Cloud accounting providers’ attitudes to developers

Ian Kent
Ian Kent
Jul 27, 2017 · 1 min read

I’m currently developing a SaaS platform that ties into various cloud accounting platforms.

Something that’s stood out for me while looking into integrations is the attitude the providers have for developers building on their APIs.

A great example is Kashflow which presents developers with this lovely copy:

We love developers of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re a Microsoftie, a LAMPer or a Perl-a-holic we want to make it as easy as possible for you to work with our accounting API.

You are encouraged to develop scripts and utilities that use our API. You are welcome to distribute them for free or to charge for them.

Other notable providers are Xero, Intuit and Sage who all provide SDKs, APIs and other tools to help developers build apps that integrate with their services.

We’ve come a long way in the accounting profession where software is now key and the large accounting software providers are opening up their systems for small developers to add value for customers using their products.

It’s a good time to be a developer.

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