Payroll Companies & Payroll Services in Edmond, OK

Hale & Company Inc is a certified public accounting firm based in Edmond, Oklahoma. Payroll appears on its menu of business services alongside bookkeeping, tax compliance and advisory work, so the firm is not a dedicated payroll processor. Owners who prefer a single team to oversee wages, filings and financial records may find this arrangement convenient. The client base includes business owners, executives, independent professionals, non-profit organizations and individual taxpayers.

Payroll and Related Business Services

Among the firm's business offerings, payroll sits beside small business accounting and part-time CFO support. Baylee Durrill, a CPA on staff, assists individual, business and non-profit clients with payroll, tax preparation and other accounting matters. The practice also handles payroll tax problems within its IRS representation work, which may matter to employers who have fallen behind on deposits or returns, or who are dealing with liens, levies or wage garnishments. Services a payroll client might pair with it include:

• Small business accounting and cash flow management
• Part-time CFO services and strategic business planning
• QuickBooks setup and training
• Tax preparation and tax planning for companies and owners
• Audits, reviews and compilations
• New business formation, internal controls and succession planning
• IRS audit representation, payment plans and offers in compromise

Prospective clients can request a free initial consultation. Document exchange runs through client portals provided by Thomson Reuters and TaxDome. Companies that rely on QuickBooks, or intend to adopt it, can get help with configuration and staff training, which supports consistent payroll and bookkeeping records.

Background and Credentials

Brothers Rusty and Robert Hale started the practice in 1996 under the name Hale & Company, CPA, P.C.

• Rusty Hale is a CPA, Certified Valuation Analyst and Chartered Global Management Accountant who graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma. He is a past president of both the Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Oklahoma City chapter, and fellow professionals elected him to the Oklahoma Accounting Hall of Fame.
• Robert Hale is a CPA and CGMA with a degree from East Central University. He also previously led the Oklahoma City chapter as president.

Rusty's background includes health care, personal service corporations and non-profit entities, while Robert has worked in oil and gas as well as personal service corporations and non-profits. Both have served on non-profit boards.

Other members of the team add further range:

• Keven Cole is a CPA with an Oklahoma State University accounting degree from 1984. She joined in 2021 after time at various public and private firms.
• Matt Prasuhn has an MBA in accounting and a law degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law, where he was the top student in income tax and in estate and gift tax. He concentrates on personal returns and small business support.
• Baylee Durrill earned her accounting and finance degree from Oklahoma Christian University, interned at the firm for three years, worked at Devon Energy, and joined full time in 2019.
• Jeff Hale holds degrees in accounting and international business from the University of Central Oklahoma.
• Front desk, processing and back office staff look after daily client needs.

For those comparing payroll providers, the firm's main distinction is that payroll lives within a full CPA practice. The same office also offers tax resolution, business valuation and long-standing professional leadership in Oklahoma.

Ludt Payroll is a payroll provider based in Edmond, Oklahoma, that presents itself as a team of payroll specialists serving the Oklahoma City area. The firm works mainly with small businesses across Oklahoma and treats each client as a long-term partner rather than a one-off account. Its stated mission covers two related jobs for employers: paying staff accurately and handling the people side of running a company.

Who They Serve

Its main audience is small business owners who want a payroll contact they know personally. The firm also runs a separate program for accounting professionals. It says it is happy to work alongside the accountant, bookkeeper, tax preparer, HR advisor or commercial insurance agent a client already uses, and in some cases it works for those advisors directly.

A client testimonial on its site, from the founder of Zoe Organics, says the team supported the company as its workforce grew to include people in several states. That points to experience with multistate payroll.

Payroll and HR Services

Ludt Payroll says that routine tasks that are part of regular payroll should not cost extra. Its site lists the following as part of its service:

• Payroll processing for small employers
• Direct deposit for employees
• Payroll tax deposits and tax filings
• Preparation and delivery of W-2 forms
• New hire reporting
• Help with tax agency notices about penalties or interest
• HR consulting through its WhyHR partners
• Help with orientation and new-hire forms
• Spanish-language support for employee conversations

The firm compares good payroll service to a mechanic who fixes the car instead of leaving the owner with a box of tools. The goal is to free owners from having to learn payroll themselves. Clients who get confusing letters from tax authorities are asked to forward them so the team can deal with them.

Background and Team

CEO Geoff Ludt founded the company. Before that he did consulting and contract accounting, and his first job was as an analyst at Smith Barney. He studied finance and history at Portland State University and holds bachelor's degrees in both. Rachel Ludt is chief customer officer.

She has a background in teaching and in building community music schools, and she also earned her degree at Portland State. The HR side is led by Matt Tipton, an Oklahoma native and UCO graduate who has more than fifteen years of HR experience and founded WhyHR in 2014.

Ashley Siegman holds PHR and SHRM-CP credentials and has over a decade in HR, including jobs in the energy industry and five years at a nonprofit. She advises on employee relations, compliance, performance reviews and documenting policy violations. Linda Roberts, a bilingual assistant, helps with orientations and new-hire forms and can act as a confidential Spanish translator for employee conversations.

What Sets Them Apart

For buyers comparing providers, Ludt Payroll stands out for its hands-on, relationship-based approach, for including standard payroll tasks at no extra charge, and for pairing payroll with HR expertise on the same team. The firm says clients can switch to it at any time. It is easier at the start of a quarter and easiest at the start of a calendar year, when no earlier paystubs or tax history need to be entered.