourcing or AP software as a standalone service.

Business Accounting and Payables-Related Work

The firm's business services cover routine ledger maintenance as well as higher-level financial oversight. Companies that want an outside party to keep their books, track what they owe and keep cash moving in the right direction can draw on several related offerings:

• Bookkeeping and small business accounting
• Payroll processing
• Cash flow management
• Part-time CFO services
• Internal controls reviews
• QuickBooks setup, training, troubleshooting and tune-ups
• Audits, reviews and compilations

The QuickBooks services stand out for organizations that manage vendor bills in that platform. The practice describes QuickBooks as well suited to small and mid-sized businesses, and it helps clients install the software, train staff, answer day-to-day questions and clean up existing files. Its internal controls and forensic accounting work can also help owners check that disbursement processes are sound and that payments are properly authorized.

Advisory, Tax and Specialized Services

In addition to bookkeeping, the firm provides business valuation, help obtaining bank financing, succession planning, new business formation, financial planning for businesses, litigation support and services for non-profit organizations. On the tax side it prepares individual and business returns, does tax planning and handles estate and trust work and cryptocurrency accounting.

It also offers a wide range of tax relief services, including IRS audit representation, payroll tax problems, liens, levies, wage garnishments, payment plans and offers in compromise. Individual clients can get personal financial, retirement and estate planning, elder care support and wealth management.

Industries Served

The practice says it has industry-specific experience with construction companies, dental practices, healthcare providers, hospitality businesses, law firms, manufacturers and real estate clients. Many of these sectors deal with heavy supplier and subcontractor activity, so this background may matter to buyers comparing local providers for payables-related bookkeeping.

How the Firm Works

Raymond Holohan CPA says its service rests on three principles: professionalism, responsiveness and quality. It invites prospective clients to read its values and client reviews before booking a consultation. Clients can exchange documents through a secure client portal and the SecureSend upload tool, and the firm publishes a monthly newsletter, tax calendars, financial guides and calculators.

The office is located in the Shelter Cove area of Hilton Head Island. Businesses that need full-service AP automation software may want to confirm the scope of payables support directly with the firm.