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Council approves move to QuickBooks Desktop and ADP payroll automation
Summary
Council approved converting borough accounting from 'Freedom' to QuickBooks Desktop and automating payroll with ADP; staff said conversion would keep legacy data, cost up to $150/hour for a maximum of 80 hours, and should cut bookkeeping time significantly.
Swarthmore Borough Council approved staff’s recommendation to replace the borough’s current accounting software and automate payroll.
Staff said the current system, Freedom, will be deplatformed within six months and requires multiple manual entries. The proposed plan is to migrate data to QuickBooks Desktop and automate payroll through ADP, which integrates with QuickBooks. Conversion work was described as billable at up to $150 per hour for a maximum of 80 hours; staff said they expect the process to be largely seamless and to reduce bookkeeping time and tax-reporting errors.
Council members asked about cloud-based options and were told a cloud subscription would cost an additional several thousand dollars per year (figures discussed in the meeting ranged roughly from $4,000–$8,000 per year versus about $1,700 for the desktop licensing). Staff noted the desktop option is less expensive but not cloud-hosted; the borough could consider moving to cloud services later after initial conversion.
Council approved the conversion and payroll automation by voice vote. Staff will negotiate final conversion terms and begin work.
