Virtual Growth Creates First Online Bill Payment Service that Automatically Integrates With Your General Ledger; The Chase Manhattan Bank will Process all Payments Made through the Virtual Accountant Service

Business Wire, March 22, 2000

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2000

Virtual Growth Creates First Online Bill Payment Service that

Automatically Integrates With Your General Ledger

The Chase Manhattan Bank will Process all Payments

Made through the Virtual Accountant Service

Virtual Growth Incorporated, a provider of comprehensive, outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services to fast-growing, small- to medium-sized businesses, today announced that The Chase Manhattan Bank, one of the nation's leading financial services institutions, will act as payments processor for VIRTUAL ACCOUNTANT(TM), the first online bill payment service that automatically integrates with your general ledger.

Chase's electronic payment and collection services will be a feature of Virtual Growth's soon-to-be-launched web-based service, VIRTUAL ACCOUNT(TM). With Virtual Accountant, all payments that clients make to vendors will be forwarded to Chase for processing. Chase will then automatically initiate a debit to the client's bank account, regardless of where the bank account is held, for deposit directly into the vendor's account. The transaction is then immediately posted to the client's general ledger; no additional steps are necessary to update financial records.

"Our goal is to turn financial data into financial intelligence," said Stephen King, founder and CEO of Virtual Growth. "Incorporating Chase's best-in-class payments and information processing services into VIRTUAL ACCOUNTANT is designed to ensure that our users have almost immediate access to their financial information. We are pleased that Chase shares our confidence and enthusiasm in this exciting new offering."

"Virtual Growth is on the leading edge of providing internet-based financial services to growing businesses," said Mary Adams, senior vice president, Chase Treasury Solutions. "As we transition to an internet economy, we are pleased to work with companies like Virtual Growth that are setting new standards in providing financial services to small-to-medium sized businesses."

How will Virtual Accountant customers benefit from integrated online bill payment?

-- Saves businesses time and money

-- All payments will be directly deposited into vendor accounts

-- Transactions are automatically posted to the client's general

ledger

-- Users no longer have to sign, photocopy and send checks

-- Up-to-date information about bill payment is available to

clients 24/7

About Virtual Growth

Founded in December 1995, Virtual Growth provides outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services to over 60 fast growing, small- to medium-sized businesses. Based in New York's Silicon Alley, Virtual Growth relieves the burden of building and maintaining an internal bookkeeping and accounting department and allows management to focus on running their businesses. Current clients include Internet, professional service, software, and media companies.

Virtual Growth's executive staff has more than 40 years of management and accounting experience with small- to medium-sized businesses, and 25-plus years of accounting system design. The senior team includes individuals with strong transaction processing and customer relationship management backgrounds who have contributed to the development of Virtual Accountant. At present the company has 90 employees and is headquartered in New York City.

For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.virtualgrowth.com.

About The Chase Manhattan Corporation

The Chase Manhattan Corporation (NYSE:CMB), with $406 billion in assets, is one of the world's premier financial service institutions, with operations in 48 countries around the globe and trusted relationships with more than 80% of BusinessWeek's Global 1000 corporations. Chase is a leading provider of financial solutions to large corporations, financial institutions, government entities, middle market firms and small businesses, and has relationships with more than 30 million consumers across the United States. Through its newly formed business unit, Chase.com, Chase is successfully creating new business models for the Internet economy. Chase can be reached on the web at www.chase.com

To schedule an interview with Stephen King, founder and CEO of Virtual Growth, or for more information on the soon-to-launch Virtual Accountant Service, please contact Stephanie Fishman at Organic Communications, 212/277-4888, sfishman@organic.com