Software drove a revenue increase of 4 percent for Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting North America for the first half ended June 30. Worldwide, tax and accounting produced revenue of about $627.6 million, up 1 percent. In a recent earnings statement, the company attributed the unit's North American growth to sales of both its on-premise and cloud-based applications.

Oracle is paying about $9.3 billion to buy NetSuite, the company that pioneered cloud-based accounting. In a deal expected to close this year, Oracle will pay $109 per share in cash for the target company. Both were founded by Larry Ellison with NetSuite founded in 1998. Oracle CEO Mark Hurd said in a prepared statement the company will invest heavily in both product lines.

Sage has introduced the Sage Cloud to integrate applications to connect all its products. In a trading update for the third quarter ended June, CFO Stephen Hare said this week the impact should not be measured in its financial impact this year, but in how it changes the way products are used.