Advanced Micro Solutions ‘ 1099-Etc

The application is shipped with
a comprehensive electronic user’s
manual in *.PDF format, which provides
screen shots of all the data-entry
screens and an explanation for each
data-entry field. While the system
appears simple and easy to use,
if you have a high volume of transactions
to process, I would recommend talking
with a current user at that level
to determine how well it supports
processing of large batches of transactions.
The company indicated that the software
is used for payrolls that range
in size from as little as five employees
to as many as 4,500 employees with
a majority having 10 to 100 employees.

When you are entering data to print
forms (such as 1099, W-2, etc.)
the input screen mirrors the actual
form, so there is no guessing as
to how the printed form will look.
You can also set up default field
entries such as Employer Tax ID
Number to minimize the data entry
on each form.

CUSTOMIZATION/ SCALABILITY/SECURITY – 3 Stars

My assessment of this system is
that it is designed to accomplish
some fundamental tasks as far as
preparing and filing payroll tax-related
documents as well as tracking payroll
earnings information. While the
case can be made that it has some
capability in each of the three
attributes in this section, I suggest
that if these features are important
because you have either some very
unique requirements or very high
volume of transactions to process,
this may not be the right solution
for your practice.

I’m giving the system a lower
rating in this category, but this
should not be interpreted as a major
weakness, rather it is an indicator
that this system is intended to
be an easy-to-use solution for some
of the ‘bread-and- butter’
tasks of payroll compliance reporting.

FLEXIBILITY – 4 Stars
Within the parameters of the basic
system design, you have a reasonable
level of flexibility. You can manage
the way the lists are displayed
on the selection screen to a limited
degree. You have considerable control
in the design and formatting of
forms. The value of this system
is not based in its flexibility;
rather, in its simplicity and ease
of use.

REPORTING & CHECK PRINTING – 5 Stars

The system provides a complete set
of reports for the ATF payroll application.
All of the reports allow you to
preview them on-screen. A dialogue
box will let you define (very specifically)
what records you want included in
the report, and the final selection
is what fields/columns you want
printed and the order in which you
want the records sorted.

In regards to printing forms, they
can all be generated on a laser
printer or on pre-printed forms.
A feature has recently been added
to print the form instructions on
the back of the form, provided you
have a laser printer that supports
duplex printing. The system also
supports e-filing of the annual
payroll tax forms.

INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT – 4 Stars
The ATF module allows you to export
the payroll records to the forms
module in order to produce W-2s
and 1099s. This is not an automatic
function, but an easy step in the
process. The system provides utility
functions to import data from QuickBooks
and Peachtree, as well as to define
an import from any delimited file.
I did not discover any direct integration
with software applications outside
of the AMS family of modules for
HR reporting and other payroll-related
applications.

SUPPORT & UPDATES – 5 Stars

The vendor provides state-specific
fileable payroll tax forms support
for all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto
Rico. The company’s web site
lists the specific forms supported
for each state. The forms software
for 2004 is already available, and,
when you produce a form for a particular
state, the system will notify you
as to whether or not that particular
form is available.

AMS offers support by phone, fax
and e-mail in- cluded in the price
of the software. As well, a FAQs
(frequently asked questions) section
on the web site helps you address
common issues. A real interesting
feature is the ability to download
the software for prior years, all
the way back to 1998.

RELATIVE VALUE – 5 Stars
The total cost is approximately
$350 for all five modules: W-2/1099
Filer, Laser Forms Generator, A-T-F
Payroll, Magnetic Media and Forms-Etc
(custom forms generator). With all
that these tools are capable of,
it is a pretty compelling value
proposition. There is no additional
cost for network support and/or
technical support. :::::

SUMMARY

The bottom line for 1099-Etc is
that if your primary need is to
generate W-2s, 1099s and payroll
tax forms, the system seems quite
complete, easy-to-use and attractively
priced. If your needs call for full
payroll processing functionality
with either unique and/or high-volume
requirements, you may find limitations
in this functionality early in your
due diligence process. Otherwise,
for the forms functionality, I would
give this product the highest rating.

