Kiwis Make Accounting Sexy

The accounting software industry is not known as the sexiest business sector. But New Zealand cloud accounting software provider Xero is, Reuters reports, bringing spice and drama to the world’s greyest profession.

“Oh, yeah, we’re talking dollars and data centres, here, people,” enthuses Meghan Kelly in the news agency’s VentureBeat column.

What is attracting international media attention is the tiny NZ$2.3 billion Antipodean upstart’s ambition to take on industry behemoth, Intuit, which makes Quickbooks.

Its ambition comes with some tough-talking: Intuit has posted disappointing earnings, Xero says, and is struggling to keep up with cloud-computing innovation, such as mobile phone accounting apps.

But the talk is also backed by serious cash. Xero has just raised US$150 million, most of which is US-based capital and the roll-call of investors includes heavyweights such as PayPal billionaire and Facebook investor, Peter Thiel.

With company like that, a lot of business people are taking Xero’s US market entry very seriously.

Kelly’s headline sums up the current accounting zeitgeist – “Xero to Inuit: I have $150m in funding – now gimme all your customers.”