Tech News: Xero rolls out benchmarking tool

Published July 3, 2026 9:00 AM

1 Min Read

Xero rolls out benchmarking tool; CCH Axcess adds complex document ingestion and interpretation; TaxStatus launches Planning Observations to automate discovery; and other accounting tech news and updates.

Xero rolls out benchmarking tool

Small business accounting platform Xero announced that Xero Analytics now has industry benchmarking capabilities. The Industry Benchmarks feature turns real-time, anonymized and aggregated data from Xero small business customers around the world into comparable performance metrics. The software performs competitive performance scoring that analyzes groups of key financial ratios, which are labeled as leading, lagging or in line with peers, with performance for each business measured against cohorts at the industry and country level, and highlighted in a personalized scorecard. Further, there's targeted metric tracking abilities. Users can benchmark nine critical drivers of health across revenue, profitability and cash management, including debtor days, growth in sales revenue and operating efficiency. The new feature also provides access to AI-generated insights on actions a business can take. Overall, the feature is meant to offer a standardized starting point for more proactive, data-driven conversations between small businesses and their accountants or bookkeepers.

In other Xero news, the company also announced an integration with Microsoft 365 to bring real-time financial data to their users, supported by its own AI "superagent" JAX. At launch, JAX will enable actions within Microsoft 365 Copilot to answer businesses' financial questions and surface customized insights. This lays the foundation for expanded capabilities across any Microsoft 365 app, including building forecasts in Excel and drafting reports and presentations in Word and PowerPoint, all grounded in live data from Xero. This includes getting answers and acting within Copilot Chat; the ability to analyze, model and plan with Live Data in Excel; using Word to generate automated narrative paragraphs and formatted report sections directly inside the file; and automatically generate PowerPoint presentation slides with native charts, revenue trends and key metrics.

CCH Axcess adds complex document ingestion and interpretation

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Wolters Kluwer announced that CCH Axcess Expert AI now has document scanning capabilities, allowing it to ingest and interpret source materials, which the company said represented one of the hardest preparation challenges in the profession. Through its collaboration with Microsoft, the new feature applies Microsoft Azure Content Understanding to perform intelligent document processing inside CCH Axcess, using advanced document intelligence and generative AI to ingest, interpret, and extract data from a wide range of tax source documents, from standard W-2s and 1099s to complex K-1 supplemental data and supporting statements. Structured outputs then flow directly into CCH Axcess Tax. The new Scan capability, powered by CCH Axcess Expert AI, is now generally available to all firms currently on, or moving to, CCH Axcess Tax.

TaxStatus launches Planning Observations to automate discovery

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IRS data solutions provider TaxStatus announced a new Planning Observations feature to identify timely advice opportunities and gaps from a client's own tax records by taking raw IRS data and information returns (Forms 1099, W-2, 1065, 1120, 5498, K-1 and more), then converting them into client-ready roadmaps for planning conversations. The software evaluates each client's records against more than 175 distinct observations across six advisory disciplines — financial planning, investment management, tax planning, estate planning, insurance, and banking and lending — and detects nearly 50 multiyear life events, from a job change, business sale or home purchase to retirement, inheritance or the onset of long-term care. Each observation can then be mapped to an advice opportunity for the professional.

Bron launches mobile crypto wallet for iOs and Android

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Digital asset solutions provider Bron released a mobile iOS and Android wallet for cryptocurrency. Unlike traditional crypto wallets, Bron allows users to regain access if a phone is lost, damaged or replaced, without relying on written recovery phrases. The wallet includes secure account recovery, biometric authentication, fraud and scam protections, activity alerts and transaction monitoring, and optional hidden accounts for additional privacy. Bron allows users to designate beneficiaries and create a structured transfer designed to help loved ones access assets when needed while maintaining privacy and security during the owner's lifetime.

Double Check available in Chrome, verifies data entry

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Double Check, an app developed by startup Possibility Outpost, is now available on the Chrome webstore. Double Check is a browser extension that mathematically validates high-stakes numbers and requires the user to independently retype them for a direct, on-site comparison within a website's input field. Double Check is meant to catch simple transcription errors, such as transposed digits, while also guarding against deliberate fraud, such as fake "changed bank details" emails and hidden look-alike characters. The values checked never leave the user's device with no transmission, storage or analytics. The extension can't even see a page until the user invokes it there. The download website is said to have no JavaScript and no tracking either. The extension supports and computes 23 built-in formats, including routing numbers, cards and crypto addresses. Verified fields get a "Double-Checked" badge. If the value changes afterward for any reason, it flips to a warning and the log entry is marked stale. Every entry is sealed with a keyed hash chained to the one before it. One click recomputes the chain and tells you whether anything was edited, removed or reordered since it was written on the device.

Incorta releases Incorta Intelligence

Data solutions provider Incorta announced the general availability of Incorta Intelligence, described as an AI-driven unified decision intelligence platform. Incorta Intelligence lets business users analyze data, build applications, automate processes, and take action directly within a governed environment—without relying on IT resources, exporting data to spreadsheets, or incurring unpredictable AI costs. It provides a low-code environment for creating AI applications directly from live enterprise data where users can generate interactive dashboards through conversation and transform them into production-ready applications with built-in authentication, row-level security, governance controls and live data refresh. It also offers the ability for users to ask business questions, at which point the AI can generate analysis grounded in Incorta's semantic layer and business context. Requests are also routed across across frontier AI models and optimized AI resources to help reserve reasoning capabilities for high-value use cases. It also sports workflow automation capabilities that provide an operational framework connecting AI-generated insights and recommendations to governed business processes and execution.

New funding

Nomerra, a private market solutions provider, has secured $2 million in its first round of funding. The round was led by 14Peaks Capital, with participation from Redstone Fintech and senior individuals from firms including KKR and Intapp. … Sales tax automation solutions provider Taxwire announced $25 million in seed and Series A funding from Headline Ventures, XYZ VC, Vinyl, Recall Capital and Nomo Ventures.