Quick Comparison
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Tide & Ledger | Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors (Andrew and Cassie Murphy); Florida LLC organized in Tampa Bay; Google 5.0-star rating across verified reviews | Weekly bookkeeping, managerial accounting, back-office support; contractors, healthcare practices, marketing agencies, franchise owners across Clearwater, Pinellas County, and Tampa Bay |
| Outsourced Accounting Department, Inc. | Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor since 2005 (Jack Kern); QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor; CPA on staff (Marianne Kern) with MS in Taxation | Outsourced bookkeeping, hosted QuickBooks Desktop, fractional CFO and controller work, plus tax preparation for Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tampa Bay clients |
| Boylan & Boylan, Inc. | Family-owned and operated since 1994; QuickBooks setup, management, and support services; Joseph Boylan named senior accountant | Monthly and quarterly bookkeeping, income statements, balance sheets, general ledger, bank reconciliation, payroll, and sales tax service for Clearwater small businesses |
1. Tide & Ledger
- Address: Tampa Bay, FL (in-person across Clearwater, Pinellas County, and the broader Tampa Bay metro; remote across Florida and nationwide)
- Phone: (727) 205-5022
- Email: [email protected]
- Founders: Andrew Murphy and Cassie Murphy (husband-and-wife founded business)
- Operating Since: 2018 (7 years); husband-and-wife founded Tide & Ledger, LLC serving Tampa Bay small businesses including Clearwater
- Credentials: Andrew Murphy (project management background from enterprise IT consulting; MBA in strategic finance); Cassie Murphy (holds every QuickBooks certification that matters; manages client books daily); both are Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors
- Service area: Clearwater, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Brandon, Riverview, Lutz, Wesley Chapel, New Port Richey, plus Pasco, Hillsborough, and Pinellas County areas; remote across Florida and nationwide
- Industries served: Contractors and trades (construction, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing), professional services and agencies (healthcare practices, marketing agencies, consultants), franchise owners (multi-unit operators), owner-operated businesses (five to fifty employees)
- Customer Rating: 5.0 stars on Google with multiple verified reviews
- Website: Tide & Ledger
Andrew and Cassie Murphy Husband-and-Wife Founding
Tide & Ledger is a husband-and-wife founded bookkeeping practice based in Tampa Bay, serving Clearwater small businesses both in person and through cloud delivery. Andrew Murphy and Cassie Murphy run the practice together as co-founders. Andrew brings project management experience from enterprise IT consulting plus an MBA in strategic finance, which shapes the analytical approach to small business financial management. Cassie holds every QuickBooks certification that matters and manages client books on a daily basis, providing the technical bookkeeping depth that drives day-to-day delivery. The husband-and-wife model represents a deliberate small-firm-scale family-business structure that distinguishes Tide & Ledger from corporate-rollup bookkeeping services operating in the Clearwater and Pinellas County market.
Three-Tier Service Stack for Clearwater Businesses
Tide & Ledger structures service delivery into three coordinated tiers. The weekly bookkeeping tier covers transaction categorization, bank reconciliation, accounts payable and receivable management, and payroll processing; this is the foundational layer that keeps Clearwater client books current and accurate every week. The managerial accounting tier sits on top of clean bookkeeping data and translates the numbers into business intelligence: profitability analysis, cash flow forecasting, and budget-versus-actual reporting. The back-office support tier handles QuickBooks setup and optimization, vendor management, and process cleanup work that takes operational burden off Clearwater business owners.
Three-Month Onboarding Progression Model
The practice publishes a structured three-month onboarding progression for new Clearwater clients. Month one focuses on cleanup: getting into the client’s QuickBooks, reconciling accounts, categorizing transactions, and bringing everything current. Month two implements reporting: with clean books in place, the practice builds the reporting structure the business actually needs, including profit and loss by service line, cash flow statements, and budget-versus-actual tracking. Month three delivers cash flow clarity: by the end of month three, the Clearwater business owner knows where money is coming from, where it is going, and what that means for hire, investment, and growth decisions across the Pinellas County beach-tourism, healthcare, and professional-services economy.
