The hidden tax on growth: How AI can help UK businesses win

Across the UK, small and medium-sized businesses face rising costs, tighter regulation and increasingly fragmented technology stacks. The result is inefficiency on a massive scale – a hidden tax on growth that drains productivity and profit.

Whether you are an accountant in London advising clients, a business owner in Birmingham, a finance manager in Brighton or a CFO in Manchester, the challenges are the same: long hours, high stakes and responsibility for livelihoods as well as balance sheets. 

Each new application can add another layer to manage and every additional process can create another barrier to agility. Over time, what began as digital transformation has turned into digital congestion with  many leaders spending valuable time managing technology rather than using it to create value.  

Incremental improvements are no longer enough. Businesses need a circuit breaker – a way to regain capacity for growth. We believe that artificial intelligence offers that breakthrough. It does not simply automate existing processes; it can change what is possible.

At Intuit QuickBooks, we believe AI represents the largest platform shift since electricity and  the internet, transforming not just efficiency but the very foundations of how businesses operate. 

This shift is already under way: in our latest Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Index Annual Report, we found that 77% of SMBs who've implemented AI see productivity gains. For accountants and bookkeepers, it’s already proving to be a driver for efficiency and growth. A report by Microsoft estimates that with accelerated AI adoption, UK GDP could be boosted by around £550 billion by 2035.

In the Intuit QuickBooks’ latest Growth Gap report, conducted in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London, researchers surveyed 3,600 small and medium-sized business leaders across the UK, Australia and Canada*. Led by Dr Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation at Goldsmiths, the study gives us an inside look into how artificial intelligence and technology are helping businesses regain balance and capacity.

 According to the report:

• 38% already save five to eight hours/week (a full working day) via automation

• 39.6% report growing AI use across finance, marketing and operations

• 80% say AI improves delegation while maintaining control

With 100 million customers worldwide and nearly $3 billion invested annually in R&D invested each year in research and development, Intuit QuickBooks is helping businesses turn that potential into measurable results. Through automation, data intelligence and now, a virtual team of AI agents, we are giving leaders the tools that can simplify complexity and make better decisions, faster.

A connected platform, powered by partnership

But this isn't just about technology. It's about prosperity. Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, providing nearly half of all UK jobs. Yet more than half don't survive beyond three years. Our platform is designed to break this cycle.  We are building one of the world’s most powerful connected platforms – bringing everything together in one place to run and grow a business from lead to cash.

It’s a unified system where a virtual team of AI agents works alongside human experts to become your virtual team into one consolidated platform. Our mission is simple: to help every business grow with clarity, confidence and control. Accountants, bookkeepers and finance leaders remain trusted advisors, but AI enables them to spend more time on analysis, forecasting and strategy rather than repetitive administration. 

The real value of AI lies in what happens to the time you reclaim. For small and mid-sized businesses, that means time to innovate, invest and build resilience. For accountants, it can mean shifting from compliance to consultancy – helping clients interpret data, manage risk and plan for sustainable success.

By combining AI’s speed and accuracy with human insight and creativity, we are aiming to give businesses the clarity, control and confidence to grow. Efficiency may be the foundation, but prosperity is the goal – and through human and AI partnership, that future is already taking shape.  

And above all else, we believe in automation where it counts and humans where it matters. This is our launchpad for prosperity. 

Now available to QuickBooks customers, a powerful, proactive team of AI agents and trusted human experts work together across the Intuit platform to handle repetitive tasks, surface insights, and support collaboration between business owners and their accounting professionals. 

Disclaimer: Functionality will vary depending on plans. AI Agents (excl. VAT AI Agent): While available in all QuickBooks supported languages, the AI agent's output are currently in English-only. We recommend you review all outputs carefully. Finance Agent: Not available to customers with multi-currency enabled.

This information is intended to outline our general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions and fees may apply with certain features and functionality. Eligibility criteria may apply. Product offers, features, and functionality are subject to change without notice.

Methodology  Research led by Dr Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation at Goldsmiths, University of London, in collaboration with Symmetry Insights, between September and October 2025. The mixed-methods study surveyed 3,600 small and medium-sized business leaders (1,200 each in the UK, Australia and Canada). Quantitative analysis used multiple-item scales and descriptive statistics, while qualitative analysis applied AI-driven sentence-transformer embeddings with k-means clustering to identify thematic patterns. This was supported by in-depth interviews with SMB and accountancy leaders. Figures shown are UK-only unless otherwise stated and may be rounded.