Contact: Scott Denne
Intuit extends its overseas holiday by picking up Acrede, a UK-based payroll software provider. In four of Intuit’s seven acquisitions this year, the accounting software vendor has reached for a business based outside the US. That’s in stark contrast to the previous 11 years, when it nabbed a total of two international businesses.
Until recently, sales of Inuit’s core accounting products were limited to US customers as expansion overseas meant not only hiring local staff, but revamping the offering to comply with local regulations. Recently, the company has begun to expand into a few international markets, including Canada, the UK, India and Australia. Acrede’s payroll SaaS has been built for use in multiple markets and specializes in catering to businesses with payroll needs that stretch across borders; those attributes give Intuit the opportunity to expand its international capabilities as well as cater to larger customers who themselves operate across borders.
It’s no coincidence that payroll software is a big part of Intuit’s thrust into international markets – revenue from online payroll products accelerated in its most recent fiscal year, increasing 25%. Even its desktop payroll offerings posted growth last year, in opposition to the rest of its desktop wares. The overall business grew 8%.
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