Intuit Hits 50,000 QuickBooks ProAdvisors, Announces New Doc Mgt and Work Exchange Programs

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Intuit Inc. (www.Intuit.com) the makers of QuickBooks, Lacerte and ProSeries, announced in June that its QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program now has more than 50,000 members, most of whom are accountants, CPAs and independent business consultants. The program provides crucial training, software, technical support, and other resources to help tax and accounting practitioners grow their practices and support clients using QuickBooks financial software.

Since the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program’s inception in 1997, there has been a 48 percent increase in the number of companies that use QuickBooks. More than 3.7 million small businesses use QuickBooks and as of March 2008, QuickBooks’ share of retail units in the business accounting category reached 94.2 percent, according to NPD Group.

“These milestones come at a poignant time as both accountants and the small businesses they serve are looking for ways to thrive and grow amidst the current economic uncertainties,” said Jill Ward, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Accounting Professionals Division. “Our success is determined by the success of our community and we continue to offer the highest level of service in order to remain the top resource for accounting professionals as they serve their clients and build their businesses.” More information on the ProAdvisor program is at: http://proadvisor.intuit.com.

Solving for Staffing Shortages
According to the 2007 AICPA Top Management of an Accounting Practice Issues Survey, finding qualified staff is the top concern among accounting firms in the U.S. Intuit has announced a new program aimed at relieving some of the pains of this issue. Through the Intuit Accountant Work Exchange, accountants who have excess tax and accounting work will be able to easily find and qualify accounting professionals with capacity to take on additional work.

Professionals looking for extra projects can create a profile listing their experience and qualifications, search for jobs in the marketplace and apply to the ones they are interested in. Accountants seeking to hire contractors can easily create new projects and search prospects by geographic locations, accreditations and with which Intuit products they have experience, including QuickBooks, Lacerte, ProSeries or Intuit Payroll Solutions.

Document Management for QuickBooks
Another key issue facing the accounting and tax industry is the continuing movement toward the paperless practice. According to Intuit research, accountants spend approximately 65 percent of their time working with documents, filing, retrieving and sharing files. On average, a four-drawer filing cabinet can cost $25,000 to fill and $2,000 a year to maintain – 80 percent of which is cost for labor. Plus, misfiled documents can cost up to $120 to replace, according to the research.