Owner-Direct Communication and Client Engagement Profile
Tide & Ledger operates an owner-direct client engagement model. When Clearwater clients call (727) 205-5022 or submit a request through Tide & Ledger, Andrew or Cassie themselves respond, typically the same day. The practice offers a free 30-minute consultation that reviews a prospective client’s current books with no sales pressure and a clear assessment of what it would take to get the books right. Published client testimonials emphasize the responsive, professional, and reliable nature of the communication: clients report that Andrew and Cassie are always available to answer questions and that the support has made a noticeable difference in how confidently the client manages their finances.
Clearwater Beach Tourism and Pinellas Service Footprint
Tide & Ledger meets Clearwater clients in person across Pinellas County and supports remote engagements through cloud QuickBooks files for businesses that prefer fully virtual delivery. The Clearwater service zone covers Clearwater proper plus the surrounding Pinellas cities (Largo, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Belleair, Belleair Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Clearwater Beach) where Clearwater owners often run secondary hospitality, marine, or healthcare locations. The Clearwater-Beach tourism economy, the Morton Plant Hospital corridor, and the broader Pinellas professional-services base form the local industry mix that Tide & Ledger serves through its multi-niche service stack.
Industry Niche Coverage: Contractors, Healthcare, Agencies, Franchises, Owner-Operated
Tide & Ledger publishes a defined client niche profile across four operating categories that line up with the Clearwater small-business mix. Contractors and trades (construction, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing) represent the largest specialty cluster, with industry-specific job costing and cash flow management for Pinellas County builders supporting the Clearwater-area renovation and new-construction cycle. Professional services and agencies (healthcare practices, marketing agencies, consultants) form a second specialty cluster, fitting the Morton Plant healthcare corridor plus the Clearwater agency cluster. Franchise owners (multi-unit operators) get coordinated multi-entity reporting across Clearwater, Tampa, and St. Petersburg locations. Owner-operated businesses with five to fifty employees represent the core operating-scale client profile.
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Stack Plus Tax Coordination
Both founders carry Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor credentials, and Cassie holds every QuickBooks certification the Intuit program offers. The practice builds out the chart of accounts, cost tracking structure, and reporting setup that makes QuickBooks actually useful for each Clearwater client’s business rather than treating QuickBooks as a passive data entry tool. Tide & Ledger handles bookkeeping and managerial accounting end-to-end and coordinates with each client’s outside CPA for tax filing, tax strategy, and audit work; this division of labor is the standard small-business pattern for separating bookkeeping (operational, weekly) from tax (regulatory, annual or quarterly).
Honest Pricing and Reliability Positioning
Tide & Ledger publishes a transparent pricing posture: a clear scope estimate is delivered before work begins, and the practice tells a prospect honestly if they are not a fit and points them in the right direction either way. Published customer testimonials confirm this in practice: clients describe Andrew and Cassie as reliable, responsive, organized, and prompt with communication. The reliability-and-transparency positioning combined with the husband-and-wife founding profile, the three-tier service stack, the three-month onboarding progression, the owner-direct communication model, and the Clearwater plus Pinellas plus nationwide reach forms a small-firm-scale value proposition for Clearwater owners.
