Quick Comparison
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| <a href="https://www.bookkeepingservicescolumbus.com/">Columbus Bookkeeping & Accounting Services</a> | QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor; founder Linda Dodridge has 30 plus years of accounting and systems work; National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers member. | Full-charge bookkeeping, payroll, accounts payable and receivable, financial dashboards, and QuickBooks customization for restaurants, chiropractors, law firms, advertising and marketing shops, construction, and multi-state small businesses. |
| <a href="https://www.buckeyebookkeeping.com/">Buckeye Bookkeeping Services, LLC</a> | Intuit Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor; Professional Bookkeeper designation; founder Melissa Mercer holds a nonprofit niche across 60 plus active client relationships. | Monthly books, QuickBooks Online and Desktop work, payroll coordination, and reporting for retail, daycare, restaurants, professional services, legal, construction, and not-for-profit organizations. |
| <a href="https://www.ohlerbookkeeping.com/">Ohler Bookkeeping, LLC</a> | Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor; founder Jason Ohler is a Certified Public Accountant with a Bachelor's in Accounting from The Ohio State University and 14 plus years of post-audit accounting work. | Bookkeeping, QuickBooks setup, training and conversion, bank and credit card reconciliations, payroll, financial statements, and outsourced controller work for construction, manufacturing, restaurants, real estate, nonprofits, service businesses, and startups. |
1. Columbus Bookkeeping & Accounting Services
- Address: 5500 Saltzgaber Road, Groveport, OH 43125
- Phone: (614) 205-5676
- Founder / Owner: Linda Dodridge
- Operating Since: 1993 (33 years)
- Credentials: QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor; National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers member; multi-year Expertise.com Top Bookkeeping Service recipient
- Service area: Groveport office plus on-site and remote work across Columbus and surrounding Franklin County suburbs, with multi-state capability for small businesses
- Industries served: Restaurants, chiropractors, law firms and attorneys, advertising and marketing companies, construction, manufacturing, and multi-state small businesses
- Website: bookkeepingservicescolumbus.com
Three-Decade Central Ohio Lineage
Linda Dodridge began her accounting career in 1993 helping American Standard stand up a new distribution center in Columbus. From there she moved into office systems, payroll, and technical infrastructure roles, including a stint as technical systems supervisor at DSW corporate offices and a decade running accounting and technical work for a large attorney practice. Columbus Bookkeeping & Accounting Services grew out of that combined accounting and systems track and has stayed independent under Dodridge through 2026.
Multi-Industry Book of Clients
Published industry pages cover restaurants, chiropractic practices, law firms, advertising and marketing shops, construction, manufacturing, and small businesses operating across state lines. The mix is wider than the typical solo bookkeeping practice, which fits Dodridge’s longer history across distribution, retail corporate, and legal-services accounting work.
QuickBooks-Centric Workflow
The firm runs QuickBooks as its core platform and handles setup, customization, financial reporting, payroll, and accounts payable and receivable inside that environment. Financial dashboard creation is also published as a stand-alone service line, which is useful for owners who want monthly-close data summarized for decision-making rather than left in raw report form.
Recognition From Third-Party Directories
The firm has appeared on Expertise.com’s Top Bookkeeping Service list for Columbus across 2021, 2022, and 2023, which sits on top of the QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor and National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers credentials. Those outside listings give independent confirmation of the firm’s standing inside the local market rather than self-reporting alone.
2. Buckeye Bookkeeping Services, LLC
- Address: 38 1/2 E Winter St, Suite B, Delaware, OH 43015 (mailing: PO Box 1425, Delaware, OH 43015)
- Phone: (614) 568-7676
- Founder / Owner: Melissa Mercer
- Operating Since: 2006 (20 years)
- Credentials: Intuit Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor; Professional Bookkeeper designation; member of the Greater Powell Area Chamber of Commerce
- Service area: Delaware County head office plus on-site and remote work across the Columbus metro and Central Ohio, with 60 plus active client relationships
- Industries served: Retail, daycare, restaurants, professional services, legal, construction, and not-for-profit organizations (a stated niche)
- Website: buckeyebookkeeping.com
Volunteer-Treasurer Origin Story
Melissa Mercer’s path into bookkeeping started with several volunteer treasurer roles in community organizations while she was raising children. She formalized that hands-on work by earning the Professional Bookkeeper designation, then opened Buckeye Bookkeeping in 2006. The Intuit Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor credential followed shortly after the company opened, and the practice has stayed under Mercer’s name across 20 years.
