Sage has launched the Accountants Business Cloud in the United Kingdom. And the immediate question is whether this will be coming to a United States near you soon. An inquiry to public relations drew the following basis "they are currently exploring what elements of the Accountants Business Cloud would make sense to leverage for the North American accountant business."

Compensation for Intuit CEO Brad Smith was essentially unchanged for the year ended July 31. Unchanged, however, is a matter of perspective. He received $12,463,669 for fiscal 2013, down from $12,564,585 in 2012, which for the rest of us is $100,000 a year, but which translates into an eight-tenths-of-one-percent decrease. Generally, an increase of stock awards made up for a more severe drop in non-equity incentive compensation. In that latter category, Smith got $1.12 million for the most recently ended year, down 32 percent from $1.65 million the prior year.

SWK Technologies has closed on an X3 sale worth more than $1.1 million. The deal was announced by SWK's parent, SilverSun Technologies, and shows the potential for SWK to end 2013 with a real boom in revenue. The amount covers software and consulting services with the customer described as an international footwear manufacturer. SilverSun CEO Mark Meller  said in a prepared statement that the previous record for deal was $700,000 for the company's first X3 transaction in 2012.

Online vendor Xero is redoing its pricing. The company is increasing the number of accounting editions available to business users and changing the subscriptions amounts. According to an investor presentation given recently, Xero has gone away from its small, medium and large versions which were priced at $19, $29 and $39 per month respectively. The new lineup begins with the Starter edition at $9 per month, then scales up to the Standard version for $40 per month.