Intacct Provides Accountants and Enterprises an Integrated Suite of Human Resource Services

Business Wire, Dec 20, 2000

Business Editors

LOS GATOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2000

Leading Provider of Web-Based Accounting Service Integrates

Comprehensive Online Human Resource Services,

Including Payroll, Compliance Guidance and 401(k)

Intacct Corporation, the leading provider of professional-strength, web-based accounting and related online business services, today offered CPAs and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a comprehensive suite of human resource services. Integrated into Intacct's core accounting service, the human resource tools are intended to help streamline such business processes as employee payroll, establishing compliance guidelines, and managing 401(k) programs.

Provided through partnerships with CBS Payroll, HRPath and Decimal, Inc., Intacct merges these companies' offerings into one seamless human resource service. Customers who want to use this service can easily access it from within the Intacct system. Behind the scenes, information is shared between Intacct and its partners through the Extensible Markup Language (XML), the standard for web-based sharing of business data.

"Intacct customers can benefit from integrated human resource services that are not available in off-the-shelf software packages," said David Thomas, CEO of Intacct. "Intacct's human resource service provides customers with the best functionality -- quickly and inexpensively."

New Services Speed Business Processes, Establish Policies

Intacct's new payroll, compliance and 401(k) services allow CPAs and SMEs to save client and company funds by streamlining basic operations, establishing employee and office procedures, and lowering management costs, respectively.

Integrated Payroll Ends Manual Data Entry

Intacct's new payroll service, available through a partnership with CBS Payroll, is the first to integrate online payroll and general ledger. Adjusting the books against payroll expenses is one of the biggest challenges accountants regularly face. Until now, only companies using proprietary systems were able to integrate these functions. Without integration, businesses must rely on the time-consuming and error-prone task of manually entering summary payroll information into their systems.

The seamless integration of payroll into Intacct's accounting service allows all appropriate general ledger transactions to be performed automatically.

Compliance Guidance Sets Policies

Intacct's partnership with HRPath, Inc. offers customers online access to a complete employee compliance guidance system. Customers who need to produce employee handbooks will be able to save thousands of dollars by using the service to create a customized company handbook, instead of hiring outside consultants. The compliance service addresses issues ranging from recruitment, interviewing, and hiring to performance evaluations and separations. Businesses will be able to access compliance-related information that was once available only to large corporations that maintained fully staffed and costly human resource departments. Intacct's compliance service also benefits CPAs, who can use it to offer their clients new services, such as monitoring company policies to ensure adherence to compliance guidelines.

Web-Based 401(k) Simplifies Management of Retirement Plans

Intacct's partnership with Decimal, Inc., and the use of their solution, The Online 401(k), provides its users with an online 401(k) solution that simplifies the management of retirement plans and lowers fees. This service features complete online 401(k) plan administration and testing, daily valuation record keeping, fund selection assistance through Certified Financial Planners, online plan design, and 24/7 access to plan status along with a dedicated customer relationship manager. Companies using the Intacct offering can set-up 401(k) plans using an online interface, and grant access to plan participants so they can manage their individual accounts entirely over the Web.

Intacct's Alliance Strategy

The partnerships with CBS Payroll, HRPath, and Decimal are the latest of several strategic alliances that integrate key services into Intacct's core accounting offering. The alliances will enable Intacct subscribers to take advantage of the Web for such tasks as online auditing; professional billing and expense reporting; online bill payment; payroll; and human resource services.

Because Intacct is entirely web-based, integration with other web-based services is facilitated through XML. Deeper levels of integration are possible through co-development ventures, such as Intacct's agreement with Deloitte & Touche to offer the industry's first web-based auditing tool. (See separate release, "Intacct Taps Deloitte & Touche in Offering CPAs The First Web-Based Auditing Tool," December 19, 2000.)

About CBS Payroll (www.cbspayroll.com)

As the provider of payroll processing and employer services for more than 12,000 companies nationwide, Texas-based CBS Payroll has been serving businesses for more than 34 years. From its inception as a single-state bookkeeping firm in 1966 to its current standing as a national employer services corporation, CBS Payroll blends the best people and the latest technologies to create innovative solutions to meet employers' constantly changing needs.