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 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."