Not-for-Profit Niche
While the shop works across retail, daycare, restaurants, professional services, legal, and construction, Mercer publishes a stated niche serving not-for-profit organizations. That niche covers grant-funded entities, faith-based groups, and member associations that need fund accounting and grant tracking on top of standard monthly books, which is a thinner specialty inside the wider Central Ohio bookkeeping market.
Dual-Platform QuickBooks Work
Buckeye runs both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop for client engagements, rather than steering every client onto a single product line. That dual track matters for nonprofit clients who often run legacy Desktop files alongside newer Online subscriptions, and for retail and construction clients who want job costing or inventory features that map to specific QuickBooks editions.
Sixty Plus Client Book
Public profile data points to a firm working with more than 60 small-business and not-for-profit clients across Central Ohio, with the team operating from the Delaware office on East Winter Street. That client count is past the size of a solo practitioner without crossing into rollup or franchise territory, which keeps Mercer’s name attached to engagements as the lead practitioner.
3. Ohler Bookkeeping, LLC
- Address: 5426 Delano Ct, Hilliard, OH 43026
- Phone: (614) 332-7301
- Founder / Owner: Jason Ohler, CPA
- Operating Since: 2009 (17 years)
- Credentials: Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor; Certified Public Accountant (Ohio); Bachelor of Science in Accounting, The Ohio State University; A+ Better Business Bureau rating
- Service area: Hilliard office plus remote and on-site work across Columbus, Dublin, Worthington, Westerville, New Albany, Gahanna, Upper Arlington, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Grove City, and Galloway
- Industries served: Construction, manufacturing, restaurants, real estate, nonprofits, service-based businesses, and startups
- Website: ohlerbookkeeping.com
Post-Audit Founder Path
Jason Ohler started his career as an auditor at a large CPA firm before moving into the bookkeeping lane and opening Ohler Bookkeeping in 2009. The firm has stayed under Ohler’s name across 17 years and pairs the CPA designation with active QuickBooks ProAdvisor status, which is a less common combination inside the wider Central Ohio bookkeeping market.
Suburban Columbus Coverage Map
The Hilliard office at 5426 Delano Ct sits inside the Columbus metro inner-ring and the practice publishes service pages for Dublin, Worthington, Westerville, New Albany, Gahanna, Upper Arlington, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Grove City, and Galloway. That map covers the bulk of the Franklin County suburban small-business base without taking on out-of-state work.
Outsourced Controller Lane
On top of standard monthly books, the firm publishes an outsourced controller line for owners who need more than data entry and reconciliations. Engagements cover cash-flow tracking, ad hoc financial reporting, accounts payable and receivable management, and payroll, which gives the practice a wider mid-market lane than a pure transaction-coding shop.
QuickBooks Conversion Work
Beyond monthly bookkeeping, the company offers QuickBooks setup, training, and conversion work for clients moving between Desktop and Online or coming off another accounting platform. That conversion specialty matters for owners who have inherited messy or partially built files and want a Certified ProAdvisor to rebuild the chart of accounts, opening balances, and bank feeds before steady-state work begins.
Reference Notes
- Columbus Bookkeeping & Accounting Services address (5500 Saltzgaber Road, Groveport, OH 43125), phone (614) 205-5676, and Linda Dodridge’s 1993 accounting-career start were cross-checked against the shop’s own About page on bookkeepingservicescolumbus.com, the Yelp business listing under “Columbus Bookkeeping and Accounting Services, Groveport,” and the Chamber of Commerce directory entry. QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor status and the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers membership appear on the practice’s site and the Expertise.com Top Bookkeeping Service profile.
