ADP says that 8,000 accounting firms have adopted its Accountant Connect dashboard. Announced in February, Accountant Connect is designed to provide accountants with a single view of payroll reports and tools. The total was disclosed during ADP's recent webcast for earnings for the year ended June 30.

ADP has rejected a bid by Pershing Square Capital Management to take control of the payroll services company board. ADP says that Pershing, led by activist investor William Ackman, approached it on August 1. The investment firm seeks to elect five to the board of directors and to replace CEO Carlos Rodriquez.

A phishing email scam is targeting tax professionals by purporting to be from tax software companies. Messages in the latest the phishing attack contain subject line of "Software Support Update" and highlights the topic as "Important Software System Upgrade".