Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting Expands Software Offerings with Agreement to Acquire Acclipse

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting announced it has assigned an agreement to acquire Acclipse Limited, provider of online accounting software to firms in Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed on July 13, 2012.

“The acquisition of Acclipse will further advance Wolters Kluwer’s leadership position in providing software and cloud solutions for accounting firms and finance professionals, and our strategic expansion into collaborative accounting solutions, building on our acquisition of Twinfield in the Netherlands in 2011,” said Kevin Robert, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting CEO.

Through the acquisition, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting can expand its cloud-based software offerings to professionals and their clients in the region.

“CCH knows that accounting firms are trusted advisers to SMEs. The Acclipse suite, which was designed from the ground up to help accountants better service their clients, is at the heart of what we do,” said Russell Evans, President of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting Asia Pacific and CEO of Wolters Kluwer Asia Pacific. “CCH will now be better placed more than ever to leverage our deep subject-matter expertise, global presence, rich content assets and robust technology platforms to help accounting firms work hand-in-hand with their SME clients, and ensure ‘true collaboration.’”

The acquisition follows Wolters Kluwer’s acquisition of Business Fitness New Zealand in 2011. Business Fit New Zealand already integrates with Acclipse Document Management and clients will now have the added benefit of accessing content and documents online.

“When combined with CCH’s outstanding content, Acclipse’s cloud-based accounting solution will give CCH a unique offering – a fully integrated suite of software, workpapers, templates and checklists, deep research content and subject-matter expertise,” said Evans. “We’re calling this offering CCH iFirm − the all-embracing firm in the cloud.”

Acclipse, which provides services to more than 1,000 firms and 10,000 users in New Zealand, Australia and Asia Pacific, is eager to join CCH, says Mike Chisholm, CEO and Founder of Acclipse.

“This acquisition will allow Acclipse to remain focused on our core competency – offering accountants and their clients great online accounting software,” said Chisholm. “The global reach of CCH and Wolters Kluwer will allow us to expand the reach of our iFirm and iBizz products, and integrate these with relevant content sources to bring accountants and their clients together and achieve significant productivity improvements,” Chisholm said.