Tech news: KPMG announces new partnerships

KPMG announces new partnerships with Avalara, Cryptio

Florida Governor Rick Scott and KPMG CEO Lynn Doughtie break ground on KPMG's new training facility in Orlando

Jim Hobart

Big Four firm KPMG and tax automation solutions provider Avalara announced they are entering into a new strategic alliance allowing organizations to leverage the combined power of Avalara's compliance automation technology — including indirect tax calculation, returns, exemption certificate management, cross-border compliance, e-invoicing and registrations — and KPMG's expertise in tax consulting and advisory, in addition to ERP implementation capabilities. Overall, the alliance allows the two companies to jointly focus on a go-to-market strategy which converges their resources, expertise and tools to provide the best solutions for their mutual targets and clients.

KPMG also announced a partnership with digital asset accounting software company Cryptio to support U.S.-based crypto companies in adhering to GAAP. The collaboration will enable crypto institutions and businesses to fulfill their GAAP reporting and accounting requirements using Cryptio's software.

U.S. Bank announces new AR solution

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U.S, Bank announced the release of a new solution, U.S. Bank Advanced Receivables, developed in partnership with Billtrust, to improve the business-to-business receivables process. U.S. Bank Advanced Receivables consists of five core solutions to modernize the entire receivables process. It provides treasury teams and their buyers automated invoice delivery options that increase digital payments; offers buyers secure payment options, including payments via virtual credit cards and ACH, after the company's terms are established; gives suppliers higher match rates and exception handling through a cash application-based remittance process; optimizes collections with customized outreach approaches, automation of repetitive tasks and better cash forecasting; and offers ways to extend credit to buyers. The new solution builds upon the bank's complementary digital payment solution U.S. Bank AP Optimizer.

TranscendAP announces AI and machine learning capabilities

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AP automation solutions provider TranscendAP announced the release of the new TranscendAP 8.5, which includes customizable dashboard widgets that offer visibility into invoice automation, improved enhanced two-way and three-way PO matching, and an enhanced supplier portal with vendor onboarding and self-service capabilities. Other new features and functionality of TranscendAP 8.5 include an enhanced business unit segregation to manage the unique needs of multiple departments, an expanded vendor portal that includes more security and self-service account management options, an automated vendor invoice rejection and ability for vendors to amend invoices, plus more automation around Units of Measure handling.

Fortanix releases improved cryptographic key management

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Data security solutions provider Fortanix announced improvements to its Key Insight solution, which can now scan on-premises services such as databases and storage. Users can scan encryption keys and related data services on-premises, making it the first product to do so across hybrid multicloud environments. The product enables teams to discover, assess and remediate cryptographic security posture all from a single platform, with additional enhancements including federated authentication for access control. Fortanix said this simplifies audits to ensure security posture aligns with internal policies, industry regulations and security best practices, as well as offers the ability to obtain immediate insight into the most at-risk data services to accelerate security posture improvements.

Platform Advisors now offers technology and ERP consulting

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Platform Accounting Group is expanding its Platform Advisors offerings to include Platform Technology Advisors, which provides Enterprise Resource Planning design and consulting, among other services. Platform Technology Advisors will be led by Tom Wahlquist, who has more than 20 years of experience designing and supporting ERP systems for a wide range of businesses. His team, formerly known as Walpole IT Advisors, will continue to expand to better support current and future clients and their complex ERP needs. Platform will also expand its solutions list to keep up with the growing demands of organizations. In addition to Sage 100 and Sage X3, they will now offer Sage Intacct and Acumatica solutions.

