As expected at any software vendor conference, Intuit unveiled several improvements that are now or will be available soon in QuickBooks Online, Mobile and Accountant products.Announced at Intuit’s sixth annual QuickBooks Connect conference, the company unveiled several AI-driven features in its QuickBooks Online products that are designed to simplify and automate typically tedious work.
Cash Flow Improvements
QuickBooks Online now uses AI to automate certain repetitive back-office work, reduce friction in getting paid, and improve forecasts of cash flow. Intuit said that coming soon in QBO will be an AI-powered Cash Flow Planner, which offers small business clients a full view of their cash flow in order to make the best decisions. This tool will enable small businesses to predict their daily cash flow over the next 90 days.
The Planner tool proactively alerts business owners when a negative situation is on the horizon and provides recommendations around how to navigate the situation In addition, the planner can be used for scenario planning to help users answer questions such as: “Is it safe to hire another employee now, given my forecasted cash flow in the coming few months?”
Next, the QuickBooks Payments feature in QBO will soon enable instant deposit payments, giving small businesses access to funds after getting paid, whether through bank transfers or credit card, rather than waiting several business days. Businesses can create a payment-enabled invoice in less than one minute, with their hours, expenses and mileage added automatically through AI. They can also customize their invoice, take a deposit or structure installments and allow customers to pay in a variety of formats, enhancing their customer service while improving their cash flow.Rounding out the cash flow theme are improvements to QuickBooks Capital, specifically the availability of loans to certain QuickBooks Desktop customers in addition to QuickBooks Online.
Preaccounting
The new QuickBooks Mobile app now includes Receipt Capture, which allows small businesses to upload, email or snap receipts for improved expense management. Receipt Capture extracts relevant data from the receipt so small businesses can either create a new transaction or find a match between the receipt and an existing expense transaction in QuickBooks.
Mileage Tracking
Next, Intuit announced that QuickBooks Online can now track and separate business mileage from personal to identify more potential tax deductions and savings, a feature previously only available in QuickBooks Online Self-Employed. Leveraging AI, QuickBooks Mileage Tracking automatically recognizes frequent trip routes, allows users to mark locations as “favorites” and can proactively recommend rules to ensure trips are consistently marked as business or personal.
Midsized Business Focus
New features coming soon in QuickBooks Online Advanced, Intuit’s midsized business-focused product, include the ability to automate transactions and workflows and an integration with a leading cloud-based organization and customer relationship management tool. Additional QuickBooks Online Advanced features designed for high-growth businesses include
- advanced reporting
- the ability to process more transactions
- increased in-product support
- integration with 700 apps
New Dashboards
QuickBooks Online Accountant will soon have a Business Performance which is designed to provide key metrics, trends and ratios in one click. Specifically designed for accountants, the technology inside QuickBooks automatically calculates ratios and displays key trends from their client’s data that can help accountants identify areas their clients should focus on to improve business performance.
Intuit Increasing AI Offerings in QuickBooks Online first appeared on accountingweb
