Intuit is transforming financial decision-making with its new Intuit Assist for QuickBooks solution, an AI-powered financial assistant that will offer small businesses personalized recommendations with minimal effort.
How AI is Revolutionizing Businesses
Small businesses are weathering the storm of increasing competition, evolving customer expectations, higher operating costs and interest rates, and more. Staying in the game has become increasingly difficult – it may feel daunting to know that only 50% of small businesses survive beyond their first five years. The good news, however, is that 69% of businesses that are connected to an accountant and use the Intuit QuickBooks platform succeed beyond five years.
Why? Because small businesses that leverage emerging technologies coupled with the expertise of their accountant are able to give themselves a competitive advantage to help navigate the complex environment we’re living in. Artificial intelligence is the latest technology changing the business landscape, giving business owners a powerful tool to ramp up productivity and save time. When complemented by accountants’ advisory services, small businesses are better positioned to prosper.
Benefits of Intuit Assist for QuickBooks
Intuit Assist, which will be available to QuickBooks Online customers in the coming months, is purpose built to support the needs of business owners in four key ways: automate tasks that will help small businesses save time, provide a comprehensive view of where a business stands, present recommendations based on insights to guide actions that avoid pitfalls or meet revenue goals, and connect the owner to QuickBooks product experts if help is needed. The vision is to have Intuit Assist and access to product experts work alongside the independent accounting, bookkeeping, and tax experts who may also be connected to a small business, helping them serve more clients with greater efficiency.
Small businesses must stay on top of a massive amount of data to remain competitive. This includes web traffic, costs for customer acquisition, sales figures, conversion rates, and profitability, among others. Without the ability to properly understand what this mass amount of data is saying, the owner can find themselves missing key insights, costing them wasted time, money, and resources.
With Intuit Assist for QuickBooks, small-business owners will have access to important insights that are gathered directly from their business performance and customer behaviors. When small businesses have easy access to such vital insights, they’re able to make well-informed decisions about where they can improve, where there are opportunities for growth, how to allocate their resources, and which marketing strategies to employ.
For most businesses, analyzing all the available data is difficult, and there are still insights that remain hidden to the untrained eye. Intuit Assist will unearth valuable data and provide personalized insights such as cash flow hot spots, helping businesses to narrow their focus on activities that generate the highest income. The solution also can offer a holistic view of where the business stands, such as by showing the profit and loss from the prior month and even the top-selling offerings from the previous month. Owners can then have more fruitful conversations with their accountant on how to leverage the insights in day-to-day operations.
Equipping Accountants to Help Business Clients Reach the Next Level
Accountants aspire to support their small business clients in succeeding, and many are realizing how technology can play a key part in this. In fact, of those surveyed by QuickBook, 86% agreed that technology plays a key role in the growth and expansion of their accounting practices. Moreover, almost half (48%) expected to invest in AI technology in 2023.
At Intuit’s QuickBooks Connect event last year, accountants came together to see the latest innovations that QuickBooks is rolling out to support their practices, including Intuit Assist. Jeremy Sulzmann, vice president of the QuickBooks Accountant Partner Segment said: “Our 2023 event doubled down on how AI-driven innovations can 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.”
AI stands to be a powerhouse for accountants now and in the future. With the automation of data entry and analysis, accountants can free themselves from repetitive and tedious tasks and focus their energies on a higher level of analysis, leading to more strategic decision-making.
With AI, data can be processed faster than it can be by humans, helping to reduce errors, improve financial reporting, and create more quality time spent with clients. More efficiency in operations means that accountants can manage a higher workload, enhance turnaround times, and serve even more clients.
Small Businesses Paired with Accountants Are More Likely to Succeed
Small business owners, who are limited in resources compared with larger enterprises, are expected to wear many hats. However, many small-business owners lack the expertise to make sound financial decisions. Partnering with an accountant helps small businesses navigate the tricky and often treacherous financial waters, avoid costly mistakes, and maximize their profitability. As mentioned, more than two-thirds of businesses that are paired with an accountant and use QuickBooks survive beyond five years, demonstrating the deep impact that both have on SMBs.
Accounting firms are strategic partners that can help small businesses succeed by letting their clients stay focused on their financial goals, enhance their overall financial health, and make informed decisions on their investments and spending. In partnership with the power of QuickBooks and Intuit Assist, the mission of decreasing the small business failure rate is possible.
