QuickBooks Announces Full Making Tax Digital Product Suite

What an amazing two days we had at QuickBooks Connect. It was inspiring to be around so many of you Accountants, App partners and Small Business/Self-employed customers for the action-packed two-day event held at the fantastic (and very sunny) Old-Billingsgate venue. 

The weather wasn't the only thing hotting up as QuickBooks Head of Product Europe, Shaun Shirazian showed how both accounting professionals and small businesses can use QuickBooks, now, to file in compliance with the biggest tax compliance change in a generation; HMRC’s Making Tax Digital for VAT. range of product innovations to help accounting professionals and small business put digital at the hear of finances. We've also launched a MTD hotline, which can be reached at 0808 168 4238, 9-5 Monday to Friday.

In solving for MTD, QuickBooks developed tools to help accounting professionals and small businesses save time in the VAT work flow:

SmartCheck - Unique to QuickBooks, it helps accounting professionals and small businesses save time by identifying common mistakes as small businesses submit their VAT return.

Smart Notifications - Which launches soon, is a system that notifies accounting professionals when their clients need to file for VAT, pulling in due dates and automatically creating tasks in Practice Management. Both tools are included in the QuickBooks Online subscription.

QuickBooks Product Innovations for Accounting Professionals:
Announced today are a host of product updates designed to help accountants put digital at the heart of their, and their clients’ finances.

• SmartLook: We added to its award-winning customer service with the addition of SmartLook, virtual customer service now available for accounting professionals. With the click of a button, accounting professionals can speak, live, to a customer service agent who can use video technology to help with troubleshooting, tech support and questions around getting data into QuickBooks. SmartLook will give accounting professionals additional confidence that they can get fast, accurate answers when facing technical problems managing a clients’ books.
• QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll: We announced an advanced, feature rich payroll product, QuickBooks Online Advanced Payroll. QBO Advanced Payroll solves for accountants and payroll bureaus that manage multiple businesses with complex payroll needs. Available now in QuickBooks Labs, QBO Advanced Payroll provides a route to payroll automation, a streamlined pension experience and a self-service portal for employees, including a mobile app. QBO Advanced Payroll is a different product, but complements the existing QuickBooks Online Standard Payroll, a simpler payroll solution.
• Client Overview: Now available in QBOA, Client Overview is designed to help accounting professionals win new client business. Accounting professionals often review a new prospect’s digital accounting records to understand how much work will be required to perform a one-time clean up and how much work there will be to maintain the books on an ongoing basis. This work can take hours, but using Client Overview within QuickBooks takes that down to minutes by showing accountants everything they need on one screen. From additional services that might be required, to the volume of transactions on a monthly basis, to how recently the books were reconciled, accountants can now use Client Overview to more confidently price their services and help their clients understand what is behind that pricing. 
• Statement Auto-Import: Our research shows 35 percent of an accounting professional’s time is spent chasing clients for the assets they need, such as bank statements, to get work done. Available now in beta, when a client connects a financial institution to QuickBooks to download transactions, QuickBooks automatically imports bank statements, too.
• Client Bench-marking: Going live soon, this feature will help accounting professionals deliver more value to their clients by leveraging data on the QuickBooks platform to instantly provide deep insight into how a business is performing relative to peers. Client Bench-marking will recommend actions for accounting professionals and their clients to consider in order to make them more profitable and increase their cash flow.

QuickBooks Product Innovations for Small Businesses and Self-Employed:
Also announced are a number of innovations that will be coming soon to help Small Businesses and the Self-Employed put digital at the heart of their finances.

• Receipt Capture: We've announced Receipt Capture will launch soon across its entire line up. An accountant, small business or self-employed can use mobile to snap a photo of a receipt, and QuickBooks will automatically import and match it to a transaction. This helps users track receipts on the move, attach receipts to invoices, eliminate lost or damaged receipts, and store them for easy reference. By taking on the burden of managing receipts, QuickBooks gives users time back to focus on running and growing their business.
• Mileage Tracker: Keeping a log and manually tracking mileage can be a major pain point for small businesses and the self-employed. We first launched Mileage Tracker to Self Employed customers in QBSE as an easy and automatic way track their work miles. QuickBooks has since tracked over 1.4 Billion miles in business travel around the world, finding customers more than 560 Million Pounds in deduction savings. Today, QuickBooks announces Mileage Tracker will be available soon across its entire product line up.
• Open Banking: Open Banking in QBO is coming. The opening of bank APIs enables QuickBooks to give customers unprecedented levels of control in the automation of their finances. It also opens up significant time savings, innovation and partnership opportunities that will revolutionise how technology shoulders the burden of financial management. QuickBooks today announces Open Banking connectivity will soon be live with the five top small business banking account providers – Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, Santander and RBS / NatWest. Functionality is currently being tested with a group of QuickBooks customers and will be generally available soon.

What are your thoughts about the latest announcements from QuickBooks Connect? Was there a particular highlight you had at the event?