Payroll is becoming a seminal battleground in accounting software, with more than a dozen major companies offering a variety of programs. And that doesn't begin to measure new competition from banks and other financial services firms. Nor is there any consensus on the format. Established online payroll services such as CompuPay and MPay are now seeing additional competition from the likes of ADP's Run and Intuit Online Payroll. But service bureaus are likewise making a comeback as they diversify their offerings and compete more strongly on price, as the new myPay service from Thomson-Reuters is demonstrating.

For their part, accountants could not be more pleased. This increasing competition means that the market is fast, smart and competitive, with new features and interfaces debuting every month. This equates to better service, greater convenience and lower prices both for accountants and their clients.

This year's roundup includes 10 leading payroll solutions, the most we have ever covered. But all are strong competitors, and until consolidation occurs in the marketplace, all will deserve attention and consideration by accountants.

PAYCHEX ONLINE

Paychex Online is a suite of Web-based services that offers simple and secure online processing of payroll, an evolved dashboard presentation and live human support.

It features multiple rates of pay, complex deductions, integrated 401(k) benefits support and workers' compensation. It integrates well with a host of other accounting applications, including an interface to post payroll data into popular general ledger programs, including Accpac, Creative Solutions, MYOB, Peachtree and QuickBooks.

In addition to stronger layers of security, recent enhancements have focused on the Paychex Online Message Center and Dashboard. The dashboard has evolved, presenting customized content that ranges from secure access to data and forms to other information and services. Accountants will receive specialized content and links from Paychex and client-specific information on products and services via the Message Center.

Paychex has also been selected by the American Institute of CPAs Business Solutions as the preferred provider of payroll and retirement services for CPAs and their clients through 2011. Participating CPAs are offered service discounts and guarantees that they alone can pass along to their clients.

Reference material is supported in 14 practice areas, including referral sources for employee assessment, pre-employment screening, health insurance and other small-business services. And the General Ledger Reporting Service provides the option to concatenate multiple files into a single file prior to downloading the payroll data into the accounting package -- useful for accountants who have multiple clients using Paychex payroll products.

Paychex Online is a very capable and scalable package that handles federal and state forms, as well as those for 3,900 jurisdictions. Its strong support and additional content make it a strong competitor in its field.

PAYCHOICE ONLINE

PayChoice Online is the most robust of three offerings for accountants serving clients -- Payroll Street, which is a self-service product aimed at smaller businesses; Easy Street, with assisted service for growing businesses; and PayChoice Online as the full-service product. This enables accountants to gear the interface to the size and sophistication of each client, while retaining scalability features such as self-enrollment and the use of a common database to eliminate the need for data conversion or migration.

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