How The Moritz Group PC Turned Payroll Services into a Growth Engine with IRIS Payroll
The challenge: The Moritz Group struggled with inefficient, labor-intensive payroll processes and outdated software, limiting growth and increasing compliance risks.
The Solution: They adopted IRIS Payroll, an automated, cloud-based platform that reduced staff workload, simplified compliance, and allowed clients to manage payroll tasks independently.
The Results: The firm has achieved greater efficiency and profitability with minimal staff effort, enabling rapid growth, including the addition of four new clients in just two weeks.
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For more than three decades, The Moritz Group PC, based in Marion, Indiana, has delivered business tax, accounting, and financial services across industries. Like many accounting firms, they once dealt with the perception of payroll services as a low-margin, high-maintenance, time-draining burden. That is, until the right technology helped the firm minimize effort, maximize efficiency and make payroll one of its most reliable and profitable services.
“When The Moritz Group started, we were hand-writing checks for a handful of home healthcare clients,” recalls Lindal Walker, Enrolled Agent and Accounting Specialist, noting that originally, staff had to manually enter hours, calculate taxes, and print paper checks. A representative from a client’s office then would stop by to pick up, sign and distribute those checks. The inefficiency drained capacity and left little room for growth. Over time, that manual system gave way to a then-popular payroll software platform. But it quickly became apparent that the system had limitations, as many features still required manual information input and updates to be performed by Moritz Group staff.
“We started looking for something that allowed clients the freedom to be more hands-on and freed our staff to focus on growth,” Walker explains.
In 2019, The Moritz Group adopted IRIS Payroll, a decision Walker calls transformative.
“We create a login for clients, and they take the bulk of the process from there. They can add employees, adjust compensation, enter deductions, and run payroll themselves. It frees up countless labor hours and that’s major cost savings,” Walker says, noting that the firm’s previous software was inexpensive, but cost more in staff time and compliance risk.
Technology That Handles the Complexities
A top selling point for Walker was IRIS Payroll’s built-in simplification of complex compliance issues – a feature that proved crucial for an electrical contractor client that must pay employees different rates depending on whether work is government, private, or union. “IRIS lets us set those wage rates in different columns, enter hours, and the system calculates it all. The other software didn’t have that,” Walker notes.
Customizable client access also has proven a game-changer. Once onboarded, tech-savvy employer clients can take over most, if not all payroll tasks, only calling The Moritz Group when an unexpected issue arises. “It’s a zero to 15-minute job that comes in once in a while to talk a client through a glitch. Otherwise, it’s essentially a minimal-effort, all-profit arrangement,” Walker says.
Meanwhile, smaller clients with less technical expertise can choose which aspects to manage in-house and which to leave to Moritz Group reps. “Even a small amount of workload off your employees makes a huge difference,” Walker says, noting the lessened labor burden has cleared the way for growth. “We’ve added four new payrolls in just the last two weeks. Clients get better service, and we get higher profits.”
Future-Proofing the Firm
The switch to IRIS Payroll’s highly automated, cloud-based platform also helps address a growing concern for The Moritz Group and other accounting businesses – staff attrition. As long-time financial professionals retire, fewer young professionals are entering the field.
“It’s getting harder to find people to fill those spots,” Walker says. National data backs this up. First-time CPA exam candidates dropped 33 percent between 2016 and 2021, and accounting degree completions fell nearly 8 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, 83 percent of CFOs report difficulty finding qualified talent.
Modern, cloud-based payroll helps bridge this gap. By automating tasks that once consumed hours, IRIS Payroll enables firms like The Moritz Group to scale profitably with lean teams.
The Results
Today, The Moritz Group’s payroll division alone serves nearly 50 client businesses representing a range of industries and is poised for continued growth. Partnering with IRIS Payroll allows the firm to offer a highly customizable, user-friendly payroll solution that is profitable, efficient, and sticky with clients.
“The great thing about payroll is that it gives us an out-of-tax-season flow of steady income,” Walker says. “People always need to get paid. And IRIS Payroll makes it easy.”
Schedule a demo with one of our payroll experts today to see the difference IRIS Payroll Software can make for your accounting firm or payroll service bureau.