Outsourced finance and accounting leadership for your small business

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mike Payne, and I would like to tell you more about Guide Accounting.

First, it’s important to know that Guide Accounting is about you and your business.  As our tagline says, we provide “outsourced finance and accounting leadership” to small businesses.  This means that we are not just offering services, but instead we are offering our experience and leadership.

We are here ready to work on solving your problems and ready to work on achieving your goals.  And we think our experience and leadership can be valuable in helping your business to become a success story.

But we also know that hiring an accounting company is a big deal.  You want to know something about the people that are doing this very important work for you.  You want to know if they are experienced and if they are qualified and you want to know about their reputation. 

With that in mind, here are a few things to know about us.  And the first thing you should know that “us” is actually me, Mike Payne.  I am a CPA, though the work I do through Guide is not done as a CPA and Guide is not an accounting firm.  I spent almost four years in public accounting after college and then spent another year or so recently working for one of Alabama’s top firms.  In between those times, I was the Vice President of Accounting and Administration at Brownell Travel (one of America’s oldest trave agencies), an Assistant Vice President at AmSouth Bank (now part of Regions Bank) where I worked on financial statements forecasts, and then I worked as the CFO at Red Diamond Coffee and Tea (another one of Birmingham’s oldest companies). 

In 2000, I joined a private business and served in various capacities there for over 23 years.  We operated a multi-site consumer lending operation that was heavily regulated by various laws and regulations, and we faced intense competition from players in the industry that were much bigger than us.  In my role in this business, I like to say that several days a month I served as the CEO, on most days I served as the CFO, and on a couple, I served as the janitor.  That’s a joking way of saying I got to do lots of stuff.  I was responsible for the accounting and finance function of the company and responsible for guiding us through over 20 financial statement audits that were always done promptly and that were very clean.  I was responsible for risk management and compliance and I also oversaw business development and lots of acquisition work.  I obviously did not do all of this work by myself.  We had lots of great teammates and because of their great work we were able to sell this group of companies in 2023.

Following the sale, I was at a crossroads of what to do next.

I felt too young to retire and didn’t want to sit in a cubicle all day working for a large company.  Fortunately, an opportunity came along to become an advisor to businesses and that role led to what is now Guide Accounting.

So, right now, Guide Accounting is me. 

I’m offering my years of experience and the things I’ve learned as a resource for your business.  My plan is to work with a select group of companies and to do whatever they need – within the range of my skillset – to help grow and improve these businesses.  For some companies, this might mean providing CFO or controller-type services for a monthly fee.  For others, this may mean helping to clean up a mess or solving a specific problem.  Some may need help analyzing processes or workflows and making recommendations for improvements.  Others may need help walking through a new bank loan or through the process of buying or selling a business.  Again, I can put my skills and my experience to work for you.

My plan is to fill my available time each month by serving a select group of clients.  That may mean four large clients, or it may mean 20 small ones.  If we’re a good fit – no matter the industry or location – I would love to do business with you.  If we aren’t a good fit, I will help you find a better fit.

I know firsthand that it is not easy running a small business.  A business owner is constantly facing shortages of time and money.  Because of this, it is very important to find resources that will help your business succeed.   

Let’s get started to see if Guide Accounting can be that resource.