Accounts and payroll firm IRIS has bought cloud-based bookkeeping software company KashFlow, creating a combined user base of more than 60,000 accountancy firms and smaller businesses in the UK.

According to IRIS, it will continue to provide its OpenBooks product to existing customers through online accounting company FreeAgent but expects to add functionality through a “close tie-in” between the IRIS Accountancy Suite and KashFlow bookkeeping in the cloud.

The acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, brings IRIS expertise in cloud bookkeeping software and gives KashFlow greater sales, marketing and support resources.

KashFlow was set up in 2006, initially selling software to Federation of Small Businesses and Prince’s Trust members.

“Around half of all UK accountancy firms already use IRIS to run their business. Now they will be able to collaborate with their clients through tight integration with the KashFlow cloud bookkeeping system,” its CEO, Duane Jackson, said in a statement.

“Being part of the wider IRIS Software Group not only gives us direct access to a significant section of the UK accountancy and SME sector but it also makes us part of a wider suite of cloud offerings.”

IRIS Software Group CEO Phill Robinson said KashFlow’s cloud services fitted well with his company’s existing suite of products.