Salesforce gets behind accounting startup

Enterprise services vendor Salesforce.com has taken stake in a new accounting service set to launch on its Force.com platform.

The company has taken a minority stake in FinancialForce.com, a financial software startup which will create tools exclusively for the Salesforce Force.com enterprise service platform.

Parent company Unit 4 Agresso said that it would retain the controlling stake in the new firm, whose flagship product will be an adaption of the CODA 2go online accounting service.

The new company hopes that the FinancialForce service will allow users to access powerful accounting tools within the Force.com platform.

The company said that it will offer services for both large enterprises and SMBs alike.

"FinancialForce.com will do for finance and accounting what Salesforce.com has done for CRM," declared chief executive Jeremy Roche.

"We are enabling customers of all sizes to choose accounting as part of a broader, integrated cloud computing solution and giving them the power of enterprise accounting without the pain of owning the software themselves."

In addition to its minority investment in the company, Salesforce.com will also have a seat on the FinancialForce.com's board of directors. The company has tabbed George Hu, executive vice president of marketing and alliances, for the position.