Technology
Intuit Unveils the New QBOA
Jan. 28, 2014
Last year, Intuit created true harmony among its products and services, rolling out one look and feel that would make it easier for users to switch between products. The financial management solution provider has now extended that harmony to its QuickBooks Online Accountant solution. In February, Intuit debuted its enhanced QuickBooks Online for Accountants.
In addition to boasting the same look and feel as other Intuit products and services, the enhanced version of QBOA now also features wholesale billing, unlimited users and a new notes and tasks function. QBOA, which launched in October 2012, is one of the company’s most popular products worldwide with more than 124,000 accountants signed up for the service.
One key enhancement to this new version is the capability for users to set up wholesale pricing and billing for new QuickBooks Online clients, currently only available in QBOA. Wholesale pricing and billing allows for clients to be put on one bill managed only by the accountant and supports the accounting practice moving to a value billing model more efficiently. With the new wholesale pricing capability, accountants can now purchase new QuickBooks Online subscriptions at a 30 percent discount and get a unified bill for all the subscriptions.
Another enhancement includes seamless integration with Tax Online. Previously, users had to access the original QBO file in order to launch Tax Online in another window. With the new QBOA, accountants can work seamlessly from the same program, accessing QBO files and Tax Online files directly from the QBOA home screen.
“Users will notice this version has a much closer integration to Tax Online. Currently, no one else has a rich cloud-based accounting and tax solution. We’ve been able to bring both together in a way no one else can,” said Samir Khosla, director of product management, Intuit Accountant and Advisor Group. “The market for rich accounting and tax solutions is there and we will continue to see a need as more accountants look to take their firms to the cloud.”
The new version also features improved support for multiple users. Previously, everyone used the same login and password, leaving no audit trail. It was hard to restrict user access and determine who was responsible for which tasks, changes and errors. Now, users can create information for employees and add new ones. In addition, users can designate employees as users or owners – giving them authority to add other employees.
“We have received a lot of requests to add multiple user capabilities. It has been the number one requested feature and now our customers are able to create multiple logins for an unlimited number of users and assign roles to each user. This new feature makes it even easier for staff to collaborate,” said Khosla.
The notes and tasks feature will make it easier for users to collaborate seamlessly with each other. In the program, users can add quick notes to clients or assign tasks to other users. Any user can create a task or note and assign it to someone else.
Intuit rolled out the new version of QBOA in phases. During the initial phase, select users tested the solution in beta before it was eventually made available to everyone.
“We received lots of customer input and researched design and technology trends to create a new user interface and pattern. As a result, we learned a lot this last year about how we can continue to take our products to the next level,” said Khosla.