Intuit is looking to help small businesses and accountants find more ways to get ahead and make more money with the new version of QuickBooks, their small business financial software. Intuit QuickBooks Accounting 2009 offers new features designed to help them get more productive, gain insights on their business, attract new customers and do business in today’s global and changing economy.
The launch of QuickBooks 2009 is meant to build on Intuit’s Small Business “Connected Services” strategy and bring together online services such as free Web site creation and hosting for one year, and better online banking. Also new is Live Community, which connects QuickBooks users directly to Intuit’s Small Business Community so they can have their questions answered by hundreds of thousands of accountants, experts and other small businesses like themselves, helping them get back to running their business.
“Intuit QuickBooks 2009 is one of our best releases in years, giving small businesses more reasons to be optimistic even in tough economic times,”said Rick Jensen, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Small Business Group. “The powerful new features help small businesses become more productive while finding new ways to make money and succeed in a global economy.”
One new feature in QuickBooks 2009, Client Data Review is designed to increase accountants’ productivity by helping them find and correct their clients’ errors. Accountants can review and fix errors in account balances, charts of accounts and several other categories, all from a single screen. This feature saves accountants more than 30 percent of time spent on each client, resulting in hundreds of hours saved per year. Users will also have better access to online banking to save time on data entry and increase the accuracy of their financial records by easily connecting to and downloading transactions from their participating financial institution directly into QuickBooks.
Users can automatically get general business advice and answers to their QuickBooks questions within the product from Live Community. Live Community enables businesses to share knowledge and best practices with other businesses throughout the Intuit Small Business Community. About 80 percent of QuickBooks questions can be answered right from the product, and users can also get their general business questions answered by hundreds of thousands of accountants, experts and other small businesses owners.
Intuit research shows that while less than half of small businesses have a Web site, more than 95 percent want one. Users can now create a customized, free Web site to reach current and new customers. Intuit will host the Web site for free for 12 months from the date of purchase.
Intuit QuickBooks Accounting 2009 products are currently available direct from Intuit at www.quickbooks.com and will be available beginning Oct. 8 at leading retailers including Amazon.com, Best Buy, CDW, Circuit City, Costco, Fry’s Electronics, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart.
Suggested retail prices are:
Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Simple Start Edition 2009: $99.95.
Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009: $199.95.
Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Premier Edition 2009 (including industry-specific editions for accountants, contractors, manufacturers and wholesalers, nonprofits, professional service firms and retailers): $399.95.
QuickBooks Simple Start Free is also available for download at www.quickbooks.com.
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