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Since 1986 when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) first
introduced electronic filing of individual tax returns,
thousands of Americans have enjoyed the speed and
convenience provided by this new method of filing. And for a
small software company called Universal Tax Systems (UTS),
headquartered in Rome, Georgia, electronic filing marked the
beginning of an incredible odyssey.
Even before electronic filing, UTS Founder and President
Steve Safigan knew that professional tax preparers needed a
better software product. This led Safigan to launch UTS in
1983. Safigan was later joined by Randy Tullos, a college
friend from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and now CEO of
UTS, and by Al Martiniello, a former tax preparer himself
and now the company's Executive Vice President.
With tax professionals now clamoring for an easy way to
manage their electronic filings, Safigan and his team
launched one of the industry's first electronic service
bureaus designed to help tax preparers speed their returns
to the IRS. Then, in 1988, they introduced their landmark
product, TaxWise, a DOS and Windows based product for
professional tax preparation.
Soon thereafter the accolades began: UTS was ranked in
the top 50 in Inc. Magazine's 500 Fastest Growing Companies
for three years running. Industry peers ranked UTS' TaxWise
among the top software products in CPA Software News and
Accounting Today. As for its electronic service bureau, by
1998, 15 percent of all U.S. taxpayers' electronic returns
were processed by UTS.
Today UTS' rapid growth continues through innovative new
products and an aggressive acquisition strategy. The latest
product, SecureTax, was launched in December 1996. It is
aimed at individuals preparing their own tax returns and is
sold exclusively on the Internet. It, too, is emerging as a
winner for UTS.
The Challenge
The company's rampant growth did create some challenges,
however, and UTS' accounting department was one of the first
areas to show signs of stress. The complexities of a
seasonal business, new acquisitions and record product sales
were straining the company's existing accounting software
system.
What began as a basic corporate accounting application
had grown to five financial databases. "We found ourselves
building spreadsheets to run the calculations the system
couldn't handle," says Stephanie Owens, UTS' accounting
manager. "This, in turn, forced us to hire more staff." And
there were other complications. "Billing and commission
tracking became very complex, and the existing system would
lock up with multiple users," she added. "In-house
programmers were continually called to create workaround
solutions."
Finally, in March of 1997, Kenneth Barfield, CFO and
General Counsel, and Owens called for a system review. "We
assigned a project specialist to do the research and found
five potential new systems that met our preliminary
requirements," she said. It was a comprehensive review,
which involved several months of meetings between accounting
staff and technical support. UTS' executive team also
reviewed each product.
Among the financial systems vying for UTS' vote: Solomon,
Flexi, Great Plains Dynamics and Navision Financials. In the
end, it was Navision Financials that won the confidence of
Owens' evaluation team.
"Because our accounting needs are so complex, our own
programmers were always helping to modify our system," said
Owens. "And they actually played a major role in choosing
Navision Financials."
Dean Becker, UTS tech specialist, assembled a team of
programmers to review each product. "We were looking beyond
the application to the functionality and robustness offered
by the various systems," said Becker. "With Navision, we
threw down the technical gauntlet and they met us every step
of the way."
The Solution
Ed Jelen, president of Business Management Software, a
certified Navision Solution Center based in Marietta,
Georgia, presented Navision to Owens, Becker and the rest of
the UTS evaluation team. "Stephanie and Dean had a 'wish
list' that was custom-made for Navision Financials," said
Jelen. "They needed a Windows-based system which is very
robust but which offers great programming flexibility. They
needed fields and filters to provide the detail they had
been lacking. They also wanted more sophisticated reporting.
And, most importantly, they needed a system which could be
adapted to UTS' very complex procedures and support their
growing business."
UTS purchased Navision Financials' comprehensive
financial and business management system, plus Navision's
programming tools. Once UTS selected Navision, Jelen and his
team put together a detailed implementation plan and
training schedule for UTS. "From the beginning, the Navision
folks were very customer-focused and genuinely interested in
our success. And they continue to put our needs first," said
Owens.
Benefits
UTS' benefits range from overall business process
improvements to greater productivity by the accounting
department. "We are simplifying many processes and producing
more with fewer people," said Owens. "From an accounting
standpoint, Navision allows us to see deeper into our
business, with reports and drill-down features we didn't
have before."
According to Dean Becker, customer billing was a
long-standing challenge because of complex billing
structures. His technical staff tried various custom
solutions with only moderate success. By contrast, Navision
imports data from text files and generates invoices at the
rate of 100 per minute.
"Generating customer invoices under our previous software
was a process that used to take several days," said Becker.
"Today, Navision performs the same task in a few hours."
Becker added that under the previous system the company
simply accepted the limited performance. Navision, however,
allows the company to better adapt to change and to plan
proactively.
Becker also commented on the ease of initial setup.
"We're accustomed to fairly complex setup and
configuration," said Becker. "But with Navision, setting up
a new client is very easy. Just install it, point it to the
server, and you're ready to go."
Becker was also pleased with Navision's technical
support. "On the few occasions when we had questions, we
found them very responsive," said Becker. "And that's always
a pleasant surprise."
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