Intuit executives received hefty hikes in compensation for the year ended July 30. The exception was CEO Brad Smith, who saw his pay fall to slightly more than $16 million for the most recently ended year, a decline of 3.2 percent from $16.5 million for fiscal 2014. Otherwise, the heads of the software company's two divisions and its CFO received double-digit increases, largely as the result of stock awards.

Thomson Reuters executives were talking effusively about their plans for the cloud at the company's recent Synergy user conference. But many users were far more concerned with some older technology—moving from the soon-to-be retired Creative Solutions Accounting, which hit the market in 1998, to the newer Accounting CS, which launched on May 1, 2010.

Jennifer Warawa, who has headed the accountants' program for Sage North America, has taken over the position of global VP of marketing for Sage Live. She replaces Doug Labahn, who had held the job only snce February. It is part of a sweeping number of personnel changes across Sage worldwide.