Sam's Club to Offer Accounting Services with 1-800Accountant via Mobile Devices

Sam’s Club, the membership warehouse club owned by Wal-Mart, is teaming up with a New York City-based accounting firm known as 1-800Accountant to offer accounting and tax services that can be accessed via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The service will be available at SamsClub.com/services, starting at $29 per month.

1-800Accountant provides services such as tax preparation, tax consulting, bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, business planning and audit support. It said the services come with a dedicated accountant who can be accessed with the push of a button. The firm claims to have CPAs, Enrolled Agents and other accountants on its staff, and dates back to 1999.

Business owners who are members of Sam’s Club will be able to take a picture of a receipt with their phone and the information can be uploaded to 1-800Accountant’s Web-based bookkeeping system without traveling to their accountant’s office. Sam’s Club members will also be able to scan tax documents and other business accounting records and make them available for review and processing.

“Customer interaction with their accountant has been stuck in the past for too long,” said 1-800Accountant CEO Michael Savage in a statement. “Accountants are seen as resistant to change. We are focused on changing that by bringing people into a closer, more collaborative relationship with their accountant, a relationship that saves members time, because interactions are seamless.”

Wal-Mart has partnered with Jackson Hewitt and Liberty Tax Service in recent years, providing kiosks in hundreds of its Walmart stores during tax season. However, the partnership with 1-800Accountant for Sam’s Club members represents a new move by the retail giant to leverage mobile technology outside its stores.

“Accounting and taxes are often a time-consuming struggle for our business members,” said MiKaela Wardlaw Lemmon, vice president of member services at Sam’s Club. “In response to member feedback, we join forces with 1-800Accountant to give small business owners an easier, faster way to outsource this critical operational need. Sam’s Club members can now save money and time on accounting, bookkeeping and tax preparation so they can devote resources to more worthwhile activities, such as growing revenue, building their customer base or spending time with friends and family.”

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