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ACCOUNTANT SPOTLIGHT

Introducing Lily Yong

Here’s how QuickBooks helped transform Lily’s accounting practice, empowering her to navigate the challenges of cloud adoption and future-proof her business for the digital age.

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The practice and the vision

A chartered accountant for her entire career, Lily Yong brings a wealth of experience from the Big 4 and an internal audit management role at a listed company in Australia. Eighteen years ago, she founded InTune Outsourcing, an accounting and human resource practice based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that primarily serves the small to medium-sized business (SMB) market.

Lily’s business model is a monthly retainer, with her firm offering clients a comprehensive team of professionals—a manager, a senior executive, and an executive—for a fee comparable to a single senior-level employee.

The strategic switch to QuickBooks

For many years, Lily’s firm relied on traditional desktop-based software. However, in 2016, she decided to make a complete transition to QuickBooks Online. This was a significant undertaking for her firm, but Lily’s vision was to modernise the practice's operations and embrace cloud technology—a forward-thinking move at a time when cloud accounting was not yet widespread in Malaysia.

Her previous software presented several key challenges. The user interface was outdated, and the reporting module lacked the flexibility needed to meet diverse client demands.

The user interface. It's very old fashioned… and then the reporting module, it was not as agile and flexible as QuickBooks.

Why Lily chose QuickBooks

Designed for accountants

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Excellent support

User-friendly

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Seamless client onboarding

The switch to QuickBooks Online was a bold, strategic move, but it also presented a few hurdles for Lily’s firm. In the short term, the transition involved migrating data and verifying its integrity (with support from the QuickBooks team), retraining her team to be comfortable in the new system, as well as convincing clients to embrace cloud technology; promoting the enhanced data security and advanced benefits of a cloud-based solution. However, in the long term, Lily’s practice and clients’ businesses prospered.

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The QuickBooks impact and tangible benefits

After the period of enrolment and hard work, the positive outcome became profoundly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many other accounting firms were in a state of "complete chaos" and couldn't operate, Lily’s cloud-based practice was able to seamlessly transition to a work-from-home model, allowing her team to resume operations almost immediately and even double the size of the firm by taking on new clients who were struggling

The improvement was leaps and bound... and that was also the period when the firm doubled in size because we were already ready.

Lily attributes this success to the ease of use, agile reporting module, and bank integration features of QuickBooks Online. The introduction of QuickBooks Online Advanced also came at a crucial time, offering features like approval workflows and customisable user access that allowed her to retain clients who were considering a switch to larger ERP software.

Future-proofing the practice

Lily advises other accountants to embrace the cloud, framing the decision as an inevitable and irreversible progression, much like the evolution of mobile phones.

It's very similar to then where we had the old versions of the mobile phone like Blackberry and Nokia. And now there's no turning back... it's really time to do so [switch to QuickBooks Online]. Otherwise... you're just gonna be left behind.

Looking ahead, Lily foresees a significant shift in the accounting profession, with AI playing a much greater role. She believes AI will automate data entry tasks, allowing accountants to move beyond manual work and focus on higher-value advisory roles—interpreting financial reports and providing strategic advice to clients.

Lily Yong

Managing Director, InTune Outsourcing

QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Lily Yong is a chartered accountant and the founder of InTune Outsourcing, an accounting and HR practice in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With 18 years of experience, she is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and CPA Australia, and a strong advocate for the adoption of cloud technology in the accounting profession.

Hear from other accountants

“I like QuickBooks because it's user friendly, it's accurate, and it's safe.”

Cecilia Tong – Singapore
Director (JJ Trusted Services)
QuickBooks Pro Advisor

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ACCOUNTANT SPOTLIGHT

Introducing Lily Yong

The practice and the vision

The strategic switch to QuickBooks

The user interface. It's very old fashioned… and then the reporting module, it was not as agile and flexible as QuickBooks.

Why Lily chose QuickBooks

Seamless client onboarding

The QuickBooks impact and tangible benefits

Future-proofing the practice

It's very similar to then where we had the old versions of the mobile phone like Blackberry and Nokia. And now there's no turning back... it's really time to do so [switch to QuickBooks Online]. Otherwise... you're just gonna be left behind.

Hear from other accountants

Hear from other accountants

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