Both are AI powered ledgers. Accrual is focused on tax, Puzzle on accounting. Tax is seasonal and accounting is continuous, so putting them together smooths the revenue out across the year. It is two companies in different spaces combining rather than one removing a competitor.
What makes it worth watching is the timing. The AI ledger category has barely existed for any time at all and it is already consolidating. Both products continue and sit separately for now, with Puzzle strengthening the cash system Accrual had been building, and the integration arriving across the back end of 2026. Puzzle keeps its brand for startups and stops selling standalone to firms.
Indi Tatla takes it wider. The same investors are buying accounting firms in several countries, because a firm is messy data and manual process inside a workflow, which is exactly what you want if you also own the software. She quotes Bill Gates, whose view is that accountants are the first white collar market to be properly disrupted. Heather Smith invites him on the podcast.
From the episode with Ryan Pearcy, Heather Smith and Indi Tatla.
Digi-Tools in Accrual World is The Loop's weekly accounting tech podcast, hosted by Ryan Pearcy, John Toon, Indi Tatla, Eriona Bajrakurtaj and Ian Gregory.
Full episodes: https://digitoolsinaccrual.world
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