2004 OVERALL RATING: 4.5 Stars

Review Attributes
This review is intended to focus
on payroll software solutions that
accommodate accounting firms that
provide client payroll services
as a ’boutique style service’
as opposed to a high-volume payroll
service bureau model (see August
2004 issue.) The attributes that
we felt were most important to address
for these boutique payroll systems
include the following six areas:
Ease of Use/Data Entry, Customization/Scalability/ Security, Flexibility, Reporting/Check Printing, Integration/Import/Export, Support/Updates
and Relative Value.

One caveat: The vendors who submitted
their solutions for review made
their own selection as to which
category to be listed under, and
the distinction between the packages
in the two separate groups can become
blurred. Therefore, be careful not
to reject solutions in one review
or the other simply on the basis
of the category they fall within.

Due to the fact that these systems
are not necessarily intended for
a high-volume, payroll production
environment, the Ease of Use/Data
Entry attribute is extremely important.
It is likely that the system will
be used by one or more staff members
who will process payroll on a relatively
infrequent basis, perhaps only a
few times a month. Therefore, the
system needs to be very intuitive
and easy to work with. What I looked
for here is how easy is it to quickly
understand the system flow, menu
design structure, data-entry screens,
etc. The easier it was for me to
understand and work through the
system, the higher the rating in
this category. If I had to constantly
refer to the help screens, user
guides or contact the vendor for
support, the rating was lower.

Even though we are making the assumption
that the packages reviewed in this
article are going to be used on
a relatively limited basis, it is
important that they have the Customization/Scalability/Security
features to support a large volume
client, provide the capability to
be adapted to a unique situation
and offer secure access to sensitive
client data. After all, the primary
reason firms support a boutique
level payroll service offering is
often driven by demands from a key
client who may have a relatively
large organization, highly specialized
needs, or a high profile in the
business community and wants to
ensure that the accountant provides
the maximum level of protection
and confidentiality of sensitive
payroll information.

The overall Flexibility of the system
is another important attribute that
was evaluated. The emphasis here
is on the software’s ability
to handle a multitude of payroll
situations, including pay date frequency,
multiple pay types and deductions,
multiple states, etc.

From the accountant’s perspective,
the software’s Reporting and
Check Printing capabilities are
perhaps the most important attributes.
After all, the accountant will be
relying heavily on the reports generated
to make sure the payroll tax compliance
requirements are met and to generate
the GL entries necessary to record
payroll. He will also use these
reports to continually monitor and
analyze the payroll information
to identify any irregularities and
unusual situations to which the
client should be alerted.

The ability to extend the payroll
system’s functionality by
importing data electronically from
time clocks, checkwriting systems
(for after-the-fact payroll processing)
and exporting information to human
resource and GL systems as well
as other software applications is
rated in the Integration/Import/Export
attribute. The higher the rating
in this category, the better able
the system will support a more complete
payroll service for your clients
as well as streamline the data-entry
process to optimize staff productivity.

The vendor’s commitment of
resources to help you utilize the
system as efficiently and effectively
as possible and to make sure you
are kept current on tax withholding
tables and other tax compliance
requirements is rated in the Support
& Updates attribute. Other than
providing some specifics of the
vendor’s policies and pricing
model for these services, the real
assessment of this attribute requires
you to perform your own due diligence
by speaking with other accountants
who are using the system in order
to assess their experience.

The Relative Value attribute focuses
on the overall economics of the
program. While a high rating here
implies a relatively lower overall
cost, I would like to caution you
that, as accountants, we tend to
focus on costs and how to minimize
them. The point to keep in mind
is that the lowest cost system is
unlikely to be the system that provides
the highest ROI (return on investment.)
If a more expensive system can reduce
total payroll processing time by
30 percent as a result of a better
design, user interface, etc., the
impact on the overall profitability
of your payroll services can be
significant.