Intuit Accountant Suite represents the evolution of real-time client advisory

Why real-time data is the essential first step toward meaningful business advisory

For many accounting practices, growth doesn't stall from lack of demand, but from lack of capacity. Teams are stretched, insight is fragmented, and confidence in data arrives too late. This was the reality for Aaron Patrick, founder of Boffix and widely known as the ‘QuickBooks Chap’. With around 600 clients primarily on QuickBooks, his challenge had shifted from winning work to simply staying on top of it.

“The most tricky thing that we ever have to do is make sure that we're on top of our clients’ needs,” Aaron explains. “At the moment, to find out if there's a problem, we've got to go into that individual file, understand the data and then react to it.”

That reactive loop creates risk, especially when dealing with wages and cash flow. “Reaction is so key,” Aaron says. “Especially when you're dealing with people's wages problems and their financial issues. You want to be in the best position you could ever be in – to react, tweak and position.”

Seeing the whole practice, not just individual clients

As client numbers grew, Aaron described the accountant’s view as little more than an expanding alphabetical list. “It was literally a database,” he says. “If you were at the top of the list, you got a much better service. If you were at the bottom, we were starting to run out of time.”

Intuit Accountant Suite reframes that experience. Instead of forcing accountants to search for problems one client at a time, it brings insight forward across the entire practice.

“It creates that list for us but puts it on steroids,” Aaron explains. “All that data comes straight up. I don’t have to go into individual clients. I can be told what’s happening.”

This shift is foundational. It allows practices to prioritise based on real data rather than guesswork. 

“For the first time ever, we can actually be that proactive accountant,” Aaron says. “The data has been presented to us instead of us having to go and find the problems.” This enables firms to intervene earlier - often before a client realises something has changed - transforming advisory from a periodic service into an ongoing relationship.

From real-time data to real-time accuracy

For Aaron, the real breakthrough is not speed alone, but confidence in the information itself. “When we moved to the cloud, we got real-time information,” he says. “But now, with the advent of AI, it’s not real-time information anymore. It’s real-time, accurate information.”

That accuracy can remove one of the biggest blockers to advisory work: uncertainty. “Before, we’d spend a lot of time cleaning things up and making things tidy before we could advise,” Aaron explains. “Now, I can see straight away whether the data is right or not and decide if what I’m going to tell the client is going to be accurate.”

When data confidence increases, decision-making accelerates. “If a client comes to me with a problem, I don’t have to spend time checking whether the data is right,” Aaron says. “I can see that it’s right straight away, get that confidence, and tackle the problem head on.” This confidence gives advisors the foundation to move beyond reporting and into strategic recommendation.

Human intelligence, amplified

This clarity has the power to underpin proactive advisory, where AI highlights issues and suggests actions. “AI is going to tell me there’s a problem, give me a suggestion, and with one click it’s going to solve that issue for me,” Aaron says. “That means, at scale, I can look after a whole lot more clients without spending time hunting for problems.”

Aaron is clear that this efficiency is powerful but the real value lies in partnership. “The AI is going to do a much better job for us as the advisors to have confidence and to understand what the pain points are and the problems within a client,” he explains. 

“But they're still going to need us to come in and decide what to do with all that information.”

This balance builds trust with clients and confidence within teams, reinforcing the accountant’s role as a trusted advisor, now supported by clearer insight and stronger tools. “It’s not about being replaced,” Aaron says. “It’s about embracing AI so we can deliver more for our clients. That’s a win for everyone.”

Capacity unlocked, growth re-enabled

By bringing insight forward across the practice, Intuit Accountant Suite can open up new operational possibilities. Capacity planning becomes data-led rather than instinct-led, giving firms the confidence to grow without overstretching.

“What that does is it opens up a whole load of possibilities for us,” Aaron says. “There’s capacity planning. There’s an option for us to see that the data we’re looking at is clean and tidy.”

That confidence has a direct impact on growth. “Intuit Accountant Suite is increasing my capacity, it gives me opportunities to bring on more people, deliver more services and ultimately start growing my practice again.”

For Aaron, this replaces spreadsheets and hunches with visibility across real client data. “Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong,” he explains. “And when you get it wrong, it’s the clients that suffer. Now I can finally see yes or no if I’ve got a problem. That, to me, is worth everything.”

Advisory at scale, without sacrificing quality

With cleaner data and clearer prioritisation, advisory can now become scalable rather than sporadic. “Intuit Accountant Suite is going to open up the opportunity to deliver more business advisory than ever before,” Aaron says. 

“Because you’re not looking at data that you’re worried about. You’re not looking at data with a question mark over it. We can finally stop talking about cleaning up data and actually talk about the stuff that matters to them,” he explains. “How can we help clients get to the next level?”

For Aaron, that shift reconnects him with why he entered the profession in the first place. “I came into the accounting industry to try and help small businesses. That's what my passion is. Intuit Accountant Suite is empowering me to do that.”

By turning fragmented data into clear, actionable insight, Intuit Accountant Suite doesn’t just help practices manage capacity. It can restore confidence, unlock advisory and enable firms to grow again - with purpose.

CTA: Find out how Intuit Accountant Suite can give you the business tools and AI-powered workflows to boost efficiency, streamline operations, and make more confident decisions—all in one place.

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