Checkright’s recently occupied office at 3311 Church Road. (Michael Schwartz)
Adding to a recent wave of local growth, a Henrico-based payroll firm ended 2017 on a high note with its first out-of-town acquisition.
Checkright, along with three other companies in Arkansas, Minnesota and Boston, last month acquired the payroll operations of Madison, Wisconsin-based accounting firm Wegner CPAs.
Arch Wallace, founder and owner of Checkright, said the deal was prompted by connections he made through a network of firms that use the same payroll software.
He said Wegner only sold off its payroll business, while retaining its accounting and other business lines, and that its book of business includes about 225 small-business clients spread across 25 states.
He said his group beat out a competing bid by payroll firm ADP, in part because of being on the same software system as Wegner, making it easier for clients.
“We could basically plug and play instead of having to convert their data,” Wallace said. “Their customers wouldn’t have to change logins or passwords.”
Because of the four firms involved in the acquisition, Wallace said the venture has been branded as HR Aware.
While this was the first acquisition for Checkright, Wallace said he’s hopeful other deals will arise from connections through the payroll software world.
“The platform we’re on has 150 businesses around the country using it,” he said. “There’s always someone retiring or transitioning out of the industry.”
Wallace said Checkright is seeing a boost in new clients as a result of Experity, one of the larger locally based payroll companies, being acquired last year by Paychex, a publicly traded giant of the industry.
He said that’s helping him fill Checkright’s new larger office at 3311 Church Road, which it moved into in June.
“With this acquisition – and we’ve been blessed and inundated with the Experity sale to Paychex – between the two our headcount is 10.”
Checkright’s recently occupied office at 3311 Church Road. (Michael Schwartz)
Adding to a recent wave of local growth, a Henrico-based payroll firm ended 2017 on a high note with its first out-of-town acquisition.
Checkright, along with three other companies in Arkansas, Minnesota and Boston, last month acquired the payroll operations of Madison, Wisconsin-based accounting firm Wegner CPAs.
Arch Wallace, founder and owner of Checkright, said the deal was prompted by connections he made through a network of firms that use the same payroll software.
He said Wegner only sold off its payroll business, while retaining its accounting and other business lines, and that its book of business includes about 225 small-business clients spread across 25 states.
He said his group beat out a competing bid by payroll firm ADP, in part because of being on the same software system as Wegner, making it easier for clients.
“We could basically plug and play instead of having to convert their data,” Wallace said. “Their customers wouldn’t have to change logins or passwords.”
Because of the four firms involved in the acquisition, Wallace said the venture has been branded as HR Aware.
While this was the first acquisition for Checkright, Wallace said he’s hopeful other deals will arise from connections through the payroll software world.
“The platform we’re on has 150 businesses around the country using it,” he said. “There’s always someone retiring or transitioning out of the industry.”
Wallace said Checkright is seeing a boost in new clients as a result of Experity, one of the larger locally based payroll companies, being acquired last year by Paychex, a publicly traded giant of the industry.
He said that’s helping him fill Checkright’s new larger office at 3311 Church Road, which it moved into in June.
“With this acquisition – and we’ve been blessed and inundated with the Experity sale to Paychex – between the two our headcount is 10.”