The city of Hurst, Texas, one of the suburbs located between Dallas and Fort Worth, has signed up as the first client under Arthur Andersen's new Shared Services Center.

The idea is to have Andersen merge the activities performed by cities anywhere in the United States, or world (if applicable), and offer these services at a lower cost based on volume.

In this case, the city of Hurst will outsource many accounting functions to Andersen, including general ledger, purchasing, accounts payable, fixed assets, accounts receivable and payroll. The Center has such well-known companies on board as Oracle, Data General and ADP.

'The Shared Services Center is pleased to offer Hurst and other cities an economical opportunity to participate fully in the new economy by providing web-enabled and eCommerce technology that will be the foundation for Internet based eGovernment,' said Wayne Usry of the firm.