AccuPay Payroll expands in a down economy

Address: 584 N. Emerson Ave., Greenwood

Phone: 885-7600

E-mail: information@accupay.com

Web site: www.accupay.com

Founded: 1994

Founder: Larry Shaub

Owners: Barbara Shaub and 10 grandchildren

Service/Product: Payroll service

Employees: 8

Revenue (2008): $1 million

Date of first profile: Aug. 28, 2005

In the past four years AccuPay Payroll has expanded in a market that has not. In four years, revenue has doubled, and its client roster has grown by 200 clients to a total of 550.

Competing against larger, national competitors like New Jersey-based Automatic Data Processing and New York-based Paychex, AccuPay tries to offer superior service. Founder and CEO Larry Shaub said AccuPay differentiates itself by hiring experienced employees in both accounting and payroll. The combination of certified payroll professionals and certified public accountants is unusual in the Indianapolis area.

“We are a small business in Indiana,” Shaub said. “Real people answer our phones. We’re much closer to our clients, we’re more intimate with them and we establish closer, more personal relationships.”

Shaub said AccuPay offers prices that are 20-percent to 40-percent lower than major competitors. Shaub said AccuPay retains 99 percent of its clients, compared to an industry average of around 80 percent.

“It’s basically people wanting to do business locally with a boutique-type payroll firm,” he said. “The majority of our clients come from bigger firms. We don’t lose clients.”

However, Shaub said AccuPay needs to do a better job of growing business. With no sales reps actively selling AccuPay services to clients, the company is at an inherent disadvantage, Shaub said.

Shaub hired Lisa Reed to serve as marketing director in August. He said the company will eventually need to hire sales representatives in order to sufficiently expand.

But with more technology, Shaub said AccuPay is creating new services. The company is doing more online processing and giving customers’ access to payroll online. He said the days have passed when clients were demanding only payroll checks and filing payroll tax reports.

AccuPay is now offering employees experienced with QuickBooks software. Shaub said the program is a big hit among clients. AccuPay has hosted in-house seminars and did its first Webinar on QuickBooks in September.

Shaub said employees are also working with clients to take advantage of work opportunity programs to earn credits toward federal income taxes. Employees advise customers on how to identify hard-to-employ workers, like disabled veterans, ex-felons and Welfare recipients, and bring them on staff to receive these tax benefits.•

—Brock Benefiel