Payroll Companies & Payroll Services in Grand Rapids, MI

Culver CPA Group is a certified public accounting practice based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a second office in nearby Wyoming. The firm works with individuals and small businesses across West Michigan. For companies looking at payroll providers, it offers payroll handled inside a full CPA firm. The same team also covers bookkeeping, tax work and business advice, so payroll is not a stand-alone product here.

Payroll Services

The firm runs the whole payroll cycle for small employers and sets it up around each client's staff and structure. Its payroll work includes:

• Pay runs for hourly, salaried and part-time staff
• Federal, state and local tax withholding, plus the matching deposits
• Year-end W-2 and 1099 forms, prepared and filed
• Advice on whether a worker should be treated as an employee or a contractor
• Payroll and benefit calculations for employers in more than one state
• Help setting up retirement and benefit plans

Onboarding follows four steps. First, the business meets with the team to go over its workforce, pay calendar and current payroll setup. Next, it sends employee records, past payroll data and earlier filings. The firm then runs payroll on the client's schedule and handles the tax deposits. It also keeps support going all year, including year-end forms.

Each client gets a dedicated account manager, and the firm says it calls clients directly when something in a payroll looks wrong. It presents this personal approach as the main difference from national payroll companies.

Related Accounting Support

Besides payroll, Culver CPA Group offers bookkeeping, including bank reconciliations, payables and receivables, and cleanup of records before tax filing. It also handles personal and business tax preparation and planning, and represents clients in IRS audits and disputes. Other services include financial and retirement planning, wealth management, small business CFO work, financial statements and forecasting.

On the consulting side, it advises on hiring full- and part-time staff and on using independent contractors, which ties in closely with payroll. The team includes certified QuickBooks advisors who offer one-on-one training and seminars, either at the client's office or the firm's.

Industries Served

The firm lists several areas of particular experience:

• Real estate and hospitality
• Construction, skilled trades and job shops
• Service providers
• Healthcare providers

Background and Credentials

Earl Culver, CPA, opened the practice in Grand Rapids in 1977. It was later known as Culver, Wood & Culver, CPA's. In 2011 Duane Culver, CPA, MST, took over leadership and the firm became Culver CPA Group. Its staff includes several CPAs, among them a tax team manager who also holds the CCIFP designation.

There are also enrolled agents, a Certified Financial Planner, a QuickBooks ProAdvisor and dedicated bookkeepers. The firm says its team has more than 400 combined years of experience owning small businesses. It shows affiliations with the Michigan Association of CPAs and the Grand Rapids Chamber, an Elite QuickBooks tier badge, and a Ramsey Trusted endorsement.

It also says it operates on EOS. These credentials may appeal to small employers who want payroll, tax and accounting handled by one firm.

Hiestand & Company, PC is a certified public accounting firm based in Wyoming, Michigan, a city just south of Grand Rapids. Since 1969 it has served businesses and individuals in the Wyoming area and in nearby West Michigan communities. For buyers comparing payroll providers, it is a CPA practice that treats payroll as one part of a broader mix of accounting, tax and advisory work, not as a standalone processing operation.

Services

Directory listings describe a range of financial services that suits owner-managed companies. Payroll sits alongside bookkeeping and tax work, so a client can rely on a single firm for wage processing, the general ledger and the returns that draw on those records. The listed services include:

• Payroll services
• Bookkeeping and general accounting
• Tax planning, plus preparation of current and prior-year returns
• Auditing, along with help when tax authorities raise audits or disputes
• Forensic accounting and litigation support
• Business valuation and advisory work tied to mergers

How the firm works with clients

The firm says it begins by getting to know a client's operations thoroughly, then applies that understanding to find improvements. The areas it names for review are tax standing, capital, the legal structure of the business, employee benefits and preparedness for a possible acquisition. Its listings mention partnerships and corporations among the entity types it serves.

For an employer, this means payroll can be examined together with benefit costs and tax strategy instead of being treated as an isolated monthly chore.

Background and team

Hiestand & Company has operated for more than fifty years, and its staff are licensed certified public accountants. Guy L. Hiestand is listed as the owner and main contact. It is a small professional services firm with one office, located in Wyoming. Listings note that the office is open on weekdays, offers free parking in its lot and is wheelchair accessible. Clients may pay using all major credit cards.

Considerations for buyers

The firm may be a good fit for small and mid-sized employers in the Grand Rapids area that want a local CPA firm to run payroll while also handling their taxes and accounting. Its forensic, valuation and audit experience may be useful to companies whose payroll records could face outside review, and to owners preparing for a sale or restructuring.

Businesses seeking a self-service payroll software platform, or a national provider covering many states, should ask the firm directly about its processing methods and how far its payroll work extends.

Overview

Padgett Grand Rapids is an independently owned franchise office of Padgett, a national network of small business tax, accounting and advisory firms operated by SmallBizPros, Inc. The office is on the city's northwest side. It works mainly with small companies and individuals across the Grand Rapids area, and its local team can draw on resources from the wider organization.

Employers comparing payroll providers will find that the firm combines payroll with bookkeeping, tax work and consulting under one roof, rather than offering payroll as a standalone product.

Payroll services

The office handles payroll from start to finish for businesses ranging from a couple of staff members to a few hundred. Its team calculates each paycheck, applies withholdings and deductions, and makes sure wages go out on the scheduled date. Clients can pay salaried staff, hourly employees and independent contractors through the same arrangement. The firm also supports part-time workers and companies with people working in more than one state. Core payroll offerings include:

• Payroll processing covering checks and direct deposit
• Payroll tax returns at the federal, state and local levels, including year-end filings
• Preparation of W-2 and 1099 forms
• Direct deposit enrollment for staff
• Help answering employee payroll questions
• Multi-state and contractor payment support

For payroll technology, Padgett Grand Rapids works with ADP and pairs that platform with personal service from local staff. The ADP connection lets payroll data flow into other accounting tools and into the firm's own tax and bookkeeping work. It also gives clients access to additional HR services.

The office stresses keeping up with IRS requirements and filing deadlines so that employers can lower their exposure to penalties. Pricing is not published. Fees are quoted individually after a consultation that looks at company size and complexity.

Broader financial support

Payroll sits alongside several related services. The firm prepares business and individual tax returns, provides tax planning, and can represent clients before the IRS when problems arise. It also offers monthly accounting so owners have dependable financial statements, plus advisory work on cash flow, budgets and forecasts.

Because the same team handles all of these functions, payroll records can be tied directly to the books and tax filings. The firm presents this as a way to cut duplicated effort and errors.

Industries and team

The office highlights experience with construction, healthcare, retail, restaurants, real estate and professional service firms. Padgett notes particular familiarity with food service payroll issues such as tipped employees. It also cites knowledge of the labor and contract rules common in construction.

The Grand Rapids location opened in 1997 under owner Mark Davey. His background spans financial planning, accounting, payroll, business and personal tax strategy, resolving tax problems and representing clients in audits. He is joined by accountant Theresa Ladner, a Grand Rapids native who came to the firm in 2008.

She earned an accounting associate degree from Grand Rapids Community College and holds QuickBooks and TSheets certifications. Behind the local staff is Padgett's national organization, which traces its roots back more than five decades and is led by CEO Jeff Phillips and president Roger Harris.

The firm positions this mix of a small local team and a larger support network as an alternative to both big accounting firms and do-it-yourself payroll software.