ADP — EasyPayNet - CPA Practice Advisor

From the Sept. 2007 Review of Payroll
Systems

As a long-time direct provider of outsourced payroll services to businesses,
ADP is often considered a competitor, but the company also offers an Accounting
Partnership Program that provides various options for accounting professionals.
This includes referrals and an accountant wholesale program that lets the practice
use ADP to process client payroll and allows the firm to maintain ownership
of the client relationship.

Through EasyPayNet, an online payroll processing and management system, small
businesses or their professional public accountants manage the day-to-day payroll
data administration, including entering basic company and employee information,
setting up rates and deductions, and generating reports. Payroll runs, direct
deposits and liability payments are processed on the back end by ADP. When used
under the wholesale program, accountants can manage multiple payroll for multiple
clients and are billed directly. They can then rebill clients according to their
fee schedule. The system supports all states with unlimited employees and has
options for workers’ compensation management, direct deposit and electronic
payment of third parties.

Pricing for EasyPayNet is on a per-employer basis, on the number of employee
paychecks/deposits being processed, and on the level of outsourced features.
A wholesale, five-employee, biweekly payroll with check delivery and tax filing
included costs approximately $35 per month.

EASE-OF-USE/DATA ENTRY – 4.5 Stars
EasyPayNet opens within Internet Explorer or other browsers to a screen that
provides primary function tabs for editing company or employee information along
with payroll tasks for Scheduling, Entering and Reviewing/Submitting payroll
runs. Each of these primary tabs also has mouse-over submenus for accessing
specific tasks within that area, such as setting security features in the Edit
Company tab or jumping straight to Year-to-Date information in the Edit Employees
section. The screen also offers text-based links to additional features and
payroll tools, such as a variety of paycheck calculators that includes gross
pay, 401(k) planner, stock option estimator and W-4 assistant.

Employee and company data entry is very quick and intuitive, with manual entry
of employee information divided into three steps: General Profile, Pay Profile
and Withholdings. Selection functions for pay frequency, pay type, department
and other settings are easily accessed and easy to understand, as is the application
of standard and user-defined deductions, multiple taxing state information,
municipal taxing, unemployment and various other deductions. After an employee
is active, another tab for YTD information is also available. Data-entry screens
are simple to use and allow forward and back navigation with the browser buttons,
also offering popup calendars, selection lists and customizable fields. EasyPayNet’s
employee list is not a central feature, but rather is accessible as a scrollable
side menu on employee function screens and provides only basic sorting options.

When preparing to run a payroll, the system guides the user through the required
steps, from editing employee or customer data to entering pay data and reviewing
and submitting. EasyPayNet offers several methods of employee pay data entry,
including the ezEntry format, which provides a scrollable spreadsheet view of
all employees to be paid, with fields for entering regular time, OT, bonuses
and other data. Base data for salaried employees is automatically filled in
but editable, with time and deduction entries and edits reflected in calculations
in real-time. Employees can be sorted by name, ID, department or division. For
very simple payroll runs (all salaried employees with no edits), it is possible
to process an entire run with only five mouse clicks. Of course, things are
rarely that easy, but even when modifications need to be made, EasyPayNet is
quick and simple to use. The company also offers even further add-on outsourced
options, including totally hands-off processing through which users submit pay
data to ADP via phone, fax or electronic format and ADP does everything else,
including sending printed reports.

FEATURES – 4 Stars
EasyPayNet offers the convenience of an online application, allowing users to
access pay entry, management and reporting functions from virtually any location.
And with most of the processing and printing functions outsourced, it allows
accountants to minimize administrative efforts involved in providing client
payroll services. The program can be used to manage and process payroll in all
states for any number of clients, departments and employees, with up to 14 standard
and user-defined deductions, including child support, union dues, deferred savings,
loans and cafeteria plans. The program can also manage tipped, commissioned
and piece-work employees, contractors and other vendors. Options are also available
for automated workers’ compensation management, 401(k)s, SIMPLE IRAs and
pre-employment verification. The ADP system also offers direct deposit as an
add-on feature, with up to three deposit accounts per employee. Optional electronic
payment and filing of tax liabilities and third parties is available.

EasyPayNet only maintains payroll histories for 13 months, and no employee
self-service option is available through this small business version. Password-based
security is included and required for logging into the system, which also includes
an audit feature. On a side note, for some reason, the system logs the user
out immediately after processing a payroll. The online Client Support center
offers excellent resources that include payroll calendars, forms downloads,
payroll and tax law news, calculations, state reporting requirements, garnishment
reference cards, calculators and lots of other great resources.

REPORTING CAPABILITIES – 4 Stars
On the final step of the payroll processing workflow, EasyPayNet offers payroll
summary reports that can be previewed on-screen prior to processing. These include
earnings totals, employee earnings, adjustment checks, scheduled deductions,
employee profile changes and client changes. After processing (and logging back
into the system after it closes out), post-processing reports are not accessible
for up to an hour while ADP processes the payroll run, although basic personnel
and company data reports are available. Reports from previous payroll runs and
quarterly/annual reports can be viewed and saved in PDF format, but historical
reports are only stored for 13 months. Depending upon the level of outsourcing
being used, paychecks can be printed in-house with MICR capabilities or completely
processed by ADP and delivered via next day mail. Even under the wholesale program,
however, the ADP brand stays on all documents, reports and the online user interface.

INTEGRATION/IMPORT & EXPORT – 4 Stars
EasyPayNet offers time import functions from its employee time tracking system,
as well as a GL interface for posting to QuickBooks. Raw data can be exported
into Excel format, while reports can be generated into PDF, Word or Excel.

RELATIVE VALUE – 4 Stars
ADP’s EasyPayNet offers varying levels of outsource options, allowing
businesses or accountants to manage as little or as much of the printing and
payment functions as they wish to. The system is not rebrandable, so ADP’s
name is obvious to clients, making the system best suited to firms looking to
minimize their client payroll services through outsourcing most or all of the
process. Support is included in pricing, and updates are free and automatically
performed by ADP.

2007 Overall Rating: 4 Stars