Intuit Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Prestwick Services, a leader in payroll based billing and payment solutions for the workers’ compensation industry. Intuit Inc. creates business and financial management solutions that simplify the business for small businesses, consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services include QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®
Traditional workers’ compensation plans involve large pre-payments based on estimates, with the potential for substantial extra payments at year-end audits. With the acquisition of Prestwick Services and its TRUPAY technology, Intuit will open the platform that enables workers’ compensation insurance premiums to be calculated in real-time, based on actual payroll, and will not require small business owners to switch insurance carriers or agents.
For a small business owner, pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation has several benefits. Premiums are calculated every pay period instead of estimated at the beginning of the year, so payments are adjusted as employee changes occur, virtually eliminating surprise payments at year end audits. Hefty lump sum pre-payments are avoided. And automatic collection of premiums means no extra legwork, fewer late payments and one less thing on the to-do list.
“This transaction furthers our commitment to helping small businesses manage every aspect of their business, so they can be free to focus on doing what they really love,” said Ginny Lee, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions division. “We are very pleased to be adding a team that brings deep insurance industry experience as well as their robust TRUPAY technology platform. Together, we look forward to providing more benefits to our small businesses customers as we work to bring even more insurance carrier partners onto the platform.”
The integration of Prestwick Services means more than one million Intuit payroll customers will have access to flexible payment options from 15 top insurance carriers, without requiring a change to their existing agent-client relationships. When the transaction closes, Prestwick Services’ will become part of Intuit’s Employee Management Solutions Division. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of Intuit’s fiscal year 2014, which ends Jan. 31, and is subject to customary closing conditions.