Introducing the new QuickBooks® Cash Flow Planner at Money 2020
Cash flow is like oxygen for every small business, and successfully managing cash flow often is the difference between success and failure. We know that 50 percent of new businesses fail in the first five years primarily due to cash flow challenges, and we have set out to change this statistic.
Our QuickBooks team is currently at Money 2020 in Las Vegas where we are showcasing a prototype within QuickBooks Mobile called the Cash Flow Planner.
The Cash Flow Planner, a prototype feature within the QuickBooks mobile app, enables small businesses to predict their cash flow up to 90 days out. Designed for regular use, the app predicts recurring expenses and income while giving small businesses the opportunity to modify inputs based on what they know about their business. This unique design combines the power of AI with full transparency and data from the QuickBooks platform — the largest small business platform in the world. Over the past 12 months, our team has conducted extensive user testing to ensure we get this right.
Beyond automatically alerting business owners when a cash crunch is coming up, the QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner shows what is causing the crunch, so owners can decide how to navigate the upcoming challenge. For example, rather than dipping into personal funds to make an upcoming payroll run, with advanced notice the Cash Flow Planner will be able to one day recommend that small businesses delay paying a bill, request that an invoice be paid faster, or take readily available short term financing from QuickBooks Capital.
This feature has been available to a small number of QuickBooks customers over the past few months as part of early testing. Here’s what they had to say about the impact Cash Flow Planner has already made on their business:
Deborah McLeod, President and Owner, Embedded Logix
“I started using the Cash Flow Planner a couple weeks ago, and oh my gosh, it has been life changing. I travel for work, and I can look in five minutes to see if I can travel with our sales reps or if I should stay back in the office and focus on receivables. I can even make decisions on whether to fly or drive, all based on how much money I’m going to have in my account. Cash flow used to be the big scary monster that you can’t see and can’t touch, but you always worry about it … it was just so elusive all the time. But now, I don’t even worry about it because I know I can just look and see where I am.”
Kristan Shamus, Owner, Cora Bella Weddings & Events
“I was manually tracking how much cash came in and how much cash went out, as well as how much cash is expected to go out and how much cash is expected to come in. As a seasonal business owner, this is extremely important to my success, especially during the three or four months of low season when I don’t have regular weddings or events happening. Since we started using the QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner, we’re no longer relying on tracking this manually in a spreadsheet. It has saved us a lot of time and frustration. It gives me the knowledge that I need to make decisions for the next week or next month.”
Joao Correia, Solutions Director, Igloo Analytics
“When you’re starting a business, you have to be very careful where you put your money. If it doesn’t generate additional value, you’ve just lost it. The Cash Flow Planner helps me understand where I need to pay attention, invest and where to scale back. For example, with its insights I may invest more in marketing or cut certain expenses during a given month. I actually used insights from the QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner to decide I was able to hire my first employee. I assessed my cash flow, and the Cash Flow Planner confirmed that I’d be able to support an employee. Hiring him was a milestone for me.”
And these stories are just the beginning. QuickBooks plans to roll this Cash Flow Planner feature out in the next month with a wider distribution in January 2020 and beyond. You can stay up-to-date on all QuickBooks Payments products here.
