Tech news: EY and Microsoft partner in global initiative

EY and Microsoft partner in global initiative; Paychex announces WISE AI Platform; KPMG creates chief product officer role; and other accounting tech updates.

EY and Microsoft partner in global initiative

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Big Four firm EY is deepening its partnership with Microsoft, with the two organizations jointly investing more than $1 billion in a new initiative to accelerate enterprise AI transformation. Under this partnership, integrated team of EY practitioners and Microsoft "forward deployed engineers" will help clients deploy AI solutions in core business functions at scale. Together, they will co-develop and provide industry-specific AI solutions for clients to accelerate AI adoption and optimize operations to drive sustained business value. The offering will be integrated, with shared governance, aligned commercial models, and accountability across both organizations. Initially, services and solutions will be focused across the finance, tax, risk, HR and supply chain within financial services, industrials and energy, consumer and retail, government and health care sectors.

Paychex announces WISE AI Platform

Paychex debuted Workforce Intelligence Strengthened by Expertise, described as the shared intelligence platform fueling Paychex's HR and advisory solutions which draws on decades of proprietary data, regulatory requirements, and human expertise to execute tasks and provide insights. WISE features autonomous digital workers capable of reasoning, orchestrating processes and executing tasks such as scheduling shifts and approving timesheets. It also features HR reporting and predictive analytics for actionable insights from real-time data. It also provides personalized, multichannel guidance and task support delivered across chat, voice, email, text and collaboration tools for things like task completion, information retrieval and regulatory compliance support. WISE proactively alerts Paychex HR experts when a critical moment is on the horizon and enables experienced advisors to guide customers through complex decisions such as managing flight risk and driving outcomes that fuel business success.

KPMG creates chief product officer role

The offices of KPMG in Chicago

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Big Four firm KPMG has named Paxton Cooper as chief product officer, a new role focused on AI-enabled solutions and asset-based offerings. Cooper brings more than two decades of product leadership experience, including serving as global head of product at Zendesk, where he led product strategy and development across enterprise platforms. In this new role, he will lead the development, operations and commercialization of KPMG's growing portfolio of AI-enabled products — a key part of the firm's strategy to evolve beyond traditional consulting toward scalable, technology-driven offerings that generate recurring value for clients.

Deel launches stablecoin salary payouts

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Payroll and HR platform Deel launched stablecoin salary payouts. It enables teams that previously needed separate payroll systems, one for fiat currency and the other for stablecoins, to now run both from the same platform. The feature is available for Deel EOR and global payroll customers with employees in the U.S. and across the Eurozone, with additional markets launching later this year. Once the employer enables it and employees opt in, stablecoins can land in their crypto wallet on every subsequent payday. The feature is free for employees. Deel handles payouts, compliance and settlement in the background. Stablecoin salary payouts are powered by BVNK and do not require foreign exchange conversion or long settlement periods. Employers fund payroll in fiat currency or stablecoins; employees choose whether to receive their net salary in fiat or a supported stablecoin. Both sides of the transaction run on the same platform, under the same compliance layer. Deel also announced the formation of a dedicated crypto division, led by Thierry Edde as head of crypto.

Crunchafi announces webinar on scaling audit practices

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Crunchafi, a SaaS technology company for accounting and financial professionals, will host the live webinar "Scale Without the Strain: How Data Extraction Fuels Audit Practice Growth" on Wednesday, May 27, at 1 p.m. CDT. The CPE-eligible event is designed for audit leaders who want to grow their practices without growing headcount at the same pace. The webinar will feature real-world examples, including how firms are using data extraction to start engagements faster and give auditors more time for the judgment-based work that drives value for clients. To register for the upcoming webinar, visit this site.

Partnerships and integrations

Top 10 firm Baker Tilly announced a collaboration with workflow automation solutions provider HubSync. Through the collaboration, Baker Tilly will implement HubSync's platform to support workflow management, document collaboration, digital approvals and centralized engagement visibility across its tax practice. The platform's AI-enabled capabilities will help streamline administrative work, improve consistency across engagements and create greater capacity for advisory-focused work. … AvidXchange, an AP automation solutions provider, has been selected by Centerbase, a provider of legal practice management software, as the exclusive partner to power embedded payments through its Accounts Payable as a Service solution. … Flywire, a global payments enablement and software company, announced the expansion of its partnership with hotel management company Driftwood Hospitality Management to deploy Flywire's hospitality solutions across nearly 90 U.S. hotel locations. Driftwood, an existing customer of Flywire's solutions for payments, signatures and authorizations, is rolling out enhanced payments capabilities to further streamline guest transactions and back-office operations. … Tax payment platform Remitian announced integrations with Aiwyn, april, TaxBandits and Truss. Remitian's Tax Payment API allows accounting and tax software platforms to add tax payment capabilities to their existing products without building and maintaining that infrastructure themselves. The announcement comes at the same time the company said it processed $100 million in U.S. tax payments during the 2025 filing season, its first full tax season operating in the United States.