Posted on 12/28/2024 3:23:12 PM PST by Steven Scharf
TechCrunch
Bench shuts down, leaving thousands of businesses without access to accounting and tax docs Charles Rollet 1:52 PM PST · December 27, 2024
Bench, a Canada-based accounting startup that offered software-as-a-service for small and medium-sized businesses, has abruptly shut down, according to a notice posted on its website.
“We regret to inform you that as of December 27, 2024, the Bench platform will no longer be accessible,” the notice reads.
The company’s entire website is currently offline except for the notice, leaving thousands of businesses in the lurch. Bench touted having more than 35,000 U.S. customers just hours before it was shut down, according to a snapshot saved by the Internet Archive.
Bench, which had raised $113 million from high-profile backers such as Shopify and Bain Capital Ventures, developed a software platform to help customers store and manage their bookkeeping and tax reporting documents.
The move is a shock to current and former customers. Justin Metros, the co-founder and CTO of Radiator, said years of his company’s accounting and tax documents are still stored on the site, although he no longer uses the platform. He learned about the shutdown from TechCrunch.
. . .
Bench’s notice says its customers should file a six-month extension with the IRS to “find the right bookkeeping partner.” It also says customers will be able to download their data by December 30 and will have until March 2025 to do so.
The notice recommends customers migrate to Kick, a new accounting startup that announced its $9 million seed raise in October 2024 in a round led by OpenAI and General Catalyst. Kick’s CEO and founder, Conrad Wadowski, posted a message on LinkedIn to former Bench users about how Kick is “working to get your financials back in your hands.”
(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...
‘Business’ isn’t the ONLY entity that should avoid the cloud!
“Reason # 1 not to use subscription services for mission critical operations.”
What would you recommend?
There are PLENTY of websites out there that your SSN and your NAME tied together.
(And they ain’t all government!)
“Anyone with internet access can find your SS number.”
Sure, but they have to pay $50 for it and leave breadcrumbs.
Of course they can try the Dark Web, but considering that place is crawling with feds, one has to be careful there when breaking the law.
I’ve always thought it unwise to let anyone else hold your data or to use licensed software to process it.
“There are PLENTY of websites out there that your SSN and your NAME tied together.”
Name one. I’ll see if mine is there.
Unfortunately.
I don’t keep any data in the “cloud,” period. It’s all local, even my email. I have two local off-line backups as well.
Imagine if Quicken shut down.
Have done accounting since 1957.
WOULD NEVER STORE ANY OF MY RECORDS OFF SITE.
HAD MY OWN SOFTWARE TO DO BOOKKEEPING FOR OTHERS-—AND THEY STORED THEIR OWN COPIES.
When I was done with a client-—I deleted their data.
I have PAPER records of my own back over 50 years. DOESN’T take that much room to store them.
I’ll take the opportunity to mention that it’s the sadistic tax code that requires this sort of record keeping, and that if the income tax were replaced with the NRST then businesses wouldn’t need to have this vulnerability depending on third parties so much for tax compliance.
YOU can’t get to the data.
See if you can look up your driver’s license data online.
Or your taxes, or your deep medical data, or the dossier the FBI has on you.
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