Partnerships and integrations

The National Association of Tax Professionals is partnering with accounting technology company Blue J on tax research capabilities. The partnership specifically involves integrating Blue J's flagship generative AI product, Ask Blue J, into the NATP's resource arsenal. Ask Blue J is an LLM that leverages an extensive U.S. tax content database to generate reliable and verifiable tax answers. The platform provides a comprehensive list of sources used in the response, highlighting relevant passages for easy verification. Ask Blue J supplies additional related materials such as cases, documents, statutes and regulations, allowing users to delve deeper into their research. NATP members can add the Ask Blue J research tool to their resources at a special negotiated rate. … Payments fintech Airwallx announced a partnership with Float, a B2B fintech. Airwallex is now powering Float's Bill Pay product, enabling payouts, bank transfers, EFT, wire and ACH all through one platform tailored to the needs of Canadian SMBs. This is intended to help Float customers eliminate manual AP processes by increasing visibility and control over their company's largest expenses with automated invoice collection, payment and reconciliation, all while minimizing costly foreign exchange fees. … Digital commerce solutions provider focused on the Middle East and Africa Network International and global technology and financing fintech Biz2X announced a new SME financing partnership. Merchants that use Network's payments platform will have digital access to financing options and can opt-in from a variety of credit offers embedded via Biz2X. Financing options through this partnership are expected to become available to Network's UAE-based SME merchants early in the fourth quarter of 2024. Lenders, including banks and fintechs, will be able to utilize Biz2X's digital underwriting platform to establish customized credit parameters and underwriting guidelines. Accessing Biz2X's data ecosystem, these lenders will have access to detailed financial transaction data of each applying merchant to expedite precise credit assessments. The platform facilitates automated credit decision-making, enabling lenders to extend financing swiftly and accurately, reducing the need for human intervention. … Travel and expense solutions provider Emburse announced a strategic relationship with Finexio, an Accounts Payable (AP) Payments as a Service company. Emburse customers will have access to Finexio's AP solutions so as to address long standing AP challenges in the B2B payments market. This suite of payment options includes Mastercard virtual cards, FinexioExpress, Card by Mail, ACH, and checks to streamline operations for Emburse customers and unlock new revenue streams through rebates. ... Sales tax specialist firm Davis, Davis and Harmon announced its strategic adoption of Alteryx, an enterprise analytics platform. The combination of DDH's specialized expertise and Alteryx's technological proficiency in managing high-volume, sophisticated data challenges positions DDH and its clients ahead of the digital transformation curve.

New hires and appointments

Intuit announced the appointment of Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center Solutions Business at AMD, to its board of directors. His appointment reflects the company's turn towards AI, as Norrod is a major player in AMD's efforts towards the new technology, driving the company's data center growth and open AI ecosystem strategy. …Melio, a B2B payments platform for small businesses, announced the appointment of Nicholas Passarelli as its chief compliance officer, charged with leading compliance across all corporate operations and supporting Melio's rapid growth. In his role, Passarelli will focus on developing a robust compliance program for Melio and obtaining Money Transmitter Licenses (MTLs) in all states and territories where Melio operates, creating more payment opportunities for Melio customers. Passarelli has over 20 years of experience in compliance and has built and managed full-scale compliance programs for financial, cryptocurrency, and fintech companies. … Medius, a provider of autonomous AP and wider spend management solutions, announced the appointment of Ashley Botten as executive vice president of EMEA sales, and the promotion of Mary Flynn Barton to executive vice president of North America sales as the company aims to strengthen its global sales leadership after a period of rapid growth across markets. Based in London, Botten will be responsible for developing strategy and building sales across EMEA. Meanwhile, Barton is an award-winning and top revenue-generating technology sales leader and spend management expert. She joined Medius in July of 2022 and has played an integral role in strengthening Medius' North American sales function. In addition to North American revenue responsibilities, Barton has also taken on responsibility for global sales support functions at Medius including sales enablement, sales operations and solutions consulting.

New funding

B2B payments fintech Monto exited stealth mode with $9 million in seed funding, the round being led by Scale Venture Partners with participation from Verissimo Ventures, F2 Venture Capital, Firsthand Alliance and Room40 Ventures. Serial entrepreneur Ariel Maislos and fintech angels who come from executive positions at Intuit, Plaid, Salesforce and more also participated. Monto will use the funding for its U.S. expansion and continue developing its product, which enables B2B finance teams to seamlessly get paid from any AP portal used by their enterprise customers. … Accounting-focused ERP company Rillet announced it has raised $13.5 million, led by First Round Capital (Uber, Square, Notion, Looker) and Creandum (Spotify, Klarna), Susa Ventures (Robinhood) with participation from individual investors including Kevin Hartz (founder of Eventbrite, Xoom and investor in SpaceX, Airbnb, Palantir), the former chief accounting officer of Facebook and Stripe, and the controller at Ramp.