Acquisition integrates onboarding processes into Hyarchis document management solutions.
Eindhoven, Jan. 10 – Hyarchis has acquired the Groningen-based IT service provider DAPAS. With this acquisition, Hyarchis introduces the first comprehensive compliance solution for the accountancy market. With this, accountants automatically bring their compliance in order throughout the entire life cycle of their clients.
The acquisition comes at a time when compliance is in the spotlight within the accountancy sector. Last year, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) took over the supervision of accountants without a public interest entity (PIE), but with a Wta license for statutory audits, from the sector organizations SRA and NBA. In a recently published position paper, the AFM states that the accountancy sector does not sufficiently identify and address fraud risks. As a result, the regulator expects the industry to fulfill its role as gatekeeper better and has announced stricter controls.
Adriaan Hoogduijn, CEO of Hyarchis: “The AFM estimates that the costs of carrying out the supervision of the accountancy sector will increase from €1.5 million in 2021 to €5.1 million in 2024. This will put pressure on the traditional revenue model of accountants and put automation high on the agenda on the boards of accounting firms. The current approach of decentralized compliance, which is mostly ad hoc, with no control over the execution of the prescribed process, is no longer sustainable.”
DAPAS was founded in 2015 by former KPMG employees, who built the first application for onboarding clients following the requirements of the Wwft. The application is in use at about 120 firms in the Netherlands and helps accountants accept new clients. Jacco Oudhof, the founder of DAPAS, says of the application, “Is the UBO correct? Are there any fraudulent business activities? Is there a signed engagement letter available? DAPAS ensures that clients are accepted in an automated way, per laws and regulations. DAPAS does this in close cooperation with the trade associations in accountancy. According to Oudhof, it is time for the next chapter for DAPAS: “The organization is increasing and has found a partner in Hyarchis, which is accelerating its growth and development. DAPAS has been a great adventure, but it is time to say goodbye and let Hyarchis take the lead.”
Hyarchis serves 400 customers within the accountancy sector using document management and AI-driven compliance applications. Adriaan Hoogduijn: “By combining our forces, we offer a new proposition in the Dutch accountancy sector. With Hyarchis, we have been the market leader in document management for ten years, and with the acquisition of DAPAS, we are adding customer onboarding to this. In addition, with our merger, accountants now manage compliance fully automatedly throughout their customers’ entire lifecycle. This extends from a centralized underwriting process for new customers to automated monitoring of existing customers and trimming historical customer data. We call this joint product Hyarchis Comply: a unique solution in the Netherlands in terms of scope, but especially because of the fully automated nature of the applications.”
