Accounting and business advisory firm Sikich LLP has begun offering a subscription-based human resources consulting service to business clients.

The sliding economy and the roller coaster securities markets over the past several years have no doubt forced financial planners to keep both aspirin and antacid in close proximity.

IMGCAP(1)]Privately held businesses are aggregately performing better now than at any point since the recession.

IMGCAP(1)]There is a fuzzy line between a worker who is properly classified as an employee and a worker who is properly classified as an independent contractor.

ADP has expanded its payroll offerings by introducing Aline Pay by ADP, a new set of electronic pay disbursement services to distribute wages by direct deposit, checks and reloadable prepaid cards.

The June CBIZ Small Business Employment Index, a barometer for hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, increased by only 0.67 percent through the month, after posting an increase of 0.22 percent in May.

The unemployment rate climbed a tenth of a percentage point to 9.2 percent after employers added only 18,000 jobs in June, the lowest level in nine months.

Employment in the private sector increased by 157,000 from May to June on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest figures from payroll giant ADP, indicating that the May slowdown in employment may have been a pause.

Small business employment rose slightly in June, according to Intuit, as employers added 45,000 positions to their payrolls.

Intuit confirmed this week that the phase-out of its Complete Payroll product will conclude at the end of this year, a process the company said it has been undergoing for several years.

A double-digit bump in its Human Resources Services, coupled with slight upticks in its core payroll unit and checks per client, helped payroll and benefits outsourcing provider Paychex post an 8 percent jump in year-end profits, to $515.3 million, versus the previous year.

A new salary survey by the Institute of Management Accountants has found that Certified Management Accountants and CPAs earn substantially more than those without certification.

Ernst & Young LLP plans to hire approximately 5,000 students from campuses across the U.S. in the 2010-2011 academic year.

Payroll and human resources giant Paychex Inc. has extended its Trusted Business Advisor Program relationship with the American Institute of CPAs’ CPA2Biz arm for the next five years, which will include an integrated payroll services component with CPA2Biz’s Cloud Client Accounting Services Platform.

Payroll giant ADP has launched ADP Payments for its Procure-to-Pay Solutions platform, which allows companies to complete the automation of their procure-to-pay cycle by initiating, controlling and monitoring supplier payments electronically.

Professional services firm CBIZ said it has seen signs of a slowdown in small business hiring, based on figures from its payroll unit.

Hiring in accounting and finance is expected to increase slightly in the third quarter.

The U.S. economy added only 54,000 jobs in May, sending the unemployment rate up a tenth of a percentage point to 9.1 percent, in the latest sign of a slowing recovery.

Private employment increased by only 38,000 in May, according to the latest monthly report from payroll giant ADP, reflecting a broader economic slowdown.

Employment at small businesses increased only slightly in May, according to Intuit, as employers added just 45,000 jobs to their payrolls.