Leading global clinical research organisation ICON, switch to ADP freedom in the UK

ADP, the world’s number one employer management services company, today announced that the UK offices of ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, has switched its payroll provision to the ADP freedom platform. The re-evaluation of payroll provision for ICON’s Eastleigh and Marlow offices was prompted by the inability of existing systems to maintain quality in line with the company’s acquisitions and growth. As a NASDAQ listed company, ICON also requires a payroll and employee data partner that is Sarbanes-Oxley compliant, with Type 2 SAS 70 accreditation, a condition that ADP has been able to offer its customers for over 2 years.

Lisa Lynett, Senior HR Manager for the Eastleigh and Marlow offices said, “After an extensive market review and having spoken to a number of potential vendors, we believe ADP freedom provides the optimum solution to meet our needs. The system is very impressive.”

Lisa’s remit, includes involvement in recruitment, policy review and employer legislation, plus everything to do with managing and maintaining the salaries and payroll for the two UK offices. Commenting on ICON’s expectations of ADP freedom, Lisa says, “With ADP freedom I can start to think more strategically. The system is on-line, available anywhere and real-time reports can be generated immediately. There will be an improvement on the general ad-hoc information that has been produced that will assist in saving time, money and effort and streamline the service HR can provide to the rest of the business.

For instance, with ADP freedom it only takes moments to provide costings on end of year salary data; it’s that level of service that I'm looking forward to. ICON has chosen a mixture of outsourcing with in-house payroll services. “I'm not technical within the payroll arena, so I wanted a system simple enough to make changes. We now have payroll assistance internally, so we're mixing in-house with bureau. The beauty of ADP freedom is that it allows us to do that. For us, that level of flexibility is important.”

On selecting ADP freedom Lisa remembers her initial concerns; “Due to our legal requirement, and our own previous experiences, I was slightly cautious in undertaking this exercise. To date, ADP has shown complete empathy with our business and a total understanding of our needs. The transition from sales consultancy through to technical implementation has been really smooth and I was very impressed with the level of knowledge the whole team at ADP possess.”

ICON employs over 160 people in the Eastleigh and Marlow offices. ADP freedom is due to go live in August 2006. The company is now in discussion with ADP to review the possibilities of providing payroll and employee data management services across other European offices. ADP already supply payroll services to ICON in the USA.

*Note to editors:
Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70, Service Organisations, is an internationally recognised auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). A SAS 70 audit or service auditor's examination is widely recognised, because it represents that a service organisation has been through an indepth audit of their control activities, which generally include controls over information technology and related processes. In today's global economy, service organisations or service providers must demonstrate that they have adequate controls and safeguards when they host or process data belonging to their customers. In addition, the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 make SAS 70 audit reports even more important to the process of reporting on effective internal controls at service organisations.