Sage is suggesting accounting firms are the key to its ability to sell its web-based Sage One application in the United States. While the product is in its early days in this country, its penetration lags and it will take a long time to establish the cloud application here, Steve Kelly, the new chief executive, said in this week's webcast of fiscal 2014 results.

Intuit will increasingly shift its software pricing towards a usage-based model. That approach will show up across the board in the company's payments, payroll and accounting products, according to Neil Williams, Intuit's CFO. The shift is in line with trends brought about by web-based software products.

Intuit is adding QuickBooks Online subscribers at a faster rate than expected. In a recent earnings webcast, the Mountain View, Calif.-based software vendor said there were 739,000 QBO subscribers when the first quarter ended on October 31, an increase of 43 percent from 516,000 a year earlier. Intuit has expected to hit 715,000. The company also report strong international growth with 103,000 subscribers, a 170-percent increase.