Intuit QuickBooks doubles down on AI to help accountants stay competitive and drive small business growth

Presented by Intuit

AI has dominated headlines throughout the year, with organizations across a variety of industries experimenting with the technology. While some are concerned about AI’s impact on specific professions, many are embracing what it has to offer, including how it can make time for people to do the strategic and creative work that a robot could never replicate.

Accountants are one such example: in fact, 82% of accountants say technology is creating more meaningful client interactions, and 48% plan to go all-in on AI, and invest in automation tools and artificial intelligence over the next 12 months. 

The move toward AI was reflected in this year’s QuickBooks Connect event, which showcased a range of innovations to a sold-out audience of more than 2,500 accounting professionals. Intuit’s AI vision took center stage as a significant driver of the company’s focus on solving the most important financial challenges for their small business customers and the accountants who serve them.

AI, and generative AI in particular, is enabling the QuickBooks ecosystem to stand as a trusted financial assistant by the side of accountants, says Jeremy Sulzmann, vice president of the Partners Segment Business at Intuit QuickBooks, providing them with recommendations and delivering the kind of actionable insights that help companies thrive.

“Accounting professionals are our most valued partner,” Sulzmann explains. “Our 2023 event is doubling down on how AI-driven innovations help accountants and the small businesses they serve gain insights to make more informed business decisions. Together, we’re unlocking new ways to power prosperity.”

Here’s a look at just some of the AI-powered, accountant-focused highlights on display during QuickBooks Connect.

Intuit Assist for QuickBooks in action

Last month, Intuit announced its new generative AI-powered financial assistant, Intuit Assist for QuickBooks. It’s now available in limited beta, but conference attendees were treated to a demo of the new tool.

Intuit Assist will offer automated tasks and workflows, such as invoicing and action plans to help meet business goals, and answer pressing financial questions on the spot. Users will not only be able to ask it to perform tasks like sending invoices, sourcing profitability insights, identifying top-selling products by month and so on, but will have an assistant working in the background to proactively surface relevant insights based on a business’s performance and customers’ behavior.

Intuit Assist for QuickBooks is designed to complement an accounting firm’s expertise, providing opportunities for growth and scale by working alongside them so they can deliver even greater value to clients.

The tool is expected to roll out to all QuickBooks Online customers in the U.S. in the coming months.

Innovating within the QuickBooks ecosystem

In addition to the demo of Intuit Assist, QuickBooks also announced several new innovations across the platform to help drive greater efficiency for accountants and their small business clients alike. Some highlights include:

QuickBooks Ledger: QuickBooks Ledger is a cost-effective solution for accountants to help serve their year-end, tax-only and low transactional clients on one standardized platform, even those who may not yet have in-depth needs yet. This is another example of how QuickBooks is harnessing the power of automation — streamlining manual workflows such as bank feeds and reconciliation so accountants can focus on higher-impact work.

QuickBooks Online Advanced: A flexible solution with functional add-ons (additional terms and fees may apply), QuickBooks Online Advanced is designed to meet the unique needs of businesses as they scale. It offers workflow automation, more robust reporting tools and deep integrations to third-party applications, providing a higher level of performance, scalability and customization. Several updates to QuickBooks Online Advanced were announced during QuickBooks Connect, all of which ladder back to helping businesses streamline work so they can focus on day-to-day operations.

QuickBooks Online Payroll: Designed to meet the team management needs of growing business, QuickBooks Online Payroll simplifies the complex world of human capital management (HCM) by providing access to integrated payroll, time tracking, HR and employee benefits in one place. Expanded capabilities announced include payroll cost allocation and payroll item management, both of which streamline the payroll process to free up time for the business owner. QuickBooks also announced several enhancements within its payroll solution that meet the HR Information System needs of growing businesses, including a hub for employers and employees to manage employee data, share and store HR-related documents, access team directories, and create org charts.

QuickBooks Online e-commerce Innovations: QuickBooks is rolling out several new e-commerce updates for QuickBooks Online, designed to help small businesses seamlessly manage inventory across multiple sales channels from one central location. With product-based businesses often using inefficient methods, including spreadsheets and pen and paper, to track inventory, the new e-commerce capabilities help businesses manage orders and inventory with less work. New and updated features allow customers to sync across sales channels, spot opportunities for growth, maintain accurate inventory, seamlessly replenish low stock and more — all ultimately driving greater efficiency gains for the business.

Technology is continuing to shift how we think about accounting, and AI is the latest step in the direction of leveraging tech to support the industry. AI has the power to complement accountants’ services and scale efficiency, ultimately driving greater benefits for both firms and their clients. With this in mind, QuickBooks is working alongside accountants to help inform its AI roadmap to deliver an ecosystem that helps save time and become more confident in how their business is running.

Dig deeper: Learn more here more about this year’s announcements from QuickBooks Connect. For more on the ways the QuickBooks Online platform is helping accounting professionals and small businesses thrive, visit QuickBooks.com.

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