ADP's objectives are sustained growth in shareholder value through ever-improving financial results, World Class Service, and being an employer of choice. We will achieve these objectives by having a total commitment to the highest ethical standards, by treating everyone with honesty, fairness and respect, and by conducting our business with the highest level of integrity. We believe in open, informal communications, hard work, and prudent financial management. These are ADP's core values, the foundation on which our business culture is based. But a statement of values is not enough. Unless our values are consistently practiced, they become just platitudes. Consistent implementation occurs only when each of us respects the rights of others, when our actions are free from discrimination, and when each associate is accorded full equal opportunity. As we continue to grow and as our businesses become increasingly complex, a shared, well-communicated Corporate Philosophy is more important than ever. We are not perfect. Our actions will occasionally fall short of our aspirations. Such shortcomings should be viewed as an opportunity to learn and to refocus our efforts to live up to our values and Corporate Philosophy.
The undisputed number one paymaster to the nation, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. prepares the paychecks for one out of seven American workers. The company, widely known as ADP, is also a leading supplier of stock quotation systems, handles the back-office processing for many securities brokers, and provides a variety of computerized services to auto dealers as well as claims service support for auto insurers and repairers.
The multibillion-dollar operation owes its start to the fact that when the bright and innovative Henry Taub graduated from New York University in 1947, he was still shy of his 20th birthday, and thus more than a year away from eligibility for the CPA exam. Consequently, Taub, who had worked part-time for a small Manhattan public accounting firm while a commuter student at NYU, became a full-time employee. The work entailed keeping the books for dozens of small businesses, coupled with lots of handholding.
Taub soon became aware that preparing payrolls and maintaining the necessary supporting data were a major headache for smaller employers. Social security was as yet less than a dozen years old, and income tax withholding had only started during World War II. All in all, payroll accounting was becoming steadily more demanding.
So, in 1949, with the support of two business acquaintances, Taub opened a company to provide that specialized service. He called his new business Automatic Payrolls, Inc. As he readily recalled later, the "Automatic" defined the service only from the point of view of the client, who was spared many burdensome tasks; on the company's side, automation started with little more than an adding machine. Taub also noted the deeper significance of the carefully chosen name. In his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, an old-line textile center where the automation of looms had long been a major issue, "automatic" carried the connotation of "an advanced form of work."
From a small office in Paterson, Taub solicited accounts in the surrounding area, often utilizing public transportation to pick up time sheets and return the finished payroll. During this time, Taub's company did not handle the clients' money; signing the checks or placing cash in the pay envelopes was left for the employer to do on site. In 1951, Taub's younger brother Joe joined the organization, specializing in administrative functions for the next 25 years.
In 1953 the third member of Automatic Payrolls' longtime guiding trio came aboard. He was Frank R. Lautenberg, the son of a Paterson textile worker. Three years older than Henry, Lautenberg served in Europe during World War II and then earned an economics degree at Columbia University and became a sales trainee for Prudential Insurance. The local Prudential off