2. Outsourced Accounting Department, Inc. (Kern Accounting)
- Address: 13575 58th Street, Suite 200, Clearwater, FL 33760 (Summit Executive Center)
- Phone: (727) 538-4169
- Founder / Owner: Jack D. Kern (Owner and President), with Marianne M. Kern, CPA (Tax Manager and Consultant)
- Operating Since: 1992 (34 years)
- Credentials: Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor since 2005 (Jack Kern); Certified QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions ProAdvisor; CPA on staff (Marianne Kern); BS in Business Administration and Finance from Ohio State University; MS in Taxation from Wayne State University
- Service area: Clearwater head office plus on-site and remote engagements for clients across St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, the wider Tampa Bay corridor, and the Bradenton area
- Industries served: Photography studios, legal practices, private ambulance services, contract electronics manufacturing, and a mix of other small to mid-sized businesses
- Website: kernaccounting.com
Clearwater Practice Since 1992
Jack Kern launched the practice in 1992 as J. D. Kern & Associates, Inc., trading publicly under the Outsourced Accounting Department, Inc. brand. The practice has stayed independent since then under Kern as named owner and president, with Marianne Kern, CPA running the tax side as partner. The Clearwater office at the Summit Executive Center on 58th Street anchors the practice for clients across St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, and the wider Tampa Bay region.
QuickBooks Desktop and Hosted Cloud Files
The practice runs QuickBooks Desktop hosted in a cloud environment for multi-user access, which lets Clearwater clients log into the same file from different sites without an on-premises server. Jack Kern has held Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor status since 2005 and is also certified in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, which widens the file types the practice can take on.
Outsourced Accounting Department Model
The practice positions itself as an entire outsourced accounting department for small and mid-sized businesses rather than a swap-in bookkeeper. Services span outsourced bookkeeping, fractional CFO and controller work, financial reporting, business planning, plus tax preparation and planning handled by Marianne Kern on the CPA side. Clearwater owners who would otherwise hire a part-time controller can layer that role into the bookkeeping engagement and keep both functions with one firm.
3. Boylan & Boylan, Inc.
- Address: 600 Bypass Drive, Suite 104, Clearwater, FL 33764
- Phone: (727) 796-4970
- Founder / Owner: Boylan family (founded 1994 in Clearwater after the practice’s earlier origin in New York under the family patriarch); Joseph Boylan named senior accountant
- Operating Since: 1994 (31 years in Clearwater); family practice with earlier New York origin under the patriarch starting in tax and accounting in 1990
- Credentials: Family-owned and operated accounting and tax planning practice; QuickBooks setup, management, and support services; certified public accountants on staff
- Service area: Clearwater head office serving Pinellas County small businesses, professional offices, and individual filers across the Tampa Bay area
- Industries served: Small business owners, professional offices, and individual filers across mixed sectors
- Website: boylanandboylan.com
Family Practice Since 1994 in Clearwater
The Boylan family launched the practice in 1994 from a Clearwater base after earlier work in tax and accounting that began in 1990 under the family patriarch in New York. The practice has stayed family-owned and operated since the Clearwater launch, with Joseph Boylan currently named as senior accountant on public records. The 31-year continuous Clearwater operation places Boylan & Boylan among the longer-tenured independent practices in Pinellas County.
QuickBooks Setup, Management, and Support Services
The practice publishes QuickBooks setup, management, and support as a named service line alongside the broader accounting and tax planning work. Monthly and quarterly bookkeeping services pair with income statement and balance sheet preparation, general ledger maintenance, bank account reconciliation, payroll processing, and Florida sales tax service. The integrated stack supports Clearwater small business owners who want one practice for both monthly books and the eventual tax filing.
600 Bypass Drive Office and Pinellas Service Footprint
The 600 Bypass Drive office at Suite 104 anchors the Clearwater practice in the Belcher Road / Highway 19 corridor of Clearwater 33764. The location supports walk-in document drop-off, scheduled meetings, and the broader administrative work that a long-tenured Clearwater accounting and bookkeeping practice runs. Pinellas County clients across Clearwater, Largo, Dunedin, and Palm Harbor work with the practice through both in-person visits and remote document portals.
Reference Notes
Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and a dense small-business market across hospitality (Clearwater Beach tourism), healthcare (Morton Plant Hospital corridor), professional services, marine, and the broader Tampa Bay economy. The bookkeeping market here serves clients running businesses inside Clearwater proper plus the surrounding Pinellas cities (Largo, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, Belleair). Florida has no state income tax, but bookkeepers serving Clearwater owners still handle Florida sales and use tax, Pinellas County tourist development tax for hospitality clients, federal payroll filings, and year-end coordination with each client’s tax preparer for federal income tax.