- Buckeye Bookkeeping Services address (38 1/2 E Winter St, Suite B, Delaware, OH 43015), phone (614) 568-7676, 2006 founding date, and Melissa Mercer’s Intuit Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor status were cross-checked against the firm’s own Team and About pages on buckeyebookkeeping.com, the Greater Powell Area Chamber of Commerce member profile, and Mercer’s LinkedIn page. The 60 plus active client figure and not-for-profit niche language come from the company’s About page.
- Ohler Bookkeeping address (5426 Delano Ct, Hilliard, OH 43026), phone (614) 332-7301, and 2009 founding date were cross-checked against the shop’s own site (ohlerbookkeeping.com), the Better Business Bureau Hilliard profile, and Jason Ohler’s LinkedIn page. QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor status appears on the practice’s About page and the Intuit ProAdvisor finder; the CPA credential and Ohio State accounting degree appear on the firm’s About page and LinkedIn.
- All three firms appear as founder-led practices and not as franchised or rolled-up brands such as Bench, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, or 1-800Accountant.
Selection Methodology
This list applies four filters to the Columbus market. First, the company has to be independent, family owned, or founder led rather than part of a national rollup or franchise brand. Second, the shop must be a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor practice with that credential active and visible on its own site or on Intuit’s ProAdvisor directory. Third, the practice has to have been in business for at least five years, with priority given to firms past the ten-year mark. Fourth, the firm has to position itself as a bookkeeping practice rather than a pure CPA tax-prep shop. Public address and phone data also had to match across at least two independent sources, including the company’s own site plus a third-party directory or chamber listing. National rollup brands such as Bench, Pilot, QuickBooks Live, BELAY, Bookkeeper360, Bookminders, Supporting Strategies, Bookkeeper.com, and 1-800Accountant were excluded by design, since this directory targets locally owned shops.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do these firms work with clients outside Columbus proper?
Yes. Columbus Bookkeeping & Accounting Services is headquartered in Groveport and serves the wider Franklin County suburbs and multi-state small businesses. Buckeye Bookkeeping Services operates from Delaware (Delaware County) and supports clients across the Columbus metro and Central Ohio. Ohler Bookkeeping is based in Hilliard and publishes service pages for Dublin, Worthington, Westerville, New Albany, Gahanna, Upper Arlington, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Grove City, and Galloway in addition to Columbus itself.
Are these firms CPA practices or bookkeeping practices?
All three position themselves first as bookkeeping firms built around QuickBooks. They handle monthly books, reconciliations, payroll, and accounts payable and receivable. Jason Ohler at Ohler Bookkeeping holds the CPA designation in Ohio, but the shop operates as a bookkeeping and outsourced controller practice rather than a tax-prep shop. Owners who need annual tax-return preparation typically pair these firms with an outside CPA or tax preparer.
What does QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification actually cover?
Intuit’s ProAdvisor program certifies practitioners on current QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop releases, with annual recertification. Each of the three firms here lists active ProAdvisor status. The credential matters because QuickBooks releases change yearly, and a certified ProAdvisor is the path most independent firms use to stay current on file structure, payroll modules, and reporting features.
How long have these firms been operating?
Columbus Bookkeeping & Accounting Services traces its founder’s accounting work back to 1993 (33 years). Buckeye Bookkeeping Services opened in 2006 (20 years). Ohler Bookkeeping opened in 2009 (17 years). Each clears the five-year minimum tenure threshold this directory applies, and each has remained independent across that window.
Editorial Note
This post was prepared on 2026-05-11 using publicly available web sources, including each firm’s own website, the Ohio Secretary of State business records, Yelp and Better Business Bureau listings, LinkedIn founder profiles, the Greater Powell Area Chamber of Commerce directory, the Expertise.com Columbus bookkeeper rankings, and Intuit’s ProAdvisor finder. Address, phone, ownership, and tenure details reflect those sources at the time of writing. Readers should confirm current details directly with each firm before contracting, since office locations, phone numbers, and ownership can change after publication.