Visma invests in Accountable with plans of complete acquisition

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Another independent bookkeeping and tax software in Europe is to be swallowed: In a LinkedIn media blitz, a Handelsblatt report (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) and a press statement from Visma (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), it was announced that the Belgian and German bookkeeping and tax software for the self-employed, Accountable (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), receives an investment from Norwegian group Visma (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), supposedly valuing the Belgian company at a high two-digit million euro valuation.

Part of the undisclosed investment will pay out the existing VC investors, the founders and the current employees. A complete acquisition of Accountable by Visma is reportedly planned at a later date.

About Visma, a major player

Visma is a privately held Norwegian company operating in Europe and Latin America, offering accounting, payroll, invoicing, and HR software. Owned by London-based majority shareholder Hg (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Visma is backed by private equity and has operated in its current form since 1996. In 2024, it generated 2,8 billion euro in revenue, resulting in an EBITDA of more than 890 million euro.

But, yes, you should’ve heard of Visma, as they’re constantly buying and investing globally: Recently, Austrian Finmatics (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a pre-accounting software provider with over 1.200 business customers in Austria and Germany, was acquired, strengthening Visma’s European bookkeeping offerings.

Even more interesting is a German acquisition that already dates back two years. In early 2023, Visma acquired bookkeeping software BuchhaltungsButler (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Back then, the first acquisition in Germany.

About Accountable, a rising star

Founded in 2019, Accountable is widespread software for the self-employed in Belgium and is also slowly but surely entering the German market successfully.

Focusing on the self-employed in Germany, Accountable, offering a bank account through its partnership with Swan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), is now basically a substitute for unsatisfied Kontist by Ageras (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) users. Yes, Kontist still offers solid business banking by partnering with Swan’s German competitor Solaris SE (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), but the bookkeeping and tax tools – in direct comparison – could need a breath of fresh air.

Besides banking, Accountable’s team has consistently released innovative solutions over the past years. They score points with their (tax) support and features like tax buckets, a tax calculator, a “tax guarantee” and a 24/7 AI tax advisor.

So, what do we think of all this?

Well, the immediate comparison to this investment is the 2022 acquisition of German Kontist by the Danish Ageras (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Group: Same market, a Nordic business group, and the promise to keep everything unchanged.

While Ageras aims to unify everything under one technical and visual umbrella, Visma seems to be more at ease with its acquired software companies, leaving the existing brands as is and is further supporting their original visions.

However, when it comes to Visma’s strategy, the past might not always be a good indicator for the future: Having two complementary accounting and tax tools in your portfolio could generate pleasant synergies, with Accountable offering a newly introduced banking product and a user-friendly interface for small businesses and BuchhaltungsButler having a double-entry bookkeeping solution ready to take on more complicated cases like German GmbHs.

Meanwhile, the third foreign contender, French Cegid (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), that acquired sevdesk (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) for a reported triple-digit million euro figure in March, is looming in the background.

With Ageras (Kontist) and Cegid (sevdesk) as direct competitors and the German solutions from Lexware (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Pennylane (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (soon), and Qonto (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) all around, it seems the current mood in this software market is to aim for one all-encompassing software solution for small- and medium-sized businesses in Germany (and beyond). That means offering a bank account, bookkeeping, the ability to send business and private tax returns directly from the software, lending possibilities, and (e-)invoicing. Add direct access to a tax advisor service for good measure.

It is not black and white

The combination of these two acquisitions (BuchhaltungsButler and Accountable) by Visma might play into the current mood, while having a good starting point to support limited liability companies with a combined bookkeeping and tax product. On the other hand, it is said that Accountable remains an independent entity, with the founders remaining in the company, currently serving over 26.000 customers.

In the end, the natural move feels like going all in for a German all-in-one bookkeeping and tax solution for small- and medium-sized businesses to be able to compete with everything that is out there. But in a complex market like Germany, it might be wise to show some restraint and reap the potential rewards more slowly.

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