Accounting software company Xero's customer growth is accelerating and, assuming it keeps up its current pace, should have about 30,000 customers by March 2011, says Barry Lindsay at First NZ Capital.

MYOB finally released its online accounting solution LiveAccounts today, stiffening up competition to the only other New Zealand software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Xero.

Online accounting software provider Xero (XRO) announced today that it now has more than 20,000 paying small business customers. This compares with more than 17,000 reported at 31 March 2010.

Xero has entered into a regional agreement with ANZ to distribute its online accounting services to ANZ customers.

The agreement allows for exclusive distribution in Australia and to explore opportunities in Singapore, New Zealand and more broadly across the Asia Pacific region.

MYOB has announced the upcoming release of MYOB LiveAccounts, an online accounting solution for New Zealand businesses, although its research has found most businesses don't want to use purely online solutions.

Xero reported a wider full-year loss as it spent more to ramp up global growth.

The net loss was $8.45 million, or 10 cents a share, in the 12 months ended March 31, from a loss of $6.75 million, or 12 cents a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Sales rose 229% to $3.2 million.

MYOB says accountants will be able to improve their production by at least 40% by using the latest accounting revolution, the common general ledger, developed for implementation in MYOB's Accountants Office (AO), AccountRight and Live Accounts software.

The world's first accounting software able to be used efficiently by the blind and vision impaired is attracting increasing interest from blind organizations in Australia, the United States and other countries around the globe.

Kiwi businesses shouldn't be satisfied with 'the crumbs from Australia's table', with nothing fundamentally stopping the two economies from competing on an even footing and achieving similar outcomes, according to MYOB chief executive Tim Reed.

Around a third of small and medium businesses (SMEs) have reported a revenue decrease over the last 12 months according to the April MYOB Business Monitor.

Xero says it will report operating revenues in excess of $3 million for the 2010 financial year which is  triple the revenue for the 2009 financial year.

MYOB has entered into a strategic supplier agreement with BankLink for the supply of bank transaction data to be used in a range of new MYOB products.

Accounting software provider Acclipse is openly taking on one of the big players in this space, MYOB, and ruffled a few feathers in the process.

Xero appears to have exploded onto the accounting scene, now being used in more than 50 countries and with plans to have a presence in the United States.

James Wigglesworth, Francois Bondiguel and Jason Leong are not native to Dunedin but they appear to have been inspired by the southern city's Scottish heritage in the creation of their start-up venture, Pocketsmith.

Listed online accounting software company Xero has changed its pricing plan for SMEs from a single price point to three tiers.

BankLink has been selected as a finalist in the 2009 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise "International Business Awards" which recognise New Zealand's most successful exporting businesses.