QuickBooks’s summer product release for Coronavirus recovery

​The leading financial software in the United Kingdom, QuickBooks, introduces a ton of new tools as part of its summer release to help small businesses that are struggling for survival amid the pandemic and to improve long-time resilience.

According to a recent press release from Intuit, customers will see PayPal integration with QuickBooks, an updated cash flow planner, as well as an updated payroll function that companies can use to manage furloughed workers. Also included in the release is streamlined services for construction SMBs and accounting firms.
 
According to Intuit, a large percentage of small businesses—specifically 58%—had the tendency to fail within their first five years before the advent of the Coronavirus.  The new set of tools in QuickBooks is aimed at reducing the prospects of such failures by putting digital at the heart of businesses.
Intuit further says that 60% of small businesses experience the issue of poor cash flow before the pandemic and that poor cash flow is the biggest reason why many such businesses fail. Proffering a solution to the issue of poor cash flow, Intuit has made the cash flow planner tool available on all editions and on all platforms of QuickBooks. Before, the feature was only available on the IOS version of QuickBooks.

How does the cash flow planner work? According to Intuit, the updated cash flow planner is powered by a dedicated artificial intelligence and Open Banking. With this, the planner pulls data from numerous sources to give business insights into their cash flow, thus equipping them with adequate data to make more informed decisions.
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Also, small businesses can harness this feature to get a prediction of their cash flow three months up front and ultimately get an overview of how situations such as removing rental costs, changing workforce capacity, etc., can influence their cash flow.

Updated Expense Manager to Ease Burden on Admins

Additionally, as stated in the press release, improvements have been made to the expense manager feature so as to automate certain processes. There are also a few add-ons, and one of these is an all-new Bill Caption feature, which allows users to process bills using three different methods, such as drag and drop, email, or upload. The improvements made to the expense manager also allow users to categorize bills directly from the receipt tabs, thus aiding better transparency on expenses.

QuickBooks Employee Portal

This feature, which allows admins to digitally manage employees, was only available to advanced QuickBooks payroll customers, but will now be accessible by even regular payroll customers at no extra cost. The portal makes it easy for employees to directly manage shifts, view bank information, as well as tender expenses and leave requests. On the flip side, admins will be able to oversee what changes made, and grant permissions to requests made.
 
Again, according to Intuit, a survey conveyed by them revealed that one-fifth of small business owners complained that the issue of late or delayed payment has intensified since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, largely because of businesses working at less capacity. In response to this, Intuit has expanded its collaboration with PayPal.

How does this new collaboration help tackle the issue of late payment? According to Director of Project Management, Intuit, Shaun Shirazian, customers will be able to add in their invoice the options to “Pay with PayPal” or “Pay with Credit Card or Debit Card”, thereby helping SMBs get their invoices processed and paid within a short time.
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In order to encourage customers to use the “Pay with PayPal” option, Intuit says that transactions made with the option will come with special rates. 

Open Banking Integration with TransferWise

​QuickBooks is also collaborating with a tech company, TransferWise. With this collaboration, TransferWise customers will be able to load transactions directly into their accounts. According to Intuit, this will help streamline the need for companies to upload statements manually. Also, it will aid quicker and easier reconciling of accounts for business owners.
 
Rounding up their press release, Intuit also introduces a new Month End Review tool. The tool is designed to help accountants close clients’ books more efficiently, thanks to a dedicated final review checklist. Asked when to expect this tool, Intuit says that it will soon be launched on QuickBooks Online Accountant.