Since coming strong onto the market, SAP’s small to midmarket-focused cloud ERP offering SAP Business ByDesign has been through a series of challenges, including a notable amount of executive and reseller attrition, but the company is looking to turn that around in the foreseeable future.

Avalara’s director of accountant and industry relations Brian Austin and Intacct’s senior channel executive Peyton Burch have been appointed to the Information Technology Alliance(ITA) board of directors to serve three-year terms, respectively.

Nonprofit accounting software provider Abila has acquired nonprofit-focused social CRM provider Avectra for an undisclosed amount, just one month after officially changing its name from Sage Nonprofit Solutions.

Open Systems Inc. has expanded to the Pacific Northwest with the purchase of longtime reseller MicroAccounting Systems Inc.

CCH has enhanced its ProSystem fx Mobile app for the iPhone and iPad to include a new client dashboard, practice management, document management and workflow functions, with plans to release an Android app in the near future.

Operational analysis software company Oversight Systems has released Insights On Demand, cloud-based applications designed to identify fraud, corruption, and waste in travel and expense (T&E) transactions.

Partner and sales growth, as well as product as product enhancements were a primary focus of a keynote address by Acumatica chief executive Yury Larichev at this year’s Partner Summit.

Acumatica has signed an exclusive, multi-million dollar OEM deal with MYOB to enable the Australia-based accounting software maker to localize and distribute Acumatica’s cloud ERP platform to midsized customers.

Intacct has hired former accounting/ERP partner veteran Mike Silver as its new partner enablement manager, after stints at Acumatica and top Microsoft Dynamics partner SBS Group.

At long last the 2013 Accounting Today VAR 100 list is out and I’d like to give some viewpoints on what we’ve learned about how they got there, what makes a top accounting/ERP channel partner these days and do we really still need the term VAR?

Thomson Reuters has entered into an agreement with Claims-X-Change to provide a Web-based tool to perform nondiscrimination testing of employer-sponsored benefit plans, accessible through its Checkpoint research platform.

AccountMate Software Corp. has formed a strategic partnership with AvidXchange to allow channel partners to help their customers automate their entire accounts payable and payment processes.

Financial close software developer BlackLine Systems has received a round of investment led by Silver Lake Sumeru to help support the company's global growth strategy.

Hein & Associates has expanded its cloud solutions offerings though a new partnership with cloud-based business analytics product maker Adaptive Planning.

FreshBooks has released an Android app for service-based professionals with 1-10 employees who use devices on this mobile platform.

SAP AG has released the SAP ERP Foundation Extension, a new offering designed to enable companies new to SAP to implement a system optimized to their specific needs, as well as deploy SAP more efficiently though their organization.

Deloitte’s implementation service for the SAP CRM rapid-deployment solution is now qualified by SAP, officially allowing SAP software and content to be combined with services from Deloitte.

Despite being highly sophisticated and capable, ERP systems are so often under-optimized and not used to their maximum potential, either due to busy CFO leadership, expensive consulting costs, and the never-ending budget constraints on IT investments.

Audit and risk management product maker ACL has signed a definitive agreement to purchase The Prodigy Group, a Singapore-based software reseller and consulting services provider focused on audit, compliance, and risk management products.

Practice and document management software provider Office Tools Professional has formed a new partnership agreement with CPA-focused paperless tool maker cPaperless.