Buoyed by revenue from the acquisitions of SurePayroll and ePlan Services, payroll and benefits outsourcing concern Paychex posted a 13 percent rise in first-quarter profits, to $149 million for the period ended August 31.

Over the next five years, revenue for the human resources and payroll software industry is expected to increase to $4.0 billion, according to a new study.

Payroll and employer-related services provider CompuPay has partnered with data products concern Pitney Bowes to integrate Pitney Bowes’ proprietary payroll cards into CompuPay’s payroll offerings for the company.

The Internal Revenue Service introduced a new voluntary compliance program Wednesday to convince employers to resolve their past issues with classifying employees as independent contractors.

Accounting and payroll software and service provider CheckMark Inc. has begun offering small business-focused payroll services for free until 2012 for all new payroll clients who sign a 12-month service agreement and have fewer than 50 employees. They must be located in Colorado, California or Texas.

President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday evening to present a jobs bill containing an expansion of the payroll tax cut, tax breaks for new hires and salary raises, and other tax reform measures.

Payroll service provider SurePayroll has released an Android version of its payroll software for smart phones and other devices that run Google’s Android software.

The outlook on the U.S. economy declined further among CFOs, controllers and CPAs in executive and senior management accounting roles in the third quarter, according to a survey by the American Institute of CPAs.

The Internal Revenue Service issued advice on Friday to employers who outsource their payroll duties to third-party service providers.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in August, with a net gain of zero jobs and the unemployment rate stuck at 9.1 percent.

Employers in the private sector added 91,000 jobs from July to August, according to payroll giant ADP.

Small businesses created 35,000 new jobs in August, but employees worked fewer hours and received less money, according to figures from Intuit Inc.’s Online Payroll clients.

Office morale is getting better for chief financial officers, according to a survey by Accountemps, a temporary staffing company for finance professionals, in which 42 percent of interviewed CFOs reported employee morale improvement in the last 12 months.

Finance executives around the world are becoming increasingly worried about recruiting and retaining skilled accounting and finance employees, according to a new survey.

President Obama has been pushing to extend the 2-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax through next year, but this is one tax cut that his opponents in Congress may not agree to allow.

CBIZ has seen a slight decrease in hiring trends among small businesses using its payroll software.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that employers added 117,000 jobs in July, sending the unemployment rate down a tenth of a percent to 9.1 percent.

Paycheck sizes have fallen 1.3 percent year-to-date at small businesses, according to figures from payroll processor SurePayroll, with hiring also declining 2.4 percent.

Small businesses hired 50,000 more employees in July and significantly increased their hours and compensation, according to figures from Intuit’s Online Payroll clients.

Private sector employment increased by 114,000 from June to July, according to payroll giant ADP, with small businesses adding 58,000 jobs.