Rivals Thomson Reuters and Wolters Kluwer, parent to CCH, are continuing to snap up international companies that market online tax and accounting products. In its latest foray, Thomson this week acquired a web-based corporate tax product for the South African market from accounting firm Deloitte. Terms were not disclosed. It was the company's third purchase of an tax and accounting vendor with international operations since May 1.
CorpSmart is designed for multinational corporations in South Africa. The system enables them to prepare monthly, quarterly and annual income tax computations as well as file South African IT14 tax returns. CorpSmart will be integrated into Thomson's OneSource suite.
The deal follows the acquisition of Dutch Twinfield by Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Twinfield, which employs 75 people, markets software for accountants and finance professionals in small and medium-sized companies in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Based in the Netherlands, Twinfield has branches in England and the Ukraine.
In fact, the acquired company's own web page gives an ambitious description of its product line: "Twinfield Online Accounting is suitable for every type of business - from independent entrepreneurs through to international companies."
Twinfield Online Accounting has three flavors: Basic, SMB and Complete Accounting. Pricing starts at £15.50 and rises to £52.00 per month for the complete edition. Twinfield also offers a Shared View subscription at £7.00 per month and an Invoicing subscription at £15.50 per month.
Earlier this month, Thomson acquired Manatron International, which is headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., but which has offices in Kiev, the Ukraine. and Cochabamba, Bolivia. Manatron provides software and services that enable governments to assess real and personal property and to bill and collect property taxes.
In May, Thomsont bought Masteraf, a Brazilian company whose products include e-invoicing software that facilitates digital registration and approval of invoices under Brazilian reporting regulations; and LegisCenter, an online information portal for tax rates and rules.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
