Intuit is developing an office management suite for tax and accounting professionals that will also integrate across Lacerte, QuickBooks and Microsoft Outlook. The company is not ready to release specifics about the functionality, but the move would put Intuit in the practice management software market, something that has been missing in its professional line, and give it more products for larger firms.
A spokesman said the suite would track client data, documents, project statuses, due dates and invoices across the firm. The system would also manage time and billing in real-time, and "streamline client data exchange through electronic file uploads and file sharing via a secure exchange connection," the spokesman said. The integration involving Lacerte, QuickBooks and Outlook would enable users to manage client contact information.
No information is available on pricing nor are the applications available for demo. However, they will be ready for public view later this year, although no date or quarter was specified as the target for releasing them.
The spokesperson noted that the product would give Intuit the ability to serve larger firms and described the suite as "solving accounting and tax professionals’ end-to-end workflow and practice management needs, broadening the potential customer base, including larger firms, while still meeting the needs of the sole practitioner."
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
