ACS acquires Arthur Andersen outsourcing customers

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has acquired two financial and accounting outsourcing contracts worth $370 million from Chicago-based Arthur Andersen LLP: one with the University of Phoenix and the other with General Motors Corp.


Terms of the agreement, announced May 6 by ACS, were not disclosed in the announcement.


Under a 5-year contract with the University of Phoenix, ACS will provide student financial aid business process outsourcing services to the university including federal eligibility determination, loan and grant processing and disbursement of student aid and other support services related to financial aid processing. The University of Phoenix has 116,300 students.


Under a 10-year contract with General Motors of Detroit, ACS will provide transactional accounting services, such as payroll processing, disbursement processing, dealer accounting, accounts receivable processing, lease and subsidiary accounting and expense reporting in the United States and Canada.

ACS also will be providing transactional accounting services for GM's European operations once certain Spanish labor law procedures are completed.


The sale of the contracts to ACS was the result of a strategic decision by Arthur Andersen to exit the outsourcing business, said Julie Hallinan, a spokeswoman for Arthur Andersen.


ACS will handle more than $350 billion annually in financial transactions for GM and the university, said ACS officials. The contracts will be supported from two service centers in Tempe, Ariz., and one service center in Barcelona, Spain, company officials said.