Intuit, which has been testing a loan program for small businesses, has launched one in cooperation with OnDeck. The partners will offer $100-million fund as part of QuickBooks Financing Line of Credit. Intuit has been talking about the need for such a program for more than a year and testing its ability to help small businesses receive funding. Interest rates will range fro 8.9 percent to 19.9 percent and will be funded in as little time as one business day.

Sage has extended an alliance with Microsoft via which the two will collaborate on product development on the Office 365 platform. This follows this year's agreement with Salesforce.com which enabled the company to get Sage Live to the market. The Sage announcement said, "Sage will deliver next-generation accounting and bookkeeping productivity tools built on best-in-class Microsoft cloud solutions."  (Does Sage have bookkeeping software?) The press release is not that clear about the kind of products that will be developed and I've had no luck getting clarification or any statement that this is as much as we will get for the moment.

The surprising that about the announcement that Xero has built an integration with Avalara's sales tax rates and returns is that it has not happened before. Avalara has integrated with about every accounting software package you can think of, but not with the New Zealand company's cloud package previously. Avalara has also linked its TrustFile tax return service with Xero so they can prepare sales tax returns.

SAP's CEO Bill McDermott has reported he lost an eye as a result of an accident this summer. He said was in the United States at a relative's house when he slipped on carpeted stairs with a glass of water in his hand. A shard of glass embedded in his left eye when he fell face first and landed on the pieces, according to an Associated Press news report. He briefly lost consciousness but came to and his cries brought help. News reports said he could have bled to death if he had not regained consciousness.