For Immediate Release
Standard for B2B Electronic Payments to be Offered in
Leading Accounting Solutions Provided by NexTec Group
Microsoft’s Great Plains and Solomon, Sage’s MAS500 Will Be First Accounting Applications to Integrate EPN STP 820 Remittance Standard
New York, NY, May 25, 2005 – NexTec Group, a leading provider and reseller of business management solutions, today announced that it will offer the EPN STP 820 remittance standard as an option in upcoming installations of Microsoft’s Great Plains and Solomon, and Sage’s MAS500, the leading accounting packages for fast-growing and mid-tier companies.
The Electronic Payments Network, the ACH payments business of The Clearing House Payments Company, LLC, working with industry groups, software providers, banks and businesses, developed the EPN STP 820 remittance. The standard was designed to remove a key obstacle in the adoption of business-to-business electronic payments: the lack of a single, standard format for remittance information. EPN STP 820 facilitates cost-effective electronic payments by rationalizing the complexity of the existing ANSI 820 electronic payments standard. The EPN STP 820 standard is supported by NACHA and the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP).
“NexTec’s commitment to offer an EPN STP 820 module for these packages accelerates the adoption of this emerging standard for electronic payments and moves the industry a step closer to true straight-through-processing,” said Rossana Salaris, Senior Vice President of Electronic Payments Network. “Support for the EPN STP 820 standard by both accounting and cash management packages reflects the growing demand for electronic business-to-business payments.”
The three software solutions offered by NexTec are the first accounting packages in the United States to contain the EPN STP 820 standard. Cash management packages offered by Fundtech, Fiserv BANKLINK and P&H Solutions have already adopted the EPN STP 820 standard.
The integration of the EPN STP 820 module into software offered by NexTec facilitates straight-through-processing from payment to posting, significantly streamlining the electronic payments process. For accounts payable, the EPN STP 820 module will create a payables file that can be sent directly to financial institutions for processing. For accounts receivable, the EPN STP 820 module will enable users to automatically post files directly to their receivables, thus saving time in processing and reconciliation.
“The EPN STP 820 gives every business user who pays invoices exactly what they want – a fast, easy way to generate automated electronic payments from within the accounting application itself,” said Andrew M. Nunez, General Manager of NexTec’s New York office. “The exciting aspect of incorporating the EPN STP 820 standard into Great Plains, Solomon and MAS500 is that it has the ability to handle both accounts payable and receivables.”
The EPN STP 820 remittance standard streamlines electronic payments by defining 10 minimum data elements for each payment, including two mandatory elements – customer name and customer account number. If invoices are used, the eight additional fields such as invoice number, gross invoice amount and amount paid need to be included for each invoice being paid.
A Federal Reserve study showed that of the 3.9 billion business-to-business remittance payments each year, only 14% are executed electronically. Of these electronic payments, only 32% could be posted automatically. This standard will dramatically increase the automatic reconciliation of electronic payments. The AFP Payments Advisory Group, which represents a broad cross-section of corporate treasury and finance professionals, has said the EPN STP 820 “appears to address key barriers to the efficient delivery of remittance information with electronic payments, if properly implemented.” Copies of EPN’s research “Barriers to Electronic Payments” and the EPN STP 820 Implementation Guide are available on the EPN website at www.epaynetwork.com.
About NexTec Group
NexTec Group provides enterprise-wide information consulting and software implementation solutions for fast-growth and mid-market companies. NexTec develops long-term partnerships with its clients to create integrated business management solutions, providing the knowledge needed to make intelligent decisions in a dynamic marketplace. For over a decade, NexTec Group has delivered consistently high-quality services using a differentiated methodology and a commitment to client service and satisfaction. NexTec Group is a member of the Information Technology Alliance, a global organization of more than 60 professional services organizations. NexTec Group delivers business applications including financial accounting, supply chain and project control systems, customer relationship management and business intelligence. Partnering with the leading products on the market today, including Great Plains, MAS 500 and Solomon, NexTec Group professionals help clients improve efficiency, enhance customer relationships, deepen reporting capabilities and heighten their competitive advantage. For more information, contact: Andrew Nunez, andrew.nunez@nextecgroup.com, 201.933.0707, or visit www.nextecgroup.com.
About EPN and The Clearing House Payments Company
The Electronic Payments Network (www.epaynetwork.com), a payments business of The Clearing House Payments Company, is the only national private-sector ACH operator in the United States. Its membership consists of over 1,600 commercial banks, credit unions and savings banks. EPN processed more than 3.4 billion payments in 2004. The Clearing House Payments Company (www.theclearinghouse.org) is a private-sector, global payment systems infrastructure that clears and settles more than 20 million payments for $1.5 trillion per day. The Clearing House manages payment services that span the entire spectrum of paper, paper-to-electronic and electronic payments. For more information on The Clearing House, contact chip.savidge@theclearinghouse.org, 212.613.9896, or Greg Berardi, greg@bluemarlinpartners.com, 415.239.7826.
