As part of an Accounting 2.0 series I’m compiling over on CloudAve, I reached out to some accounting software visionaries to give us their take on the future of accounting/business software and how the eco system would look five or ten years out.
Well know local (local in New Zealand) luminary Rod Drury, Founder and CEO of Xero agreed to contribute to the series.
His ten broad predictions can be seen below – check out the full post here.
1. Online accounting won’t exist as a product category for long
2. Bookkeeping will go away, slowly
3. Governments get very interested in online accounting
4. Business Internet Banks will emerge
5. The Accountants channel becomes more important
6. New global leaders will emerge
7. It really will become software plus services.
8. The channel changes
9. API standardization
10. Microsoft will enter the market
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 
So Rod is thinking of selling off to Microsoft #10?
Hmmm – ask the other shareholders maybe MF?