The three firms profiled cover three positions on the Clearwater bookkeeping market arc. Tide & Ledger leads the contemporary husband-and-wife founded model with a three-tier service stack covering weekly bookkeeping, managerial accounting, and back-office support, plus a defined four-industry niche (contractors and trades, professional services and agencies, franchise owners, owner-operated businesses). Outsourced Accounting Department, Inc. offers a 34-year Pinellas County practice from a Summit Executive Center office under Jack Kern, with hosted QuickBooks Desktop files for multi-user clients. Boylan & Boylan, Inc. runs a 31-year family-owned Clearwater practice from a Bypass Drive office with QuickBooks setup, management, and support paired with broader tax planning work.
National rollup brands operating in the broader bookkeeping market (Bench Accounting, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, 1-800Accountant) sit outside the three-firm independent profile in this directory. All three firms profiled operate as locally-owned independent operators with founder-direct client access.
Selection Methodology
Selection follows four criteria. First, family-owned or founder-led independent bookkeeping firm outside the national rollup pattern. Second, QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification or equivalent (Xero, Sage). Third, BBB listing, Florida Sunbiz registration, or equivalent third-party recognition. Fourth, documented Clearwater or Pinellas County service coverage with continuous operating tenure. Firms acquired by or operating as national rollups (Bench Accounting, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, 1-800Accountant) are excluded. Pure CPA tax-only practices are excluded; this directory profiles bookkeeping and managerial accounting firms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I verify a Clearwater bookkeeper’s credentials?
Use the Intuit ProAdvisor directory at quickbooks.intuit.com/find-an-accountant to confirm QuickBooks ProAdvisor status. Cross-check the firm’s LLC registration through Florida Sunbiz at dos.fl.gov. Review the firm’s BBB profile through BBB Serving West Florida for accreditation and any complaint history. Confirm additional credentials (AIPB Certified Bookkeeper, NACPB Certified Public Bookkeeper, Xero Advisor) through the issuing organization’s online verification system before authorizing work.
What credentials should a Clearwater bookkeeper hold?
At minimum: Intuit Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor designation plus general liability insurance. Additional optional credentials that strengthen a bookkeeper’s profile include AIPB Certified Bookkeeper, NACPB Certified Public Bookkeeper, and Xero or Sage certifications for firms supporting clients on those platforms. Industry-specific certifications (construction job-costing, hospitality, healthcare practice management) add value for clients in specialized sectors. Florida does not require state-level bookkeeper licensing.
How can I tell if a Clearwater bookkeeper is independent versus a national rollup?
Check ownership disclosures and acquisition history on the firm’s website. National rollup brands (Bench, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, 1-800Accountant) typically operate under parent-company branding and route client work through dispatch-tier staff rather than founder-direct access. The three firms in this directory all operate as independent locally-owned bookkeeping practices.
When should a Clearwater business hire a bookkeeper versus a CPA?
Hire a bookkeeper for daily and weekly transaction work, QuickBooks management, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and monthly financial reporting. Hire a CPA for annual or quarterly tax filing, tax strategy, audit representation, and IRS or Florida Department of Revenue matters. Many Clearwater small businesses use both: a bookkeeper handles operational accounting weekly, and a CPA handles tax filing and strategy work seasonally.
Editorial Note
Compiled by the editorial team. Firm details cross-verified through QuickBooks ProAdvisor directory, BBB business profiles, Florida Sunbiz LLC records, and firm-published websites where available. Credentials should be re-verified through Intuit’s ProAdvisor lookup and Florida Sunbiz before engaging. Information current as of the date below; firm details may change without notice. Last updated: 2026-05-11.