Smith also noted that Intuit's payment processing business shows that average charge volume per merchant has improved. "It's not as bad as it was at the depth of the recession," he said. "But it's still down 3 percent year over year." Smith said that compared to a drop of 8 percent to 9 percent the prior year.

He also said that the company's small business hiring index showed that small business hiring has grown at a 3.5 percent rate. However, that isn't enough to drive the economy forward quickly. "It will take us five years to get back to 2007 employee levels," Smith commented. "It isn't a beautiful picture. It's a volatile picture. It's going to be a long, protracted recovery."

Smith repeated his frequent analysis that in recessions, the number of small businesses formed typically increases as laid off employees start their own operations. However, given the credit crunch, that hadn't happened until recently.

Bob Scott

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Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind